A Necessary End

Thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne has tried before to adopt a child, but this time, nothing is going to get in her way.

Sure, her husband, Gabe, is ambivalent about fatherhood. But once he holds their baby, he'll come around. He's just feeling a little threatened because once it was Gabe that Adrienne wanted more than anything . . .

And sure, she was bitten by another birth mother—clear to the bone—and for most people, it's once bitten, twice shy. But Adrienne isn't exactly the retiring type.

Enter Leah. At nineteen, she bears a remarkable resemblance to the woman Adrienne once was, and she knows Leah's baby is meant to be hers. But Leah's got ideas of her own. If Gabe and Adrienne let her live with them for a year, they get the baby, free and clear. All Leah wants is a fresh start in California. Or so she says.

It seems like a small price to pay to get their baby. And with Gabe suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?