The Army Doctor's Wedding by Helen Scott Taylor Page B

while she handed them out.
    "Can you tell me what you do
for a living, Mrs. Knight?" the woman asked Alice.
    "I've been working for a
charity. I plan to stay home and look after Sami now." She glanced at
Cameron and he smiled with encouragement. They had discussed this. Both of them
wanted Sami to have his mummy at home with him. Cameron earned enough to look
after them so Alice had no need to work. Cameron was kind and supportive of her
choices. Not like her father who forbade her mother from working for his own
reasons.
    "That's fine. There's
nothing wrong with being a full-time mum if you can afford it. So, what is your
occupation?" Both Mrs. Sugden and her assistant switched their attention
to Cameron.
    "I'm a doctor."
    "Excellent." The woman
smiled and made a note on her form.
    "An army doctor,"
Cameron continued.
    The two social workers glanced at
each other, their smiles becoming strained. A tense silence stretched. Alice's
breath caught. Something was wrong.
    The woman laid down her pen and
knitted her fingers over the folder. "Are you aware that when you adopt a
child, both parents have to live at home for a minimum of three years to
provide a stable family environment?"
    A chill swept through Alice.
Cameron's hand tightened on hers. "We don't have our own home sorted out
yet, but we plan to rent a property close by."
    "We can do a home check once
you settle in," Mrs. Sugden said. "That's not my concern. The armed
forces usually require officers to serve abroad, Mr. Knight. Can you guarantee
you won't be deployed away from home for three years?"
    "Of course not." A note
of frustration crept into Cameron's tone. "I have to go where the army
sends me."
    "Then I'm sorry. Mr.
Knight's occupation will cause a problem."
    "You allow single people to
adopt." Alice's voice rose as she tried to contain her escalating panic.
"How is that different from me looking after Sami on my own while
Cameron's away?"
    "I assure you it is
different. You want to adopt a baby as a couple. Therefore you both need to
make the commitment to live with the child for the first three years to
establish the family relationship."
    "We've already established a
family relationship. Sami's been with us since he was born. We're all he knows.
He's not going to forget who his daddy is."
    Mrs. Sugden closed her folder and
put the cap on her pen. "There are rules, I'm afraid."
    Cameron abruptly released Alice's
hand and rose. "Excuse me a moment." He returned almost immediately
with Olivia.
    "I'm a lawyer representing
Cameron and Alice," she said. "Please explain the problem to
me."
    Olivia and the adoption officials
talked back and forth. Alice tried to listen but the words blurred into a
meaningless babble as Olivia fired questions.
    A band of pain tightened around
Alice's chest. A numb coldness pervaded her body, her thoughts sluggish with fear.
She must think of something to say to persuade these people. They couldn't stop
her adopting Sami. She was his mum. He was her baby.
    "We've already adopted
him," she blurted.
    "We are aware of the foreign
adoption," Mrs. Sugden said. "It still needs to be ratified by a
British court to be legal in this country."
    "You can't take my baby
away. I won't let you."
    The cold emptiness inside Alice
filled with blistering angry heat. She would not let these heartless morons
take Sami. They didn't know her or Cameron. They hadn't even asked to see Sami
yet. They didn't care about him. All they cared about were their silly rules,
rules enforced in courts by men like her father.
    Olivia rounded the table, stood
between her and Cameron, and rested her hands on their shoulders. "Keep
your cool," she said under her breath. Then louder, "My clients are
obviously very upset, Mrs. Sugden. You must understand that Alice rescued Sami
from a desperate situation. She saved Sami's life. Since then she has cared for
him as her own."
    Mrs. Sugden inclined her head and
made a note on one of her forms.
    "Let's set aside the
adoption