Everlasting (Unrestrained 6)

"It'll be straight-forward. You'll meet with Jude, go over your testimony, attend court and then we'll come back. Nothing to it. You did nothing wrong. Nothing illegal. We'll come back to San Francisco and we'll spend the rest of the year getting to know your new family and spending time with each other.

He smiled finally and kissed my knuckles when we pulled up to a stoplight.

"There's a reason I love you so much," he said softly.

"There is," I replied. "It's because I love you so much."

"We're a hopeless case. Hopelessly in love."

I smiled back. "Hopeless as charged."

We drove off to the beach and the spent the rest of a great day with family, thoughts about the upcoming trial put behind us both for now.

Chapter 14

DRAKE

My day with Liam was wonderful. It was exactly what I needed.

After our visit to the hospital to see my mother, we spent time on the beach in front of our house. The weather was warm, the sky blue with only a few clouds and was perfect. Liam had his boogie board and put on a wetsuit Brenda had packed for him, spending time in the surf, riding the small waves in. Sophie and Kate stayed a little farther up the beach from the surf and built sandcastles, Sophie wearing her floppy brim hat and heart-shaped sunglasses.

After an hour of surfing, we all went up to the house for supper, gorging ourselves on barbecue ribs, potato salad, and an assortments of grilled vegetables. We sat around the table on the deck and talked, laughed and had a great time together as one big family. When it was time to take Liam home, I wished we could have arranged to have him sleep over. We had a guest bedroom at our house and could have accommodated him, but I hadn’t talked to Brenda about it so instead, I planned on doing so another night. It would be a good thing to get Liam used to staying with us now, so when I got shared custody – and I was determined to get shared custody – he would be ready for it psychologically. We could move in some toys and decorate it in whatever kind of superhero motif he wanted – Batman or whoever it was by the time I got shared custody.

I was eager to get that process started, but until the trial was over in Manhattan and that was put behind me, and the publicity from that died down, I wouldn't push anything. The last thing I needed was to go before a judge and plead for shared custody of my son with that trial in the media.

So, my plan was to go to Manhattan, see the trial to the end and then return to start work on getting shared custody. Until then, I'd make sure we spent as much time as we could with Liam so that he got totally comfortable with everyone – with me, with Kate and Sophia, and with Ethan and Elaine. If I could establish an ongoing relationship with my other family – with Herb and Amanda, Kent and my other two half-brothers I'd yet to meet, I'd want Liam to know them as well.

I envisioned big family dinners in the fall and could imagine us all sitting around a huge dining table on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. It was a dream for me and I was going to make it happen. It might take a lot of work, but I had been used to working hard at my career. I could turn that focus to getting shared custody of Liam and creating the big family I always dreamed of having.

As we finished our dessert and sat around the table on the deck, the patio lanterns turning on and lighting the area, I felt satisfied that although I had to give up my position at the hospital, things would work out eventually. It was for the best that I quit. I had so much going on in my life that I needed the breathing space. There was nothing stopping me from going back into practice once I could get hospital privileges. That could wait.

I had other priorities – like Kate and Sophia – and Liam. Plus my new family.

At the end of our evening together, we drove Liam back to Maureen's place. The trip was a long one and Sophie fell asleep. When we arrived, I slipped the car in park and walked hand in hand with Liam to the door. Brenda opened it wide and invited me in.

"Come in, come in," she said and peered out around the door to the car. "Tell Kate to bring in Sophie as well."

"Sophie's asleep and we don't want to wake her," I said. "Thanks for the offer but we really should get back home." I handed her Liam's backpack and turned to Liam. "I think we had a great time today."

Liam nodded.

"Oh, that's great," Brenda said and bent down to Liam. "Thank your father for the day."

Liam turned to me. "Thank you, father. I had a fun time at the beach. And the supper was pretty good, too."

"I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself," I replied and ruffled up his hair. "We'll get together again soon and maybe you can do a sleepover if your grandmother says yes."

I leaned down and gave him a quick squeeze then I released his shoulder, said goodbye to Brenda and went to my car. Maybe one day, he'd feel like giving me a hug on his own, but I wasn't going to push it and expect him to.

I waved at them both and got back in the car, driving off into the night, a lump in my throat. Beside me, Kate smiled and took my hand.

"That was fun."

"It was," I said but for the moment, I was too emotional to talk and so we held hands and drove in silence through the darkened streets.

"We should just bring her home," I said after a few moments. "I'd like to wake up with both my girls in the morning. She can go to stay with Dad and Elaine tomorrow night, if they're okay with that."

"I'll call," Kate said and took out her cell. She dialed and the call went over the car's Bluetooth speaker.