Her ex-husband had gotten tangled up with drug traffickers, and the entire time he had acted like she was an unfit mother. Whatever residual fondness she had ever felt for him was beginning to evaporate.
“I believe that I’m now ready to rule,” the judge said when Gary left the stand.
Heather bit her lip.
“It’s quite clear that both parents are, like most parents, flawed,” the judge started. “No parent is perfect. But from what I’ve seen in all my years in court is that perfect is not the requirement to be a good parent. Children need loving homes. Stable homes. Parents who will never give up on them. And I feel that Finnley Hall has that in his mother.”
A lump formed in her throat.
“I don’t like everything you’ve done, Ms. Hall,” the judge continued. “There have been some salacious rumors in the press, and that is a difficult thing for a child to deal with. But I believe that you have done everything in your power to protect your son. No child could ask for better than that. However, the story is different for Mr. Hall, whose conduct has come to light; it is both disturbing and distressing. Drugs in a home that a child visits is not acceptable. Now, you haven’t been charged or found guilty of any crimes, Mr. Hall, which is why I will consider that while I make the ruling that I am about to make.”
She inhaled, her lungs constricting tightly.
“I am ruling that Ms. Heather Hall gets primary custody of Finnley, while Mr. Gary Hall will be granted visitation rights once a week and every other weakened at Ms. Hall’s discretion. Custody will be revisited twenty-four months from now. Court is adjourned.”
The wave of relief that washed over her was something she could hardly describe. She wasn’t going to lose Finn. Her son was safe.
Her vision blurred with happy tears as she stood up and threw her arms around her lawyer. “Thank you so much.”
Aaron patted her back gently. “We couldn’t have done this without Simon.”
“You’re right.” She gave Aaron one final squeeze and headed towards the back of the courtroom to find Simon.
The moment she spotted him, he pulled her into his arms and embraced her. She held on to him as she cried happily. “Thank you so much,” she said through her tears. “Thank you, Simon. You saved Finn.”
“No, Heather, you saved him. I love you,” he said to her. “I love you more than anything, Heather.”
She stepped away from him to brush her tears away and spotted Gary out of the corner of her eye. He was arguing loudly with Tiffany, who suddenly stormed out of the courtroom.
“Gary,” Heather said softly. “Look, if you want to see Finn today you can. I’ll just let my lawyer know.” As angry as she was, she knew that Finn needed a father. If Gary was willing to put in the work from now on, she would do everything she could to make sure Finn spent time with his father.
“Go to hell,” Gary said with a snarl.
Simon immediately got between her and Gary, balling up his hands as he did. “What your mouth.”
“I’m not going to see Finn,” Gary spat out. “You can have him. Me and my girl Fiona, we’re getting out of Seattle. We’re going to see the world, Heather. While you’ll still be here stuck with him.” He glared at Simon and stomped out.
“He’s leaving because he knows that the police are going to be coming after him soon.” Simon kissed her forehead gently, the tenderness of the gesture wrapping around her heart. “Sorry that you’re stuck with me.”
Heather gave him a smile. “You’re stuck with me, too.” She reached for Simon’s hand, loving how it felt to just touch him. Her heart was breaking over the fact that Gary was basically abandoning their son, but there was nothing she could do about that. Besides, being stuck with Simon sounded like pure heaven right now.
HE COULD TELL THAT explaining the truth to Finn that night was one of the hardest things Heather had ever had to do. While she began to tell her son that his father wasn’t going to be around much, Simon headed out of Finn’s room to give them some privacy. Already he could hear the poor kid crying as she told him.