Ben (The Sherwood)

I was married.

There had been no repercussions from the attack at the compound orchestrated by my brother and his explosives expert Jace. A boss woman if ever I met one. I liked this woman. She made Heath smile. I wondered if he realized what a grinning fool he was when she was around.

Hawk had confirmed that Ron Parson was no longer living at the compound but that didn’t mean he was no longer a threat to us. I didn’t believe that for a minute he wasn’t plotting something, neither did my brothers. Lilah was still a huge threat to him.

Disa and I were happy but looking over our shoulders all the time. I met Samson Hallows in the lobby of the courtroom.

“This is cut and dry,” he reassured me, and it was.

The judge granted me sole physical and legal custody of Asia Hatfield, my daughter. He did recommend that if Jasmine ever returned to Sherwood that I try to come to a parenting agreement with her. I told him that I would, but I prayed every day that Jasmine didn’t come back into our lives.

I shook Mr. Hallows’ hand outside of the courtroom and headed to my truck. I tried calling Mom’s cell phone to let her know it was over. She had a doctor’s appointment today, so she had left Asia and Disa with Seth at her house. She didn’t answer my call which I thought was strange.

I tried Disa’s cell phone and was relieved when she picked up right away. “Hi baby, it’s done,” I answered her sweet hello.

“I’m so glad,” she told me.

“Any word from Mom. I tried her phone. She didn’t answer.”

“None,” Disa replied. She sounded worried. It was four o’clock in the afternoon. “She should have been back by now.”

“Yes, she should have,” I agreed glancing at the clock in the dashboard. “I’m going to call Dad at the pub. I’ll be at Mom’s shortly.”

“Okay,” Disa replied.

The front of the house that had been shot up by Parson’s man was fixed now. The signs that there was ever any trouble there were gone. Matt couldn’t say the same thing. The remnants of his burned, out barn was still like it was the night of the fire.

In the spring he was going to build a new one. He wasn’t in any hurry. He wouldn’t need it until next fall when the harvest started.

I called the pub and Amy one of the servers had to get Dad to the phone. “Have you heard from Mom?” I asked when he said hello. “I tried to call her to tell her about court.”

“Nope. You know her though. She’s probably shopping and left her phone in the console when she went inside.”

“Probably.” I agreed. I told Dad about court.

“Congratulations son. Good news.”

“I’m heading to Mom’s. Talk to you later,” I told him.

“Yep. Tell her to call me later,” he said.

“I will.” We disconnected our call and I focused on the road.

I arrived at my parent’s house fifteen minutes later allowing Seth to leave for the pub. He had kitchen duty as always and was just waiting on me to get home.

In the living room, Disa met me with my daughter. I kissed my wife then took Asia from her. My baby was over four months old. I kissed her neck making her giggle. She had personality and charm. She cooed at me and smiled when she saw me now. I loved this child more than life itself.

The doorbell rang and we both turned towards it. “Must be a delivery.”

“I’ll get it,” Disa said.

“No,” I handed her Asia. “I’ll get it.”

Something was eating at me that I hadn’t been able to reach Mom. I opened the door and there was a special delivery man. “For Simon Hatfield,” he said.

“My father isn’t here right now.”

“You can sign for it. You’re over eighteen.” He handed me the envelope. I signed my name and shut the door. I looked at the envelope that only had my father’s name on it.