“Not good, Cal.” The woman looked like she might cry. “The judge’s decision aside, just having to sit there and hear your parents talk about you like that…it couldn’t be easy.”

He wanted to know every word that was said. And had to get to the facts and back out to the young man who was waiting for him, who also had a stake in what went on that day.

“Do you think they swayed the judge?”

“I have no idea. He seemed nice enough. And her father’s testimony was definitely skewed. The man’s dangerous, the way he can take a bit of truth and put it out there in a way that doesn’t resemble the truth at all. I wish I could have stayed to hear all of Morgan’s testimony. She was doing a good job, but she wasn’t visibly upset.”

He thought of Shane Arnett, of the man’s ability to continue to believe in himself when even his parents had given up on him, and knew he had to get to Morgan.

“She didn’t call you afterward? Didn’t let you know how things went?”

“She called to tell me that it was over and that she’d talk to me later about it. That she couldn’t go through it right then. She said she needed a little time alone to pull herself together before she had to pick up Sammie. She asked me to call immediately if Sammie had a problem, but she wouldn’t tell me where she was or what she was doing. She did say that you’d still be coming by to pick up Sammie as usual.”

“It doesn’t sound promising,” Cal said, studying Julie’s concerned expression, searching for some sign of encouragement. “But worst case scenario, if the judge made his decision on the spot and awarded full custody to her parents, then wouldn’t they have come to pick up Sammie?”

“Unless they’re allowing her to tell him herself, and to help him pack and then bring him to their house. They’ve said all along that they want her to have unsupervised visits. It’s not like they think she’s a flight risk or unsafe for Sammie to be around.”

“What if she were married?” The question was logical. But moot, since there was no one in her life to marry and everyone who knew her knew that.

“The question never came up,” Julie said, her eyes narrowing. “Since she hasn’t had a date in years, I don’t think anyone sees marriage as a consideration. I also don’t see how the guy could have made a decision so…so life-altering in the span of a few hours. There’s evidence for him to consider in addition to today’s testimony.”

The door opened and Sammie peeked his head in. “Come on, Cal, can we go? Mom’s going to be coming and I won’t have much time to practice.”

Getting his mind back to what mattered—the ten-year-old boy whose future was at stake—Cal told Julie goodbye and focused solely on Sammie during the drive home.

* * *

THERE WAS THIS LITTLE glen, a natural clearing in the midst of trees where the stream that flowed through her father’s property slowed down to a trickle, that Morgan had discovered when she was about five or six years old. She’d run away from home because her father had told her that she couldn’t play Little League baseball because she was a girl.

She hadn’t known back then, of course, but the only reason she’d been allowed to run anywhere was because she’d wisely chosen to stay on her father’s property. Had she left the grounds, she’d have been picked up immediately and brought safely back home.

She also hadn’t known then that she’d been watched every single second she’d thought she was trekking out on her own. She’d had her own personal bodyguard from the day she was born, though she hadn’t realized that until she was about twelve.

One thing she’d give her father, his control of her was discreet.

She’d brought Sammie to the glen for a picnic once. He’d preferred the woods on the other side of the property, which was where he’d run when he’d had to get away from her.

But when Morgan needed comfort, she found it in the glen. If she needed strength, the glen gave it to her.

Morgan hadn’t counted on having life hurt so much that she couldn’t bear to go on. She hadn’t counted on losing Sammie.

Lying flat on her back along the stream in her private glen on Tuesday, the summer sun caressing her skin with the warmth the morning had stolen from her, Morgan felt like dying. She’d parked in a public parking lot and then taken a shortcut through some woods to the back side of the unsecured portion of her father’s property and headed straight for her glen.

It had been waiting for her, as always. She’d cried for the first while. Sometimes out loud. And then she’d just lain there, spent. Eventually, with the glen holding her troubles for a while, she’d slept. She hadn’t rested well in weeks and, as though her glen knew that, the land soothed her to sleep.

It was there to cushion her when, upon regaining consciousness, she crashed back to an awareness of the earthly trials awaiting her.

Trials.

The custody hearing wasn’t done yet.

But Morgan was fairly certain that she was done with it.

When the air started to cool just a bit and the sun began its slow descent, Morgan rose and made her way back out to the road and up to her car. She drove into Tyler with calm and confidence. She had a job to do. A son who needed her. And as long as there was anything he could take from her that would benefit him, she would be there to provide it to him. No matter the cost to her.

She had no doubt whatsoever about her ability to give to those who needed her.

Pulling to the edge of Professor Whittier’s driveway so as not to disrupt the one-on-one basketball game currently in progress, Morgan put the car in Neutral, unlocked the doors and waited. Cal had called a couple of times. She’d listened to his messages. She hadn’t returned his calls.

Tags: Tara Taylor Quinn Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net