A Son's Tale

She tended to trust people. Naturally. Without conscious thought. She looked for the bad—her parents were wrong to think she didn’t—but she didn’t always see the bad.

If Cal was her friend, he’d still sit there when she was done spewing all of the words that kept playing like a cruel rerun through her mind. And if he wasn’t, then his opinion didn’t matter, anyway.

And so she told him, almost verbatim, the things her parents had told the judge that morning.

“It wasn’t easy for my mother, Cal. And I know it wasn’t a walk in the park for my father, either. He hated to put our private business out there. And, I’m sure, to give up control of his family to an impartial third party. He’s doing this because he really believes it’s for the best. My dad’s cold and sometimes heartless, but he doesn’t ever set out to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. He doesn’t go out of his way to hurt them. He just doesn’t seem to have any compunction about squashing people in the process of doing what he believes is best.”

As she fell silent, Cal watched her. She knew he was thinking. A lot. But he didn’t share any of his thoughts with her. He was still there, though.

“What did you tell the judge in rebuttal?” he asked.

“That every single incident my mother relayed happened, pretty much as she told it. And I told him that with the exception of one major incident, they all took place prior to Sammie’s birth.

“I told him that I did have a tendency to trust the good in people and admitted to a situation that recently happened at the day care. It was for that open house I told you about that took place the Saturday that Sammie came home. A woman had assured me she was handling all of the decorations and so I didn’t follow up with her. I trusted her to have them done and ended up staying up all night the night before Sammie went missing to get them done. As a consequence, I didn’t listen as well as I should have that Thursday night when Sammie tried one more time to get me to give him more freedom.

“But the truth is, Cal, even if I’d heard Sammie that night, I still wouldn’t have given him what he wanted. He’s ten years old. He shouldn’t be on the internet by himself, or determining what and when he’s going to eat, or deciding his own bedtime. He has to do his homework whether he wants to or not, and I think he’s too young to have a dirt bike. I also won’t leave him home alone. Childhood only comes once in a lifetime. And it’s the only time when you have someone there to know what to do if a pot catches on fire, and to take care of it for you.

“Sammie’s already had to grow up so fast because it’s just the two of us and we don’t have a lot of money.”

Once she’d started, she couldn’t stop, and when she’d finally finished, his reply wasn’t what she’d expected. “So you ran the bus over yourself,” he said, a steely but kind glint in his eye. “But did you also tell the judge about the fact that because you believed you had a history of making poor choices where men are concerned, you have chosen not to date while Sammie is still young and dependent upon you?”

She didn’t think about dating, except in her fantasies. “No.”

“The bodyguard situation is serious,” he continued. “I grant you that. But just because Sammie’s grandfather has money is no reason for him to have to have custody of your son. Think about it, that would mean every offspring with a rich parent would either have to be rich enough in his own right to afford a bodyguard for his own children, or lose custody of them.”

Which, of course was ludicrous. But… “My father’s point was that I didn’t have enough good judgment to accept his offer of security protection for Sammie.”

“Because you said his offer came with the caveat that you live in his house and follow his rules.”

“Right. My father is manipulative. He has ways of getting what he wants and he’ll hold out until the world ends if that’s what it takes to get things done his way. Bottom line is, Sammie is the boy my father didn’t have. He’s the Lowen heir and he wants him home.”

“Did you point that out to the judge?”

“No. The attorney I saw told me not to make this a fight against my father, but to keep the focus on Sammie. And the point is that while my father might be wrong to put stipulations on his help, I was wrong to deny my son protection simply because I didn’t want to do as my father asked. It’s like the attorney said—it’s a fight between my father’s will and my own and Sammie got caught in the middle.”

“His stipulations were unfair, Morgan. The judge would see that. You weren’t just continuing the ongoing fight between you and your father, you were trying to protect your son from suffering from the same manipulation that kept you down all those years. You might need to reconsider having some protection for Sammie, and probably yourself, but I would think that since Sammie’s safety hasn’t been compromised due to your father’s money up to this point, you’ve done a pretty good job of watching over him and keeping him protected. You might not have bodyguards, but, as you said, you don’t leave him home alone. You don’t let him walk to school alone. You don’t let him on the internet where someone could lure him into an unsafe situation. Frankly, it seems to me that you’ve been your son’s bodyguard.”

For the first time since she’d heard her father speak that morning, Morgan knew a moment of sheer relief. She’d been looking and looking for the other side of the story her father had painted.

And hadn’t found one. Cal had given her something to think about.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“I’M GOING OUT on a limb here, but I’d guess that part of the reason you are so careful with your son, so unbending on the issues that he’d been pushing you on, is because you grew up as the child of a very rich man. The dangers, and what it takes to avoid them, are ingrained in you.”

Could he be right? Could he possibly be right? Morgan blinked back tears. She’d cried enough.

“Julie told me that you’d brought report cards and records of achievements and proof of activities to show the judge. You didn’t say anything about that. Did you show them to him?”

“No. Sammie?

?s grades and activities weren’t the issue.”

“But they are proof of your parenting skills, Morgan. And of your involvement in your son’s life. Sammie wants to surf basketball sites on the internet, so you sit back and give him the time to do so. He wants to train to try out for a team, and you allow him to do it. You hear he needs male companionship, you provide it for him.”

No. She shook her head and more hair came tumbling out of her ponytail. “You provided that, Cal, not me.”

“You live your life in such a way that I was there and willing to provide it when the need arose. Sammie didn’t even know me.”