Love Me Like You Do: Books That Keep You In Bed

by Fields, MJ

“And I’d like to live in peace, but it seems that neither of us are getting our way. You refuse to follow the few rules that I give. I wasn’t joking, Louise, you need help. You are cruel to Callie about someone she looked up to, and when you decide to throw a tantrum when I call you out on it, you call DCF. So, I really do feel that it’s in Callie’s best interest for you and Sonya to no longer be part of her life.”

  “You’ll never understand what I’m going through. If you loved my daughter, then how can you replace her so easily?”

  “Easily? It’s been four years. Had Deirdre survived, I would have still been happily married to her, but she didn’t. You want me to spend the rest of my life alone? I’m still young enough to have a family, to give Callie siblings. She deserves that . . . I deserve that. Why won’t you just let me live in peace? You could have been part of our lives forever just like we always planned. But instead my daughter is afraid of you, I can’t stand you, and if I can convince Sadie to give me another chance, then I wouldn’t blame her if she never wants you near us again.”

  “I’ll never let that happen. Caroline is all I have left of Deirdre.”

  “Callie is what you could have had. You played a game and lost. Your mistake is that you went after my daughter, and I won’t let you or anyone else hurt her. If you do anything else, I’ll look into getting a restraining order against you.”

  “I refuse to allow you to forget my daughter or allow that woman to replace my daughter’s memory. Someone needs to keep her alive, since you won’t, then I will. It’s your fault she’s dead.”

  “Louise, we’ve been through this a million times, Deirdre wanted to work and loved being a doctor. I wasn’t going to force her to be a stay-at-home mom just because we had a child or because you thought that was what she should do. She was an adult.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t. That would have required you actually being a man.”

  “That’s it. Do not contact Callie or me again via phone, email . . . anything. You are not permitted to have contact with any of us until you grow the fuck up.” I slammed my phone down and leaned against the counter just so I wouldn’t fall over.

  Holy shit, holy shit. Why didn’t I do that sooner?

  “Do you feel better?”

  “Much.” I smiled at Polly. “How much did you hear?”

  “Not sure, but enough to know that they pushed you too far. I’ve never heard you speak to anyone like that.” Her words were like a ten-ton weight in my stomach. “Oh, you took my words wrong. From what I overheard, they deserved it. In fact, there are several people you should have spoken to like that before now. I’m glad to know it’s in you. I’m just saying that whatever they did had to be heinous to bring out this side of you.”

  “Deirdre’s mother has gone crazy.”

  “Ummm, hasn’t she always given you a hard time?”

  “Yeah, but she used to be tolerable, now she’s lost her damn mind.”

  “Do you know what changed? What made her act out like this?”

  I pushed out a deep breath. “You know that wreck we had in front of the hospital?”

  “The one that was what . . . earlier this month?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one. The female deputy, she’s also the deputy who found Callie. I . . .”

  “Wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw you turn red. I’m glad to see that you’re going out.”

  “I was going out. Louise upped her crazy factor and it ended up putting Sadie’s job in jeopardy, so I’ve put distance between us. Just when I thought things might start turning for the better. One tiny ounce of happiness, and Louise sweeps in and sucks the life out of me. They’ve got Child and Family Services involved.”

  “On you, for what?”

  “Negligence.”

  “Where do they live? I think they need a visit from the sisterhood.” Polly cracked her knuckles.

  “If you didn’t look so much like Betty Crocker, then maybe you could pull the whole bad bitch off. But you are too nice.”

  “Fine. That hurt my hand anyway. God, I haven’t cracked my knuckles in forever. Truthfully, though, what are you going to do?”

  “I need to talk to a lawyer and find out the best way to keep those crazy people away from my daughter.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. It sounds to me like this is harassment. Why don’t you call Becky?”

  “Your wife?”

  “Yes, this is what she does.”

  “I know who she is, but I don’t want to put her in the middle of this.”

  “Please, Ryan, I think she’d be hurt if you called someone else. No one would work harder for you than Becky.”

  “I know that. I just don’t want to take advantage.”

  “You’re not. Let me get you her card, I have it in my purse; you can call her office. She’ll be a bulldog for you, and she loves Callie, you know that.”

  “I know you both do.” When Deirdre died, Polly and Becky were like rocks in my world. If it weren’t for them and my mother, I didn’t know if I would have made it through. I was overwhelmed, my mom was busy making arrangements, and Deirdre’s family was distraught, so Becky and Polly stepped in and took care of Callie. They even bought a toddler bed for their spare room for her. Every so often when they need to be reminded why they don’t want kids, they ask to watch Callie for the night.

  “I’m going to go call Sadie, will you get me that card?”

  “Will do.” Polly gave me a hug and headed off as I grabbed my phone.

  When it went to voicemail, I waited for the tone and then just spilled my emotions, “Sadie, I like you, I really do. I want to see where we can go with this. When I’m with you, I feel alive, and I haven’t felt like that in a long time. Please trust me, we will get through this. I’m going to speak to an attorney about doing something to protect us from Louise. Just give me a chance, please.”

  I had just disconnected when the alert came across. “Trauma team one, report to ER-H, reference inbound med-flight.” The hospital intercom blared through the corridor.

  “Emergency, got to go.” I hung up and ran out of my office, shoving my phone into my pocket as I ran. I was trauma team one, ER-H was the helipad.

  “Here you go.” Polly handed me my medic case as we raced for the elevator.

  Pushing open the doors onto the roof, I was greeted by one of the MedFlight paramedics. “Catch me up, what do we have?”

  “Male, twenty-seven, Brevard motorcycle deputy, hit by car. Wearing helmet. Severe subcu-bleeding along right side. Maintaining C-spine. Has not regained consciousness. Heart rate one-nineteen, BP eighty-five over fifty, respiratory thirty, ox-sat ninety.” Totally caught up on the vitals, we rushed him to radiology for a CT scan.

  If this were a normal patient, I wouldn’t stay to wait for the scan, but they’d called trauma team one, which included a radiologist, a surgeon, and an on-call. We all stood around and waited. In some offices, people gathered by the watering hole, a.k.a. the drinking fountain, but we congregate by the nurses’ station. It’s where the food and halfway decent coffee was.

  “This is my least favorite part of the job, when it is a cop or a firefighter. I always see them like us,” Dr. Wilhite, the surgeon, said. “I do what they do, I put others first, but in the end, cops are the ones who end up dead. They are the ones the public turns on. Haven’t you ever thought about it? Why cops? You never see mass riots against firemen, but when you research statistics there have been more cases of internal corruption. Or us”—she stared at me above the rim of her coffee cup—“people get mad at us, but they always yell at the insurance companies. I’ll tell you right now, you couldn’t pay me enough to be a cop. There is no amount of money worth the risks they take. Glad my husband is an accountant, only thing he needs to worry about is a paper cut.”

  I was still thinking about what she said when the scans hit the screen. We stood together and tried to figure out what the next step needed to be to save this man’s life.

  “He�
�s mine, Ryan,” Dr. Wilhite called out.

  “Agreed. Let’s go.” I helped her transfer the deputy over to the OR, but that was when I took my leave. A bit dazed from the adrenaline rush, I made my way to my office and my normal life. Visions of Deirdre flashed in front of my face but then . . .it changed, in my mind it was no longer Deirdre.

  “Twenty-eight-year-old female, motorcycle deputy, hit and run, severe head trauma!” the paramedics had shouted as they lifted her off the med-flight. It had been then that I got a good look at the body . . . Sadie. She was lying on a gurney just as Deirdre had been. Her face pale, and I was too stunned to move. Shaking away the phantom images of Sadie, I worked to clear my head and slow my breathing. It was a hallucination, that’s all. Sadie is fine. But the truth was, that deputy fighting for his life in the ER could have been Sadie.

  I hurried back to my office and pocketed the card Polly had left. It was time for me to leave to pick up Callie anyway.

  Twenty-Five

  Ryan

  “Are you Ryan Montgomery?” the man standing at my front door asked. He was wearing a badge that read: Field Officer, but I had no idea who he was.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Mr. Montgomery, you’ve been served.” He thrust an envelope at me and then headed off as I stepped back into my house and closed the door.

  “Was that Sadie?” Mom asked.

  “No. I was just served.” I held up the papers. “It seems that I’m being sued by Louise Hazelton.”

  “Sued? Sued for what?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said as I flipped page after page, “but if I’m reading this correctly, I’d say that she is suing me for custody of Callie.”

  “You need to call that attorney. This is getting out of control.”

  She was right. It had been two days since Polly had given me the card, and for some reason, I’d allowed it to slip to the back of my mind. Maybe because I was busy finding reasons not to see Sadie. We were talking at night, but every time I decided to go see her, I saw that deputy lying on the gurney unconscious.

  “I do. Give me a minute.”

  She nodded and I grabbed the phone to call Becky.

  “Ryan,” she said after the second ring. “I was wondering when you were going to call me.”

  “I know. I figured Polly told you she gave me your card. Do you have a second to talk?” “Sure, what’s going on?”

  “I just got served, it seems that my former mother-in-law is suing me for custody of Caroline.”

  “Okay, come on over.”

  I grabbed the file I’d been putting together and my laptop so Becky could see for herself what kinds of emails Louise had been sending me, then headed out of my house. When I arrived at Polly and Becky’s, they were both waiting out front. Becky took one look at me and then turned, saying, “Let’s go into my office.”

  “Oh, hell no.” Polly stepped in front of her. “I want to know what is going on.”

  “Polly.” Becky’s one word had her shutting up and stepping aside. I didn’t mind at all if Polly sat in on the meeting.

  “It’s okay, I don’t mind if she hears. I trust both of you completely.”

  We sat around their dining table, and while Becky read over the papers, I pulled up the emails. “I will file for an emergency hearing with the judge. Until then, just lie low, conveniently be unavailable, and avoid them. I’ll contact the DCF and get the caseworker to get her notes over to the judge.”

  “Tell me that this is all bullshit.”

  “This is all bullshit.”

  “Then how was she able to sue me?”

  “You can sue for anything nowadays. Have some money, find an attorney who believes you or wants your money, and you have a case. We’re hoping that the judge sees this for what it is, vindictiveness.”

  “She’s not going to get my daughter, is she?” My heart pounded; Callie was my life.

  “Grandparents can gain rights only if both parents are deceased, in a vegetative state, or incarcerated for felonies involving violence against minors—none of which apply to you. If you choose to move to another country and leave them no information, then that is your right.”

  “The problem is that I don’t want to keep them from seeing Callie, she loves them. I just need this to stop. I need to be allowed to move on with my life.”

  “I think that is fair of you, but if you allow visitation, you should ask for supervised. Playing devil’s advocate here. You’re telling me that Louise has become erratic and, at the same time, you’re telling me that you want Callie to have a relationship with her. Which is it? If she’s so bad, then why aren’t you protecting your daughter? Oh, she’s not that bad? Then what, you’re just being mean, you’re lying?” I was shocked by what Becky was saying. “See my point? This is how a judge is going to look at it.”

  “I got it. Are there places that do supervised visitation?”

  “Of course, it’s done all the time for divorced parents. But you’re in charge, where would you prefer to have Callie supervised, or who should I say would you prefer to supervise your daughter?”

  “Me, my mom, or one of you two.”

  “Okay. And you’re offering her visitation with Callie at your home and nowhere else, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “How often?”

  “On Wednesdays for a few hours.”

  “Starting immediately?”

  “No. I’d like to see her get grief counseling before I allow her around Callie again. I’m tired of her blaming me for Deirdre’s death and putting Callie in the middle.”

  “We can add that as a stipulation if you’d like. As long as DCF doesn’t come back with proof that you are part of a sex-trafficking ring, you sell heroin to minors, or you abuse Callie, then nothing . . . and I mean, nothing Louise says will hold any weight.”

  “Nope, not been busted for any of those lately, but maybe we can make a three-way with two hot lesbians happen.” I stiffened as a punch landed on each arm, one from Polly and one from Becky. “You know that I can’t say shit like that at work, so I need a little leeway when it is just us.”

  “I wish that you could, I haven’t been called hot in thirty years. Plus, we love you—or rather, your daughter.” Polly smiled.

  “Don’t worry about this, Ryan. We’ll get in front of the judge early this week.”

  “How will this work? I mean, should I prepare Callie for anything? I don’t want her to be scared. Is it like I see on television?”

  “No. Since Callie is under the age of twelve, this case will be heard on its own. She will likely be asked to talk to the judge along with a guardian ad litem in his private chambers.”

  “Why?”

  “The thought behind this is, no child should ever have to face those they love and be asked questions about them, especially if the child believes those questions might get someone in trouble. So, plan on bringing your mother—”

  “I don’t think you could keep her away.”

  “She’ll more than likely be asked to stay out of the courtroom with Callie while you’re inside talking, but I mean it when I say that you don’t have anything to worry about.”

  I left their home not feeling any better than I had when I arrived. Sure, I knew that I was a good person, but to realize that my daughter’s fate rested in the hands of one person was scary.

  * * *

  It took two days before I was in front of the judge, and as I stood next to Becky, I couldn’t help but glare over at Louise and Sonya. Fred was here, but Martin wasn’t, which was kind of surprising. I would think that Sonya’s husband would be here for something like this.

  Not that it mattered since I wouldn’t allow any of them to speak to or even see Callie. She had come in and spoken with the judge earlier and was in another room with my mother while I waited. I had no clue how I would go on if he didn’t see the truth.

  “All rise.” A sheriff’s deputy stood by the judge’s bench. “The honorable Walter J. Mancos presiding.
”

  “You may be seated.” The judge was an older man and reminded me more of Ernest Hemingway than a judge. “I have had a chance to read over the notes from the Department of Child and Family Services, and I’ve had a moment to speak with the child, Caroline, who had no problem telling me about this situation or that she would like to be addressed as Callie.” I fought back my laugh. “Doctor Montgomery, from these notes and from your daughter’s testimony, I want to commend you on doing a spectacular job raising a strong, independent child. I’m sure that it hasn’t been easy over these past few years to balance the demands of your career and the demands of a child. From everything I see, you are a great parent and Callie is fortunate to have you. I’m dismissing the suit made against you. However . . .”

  However? What the hell?

  “Mrs. Louise Hazelton and Mrs. Sonya North, after speaking to Callie, it seems that the two of don’t always act with the child’s best interest in mind. Mrs. Hazelton, I’m sorry that you lost your daughter, but your involvement in Callie’s life is only by Doctor Montgomery’s allowance.”

  “But she’s my blood.”

  “No. She is your daughter’s blood and that man’s blood, and you would do well to remember that.”

  “My daughter is no longer with us.”

  “And in the state of Florida, that has no bearing on the legal custodial rights of the surviving parent.” The judge shifted his attention to my ex-sister-in-law. “Mrs. North, legally speaking, you have nothing, siblings have no claims whatsoever at any time. Your involvement simply falls into the categories of harassment and stalking.” Judge Mancos slid the stack of papers away and folded his hands in front of him. “I also spoke with Deputy Sadie Lazar, she shared with me her observation of Callie’s welfare, and I also gleaned some added information. I’m not sure whether Mr. Montgomery has filed stalking charges against either of you, but if he has—”

  “I’m not stalking,” Louise interrupted the judge.

  “Mrs. Hazelton, stalking is repeated harassment for no legal reason, which I have credible information indicating you have done. Your actions fall into that legal rationale.”