The Country Guesthouse

by Robyn Carr

  “You feel so good,” he said, his lips going to her neck.

  “Did you have a wonderful time?” she asked.

  “I’m having a wonderful time right now,” he said. Romeo was trying to edge between them, pushing until Owen gave him some attention. That done, he was kissing her again.

  There was the sound of bump-shuffle-bump and they turned to see Noah coming toward them on his crutches. “Hey, buddy, did I wake you?” Owen asked, bending to pick him up. Noah dropped the crutches and looped his arms around Owen’s neck, hugging him tightly.

  “It’s okay,” Noah said. “We got you some ice cream.”

  “Would you like some?” Owen asked. “Ice cream at midnight?”

  “I could do that,” Noah said.

  Owen ruffled his hair. “I’m going to want something a little stronger. I’m not sure what day it is. I think it’s yesterday.” He maneuvered over to the couch, sitting with Noah on his lap. “My legs are about a foot too long for sleeping on airplanes, even in first class. Hannah, will you play waitress just this once?”

  “Gotcha covered,” she said, heading for the kitchen.

  “Was the cave good?” Noah asked. “Was it hard?”

  “The guides and porters were outstanding but there were places we had to crawl or climb or even swim. It was like a difficult hike. One of the friends I made was a sixty-eight-year-old man from China and he was stronger and more able than I was.”

  “I won’t ever be able to do that...”

  “Actually, I think you will,” Owen said. “It’s going to take some more good muscle and training but you have time—that cave isn’t open to the public yet and they’re not letting kids go on that expedition. But you will do everything you want to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if you climb Mount Everest someday. The way you’re training and exercising now... Yes, sir, by the time you’re grown a little more...”

  Hannah delivered a bowl of ice cream and a Crown Royal on ice. Then she curled up on the sofa against Owen and just listened to him talk about the cave. They were a big pile—Noah on Owen’s lap, Romeo’s head on Owen’s thigh, Hannah pressed against them.

  “We’ll look at the pictures tomorrow,” Owen said. “And I think we’re all going to have to sleep in. Hear that, Romeo? That means you, too.”

  “What was the best part of the cave?” Noah asked.

  “There were lots of best parts. The cave is so big... There’s a lake and a sandy beach inside. We camped on the beach. We had cooks making our meals and night on the beach was so beautiful. There were passages so tight we had to crawl and places so wide-open you could build a house in there.”

  “Did you have a boat on the lake?”

  “No boat,” Owen said. “Maybe it was too hard to get it in the cave. Or maybe they didn’t want it in the cave. It was beautiful.”

  Noah asked question after question while he ate his ice cream and Owen sipped his drink. It was about fifteen minutes before Owen took the empty bowl out of Noah’s hands and put it on the coffee table. Noah curled up, his head on Owen’s shoulder, and yawned hugely.

  “Someone is very tired,” Owen said.

  “It’s me,” Noah said, yawning again.

  Owen shifted him a little bit, settling him against his chest, where he quickly fell asleep. He slid his other arm around Hannah, drawing her near. He proved very talented, holding Noah against his chest, his drink in that hand, his other arm embracing his woman. “Ah. It is so good to be home.”

  When Hannah didn’t say anything, he just cuddled her closer. Then he heard a sound and looked down to see that her cheeks were wet. “Are you crying?” he whispered.

  “I just wish it could be like this always,” she said with a sniff.

  “If we want to, we can make it so,” he said, dropping a kiss on her brow.

  She turned her dark, wet eyes up to his face. “Mrs. Addison,” she whispered. “She filed for custody. Here. She’s going to try.”

  “You called Cal?” he asked softly.

  She nodded. “I went to see him. We’re going to be gathering ammunition. Witnesses. There is going to be a hearing. He says a hearing is nothing to fear.”

  “We’ll make this work,” Owen said. “We won’t let go. Don’t worry.”

  She touched the angry muscle in his cheek with gentle fingers. “Owen, it’s not your fight. It’s mine.”

  He was quiet for a moment. “You know better than that,” he said.

  * * *

  Owen held them both through the night. Hannah could tell he didn’t sleep much. He was still but there was a tenseness in his body that revealed a carefully concealed restlessness. She woke a few times and looked at him and he looked right back at her. “It’s all right,” he said. “Just sleep.” Once she rose in the morning, he was up right behind her, but he tucked the covers around Noah before pulling on sweatpants and following her to the kitchen.

  They were quiet while Hannah made coffee. When two cups were brewed, Hannah sat down at the table with him. “I can’t lose him,” she said in a whisper.

  “You won’t,” he said, covering her hand with his. “I don’t want to invade your territory but I want to help if I can. You have to speak up, Hannah. You have to tell me what you can allow me to do.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said.

  “Well, I’ve been away. This has happened in my absence. I’d like to talk to Cal, ask some questions, find out what his strategy is. But you’re the client. If you’d like me to do that, you’ll have to tell him so.”

  “We can go see him together, if you want.”

  “Do you want my help? Is it all right that I’m involved?”

  She thought about what he’d been through, losing his own son as he had. Would he be traumatized? Could he be so overprotective that his rational thinking was slipping? Or would his own experience make him even more helpful? But the objective thinking was up to Cal, who had experience in this sort of thing.

  “I would like your opinion but I don’t want to be a burden,” she said.

  He shook his head. “You didn’t bring trouble to my door, Hannah. You came here with your boy, I love both of you and I want to be part of your lives. Just tell me if I’m too involved. Tell me if I need to back away.”

  “I will,” she said. “Right now I really do need your support. I’m scared, Owen.”

  “Is it all right to call Cal? I’d like to hear his ideas.”

  She nodded. “He filed for a continuance to gather together the people who knew Erin and Noah and Erin’s plans for Noah. He said he also hoped to be talking to some people who know the Addisons. He should be in touch about the date of the hearing soon. Like within a day or two.”

  Owen talked with Cal but had very little additional information to report to Hannah. The court date was set for just three days later. There was a rush to get plane tickets for their witnesses. Judd was able to put together a deposition from the babysitter, Linda. Kate was on her way but Sharon had to be excused, as her due date was upon her. Sharon was deposed at home. Kate was bringing clothes from Hannah’s house—business attire for her to wear to court.

  Then there was Noah. Some kind of explanation had be made but she didn’t want him to be worried. While they were reading in the hammock, she broached the subject.

  “Aunt Kate is coming tomorrow for a very short visit,” Hannah said. “I have to go to the court to wrap up a few loose ends about my legal guardianship of you. Just some minor legal details.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “Because you and Owen whisper a lot.”

  Oh, he was so smart. “I’m not worried about anything, but I do have to go to court and you really can’t go. Court can be long and boring so Sully said you can spend the morning with him. And if it takes longer than the morning, he will bring you back over here to let Romeo out. We’ve been talking about goin
g to court because Owen wants to go with me.”

  “Why?” Noah asked.

  “Because he cares about you. And he cares about me, too,” she said. “I bet you never thought we’d go through so much legal paperwork just to be together, did you?”

  “But it will be okay?”

  “It will be okay because I love you so much and I’m so proud of you,” she said. “I never thought it would be you and me, Noah. But now that it is I can’t imagine it ever being any other way.”

  “Hannah? What if you die?”

  She was stunned for a moment and just held him closer. She took a deep breath. “First of all, it’s highly unlikely. But I understand your worry about that. Your mom planned carefully, Noah, so if I couldn’t take you, Sharon or Kate could.”

  “And Owen? Could I stay with Owen?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that. That sounds like another question I have to ask a lawyer. And Owen. I would have to ask Owen.”

  “Will you, then? Ask him? I know he has a lot of trips and stuff but maybe I could stay with Cal or Sully when he has trips.”

  “Don’t you want to stay with Sharon or Kate?” she asked. “This is silly—I’m never leaving you. Nothing will happen to me, Noah.”

  “I like Kate and Sharon a lot,” he said. “But I don’t want to miss Owen and Romeo.”

  That dog better live to be a hundred, she thought. “We will talk about all possibilities and make sure you feel happy and secure. Okay?”

  “That would be good,” he said. “My first choice is you.”

  “And my first choice is you,” she said. “I miss my best friend Erin every day, and every day I say a little prayer of thanks to her for giving you to me.”

  Try not to become a man of success but

  rather try to become a man of value.

  —Albert Einstein

  10

  Cal was pleased with their assigned family court judge, one Leonard Vincente, who had been on the bench for forty years. But Hannah was a little panicked. She looked at his picture online. He was ancient.

  “He’s sharp as a tack and has decades of experience,” Cal said. “I’ve only been before him once but he has a very strong reputation. He’s respected. He comes across as a kind little old man but he has a very sharp edge and nothing much gets past him. That was both my experience with him and what I’ve heard about him.”

  “Why is he still on the bench at his age?” Hannah asked. “Isn’t he long past retirement?”

  “He obviously loves his work,” Cal said. “This is a small county and he’s been around a long time. His record is exemplary. He’s never been overturned in appeal. He appears to be a simple country judge but there’s nothing simple about him. He has a sophisticated knowledge of the law and its applications. And he is fair.”

  The courthouse was small and newer than most of the other buildings in Leadville and yet it was probably fifty years old. The hardwood floors were scuffed, the spectator benches few. There weren’t many cases being heard and Mrs. Addison was nowhere to be seen.

  Hannah and Cal took their places at the defense table at the front of the courtroom. Kate and Owen sat in the spectator’s section right behind them. There was a sheriff’s deputy, a court stenographer, a clerk and a woman who appeared to be a security or corrections officer. Then Hannah saw Helen walk into the room. She gave a little smile and wave and took a seat next to Kate and Owen. They all chatted quietly for a moment.

  Then Mrs. Addison and her attorney entered the room and walked down the short aisle to the front. Mrs. Addison smiled and nodded as if she knew the people around her. She did not look like her picture; her picture had not done her justice. She wasn’t a little old lady by any means. She appeared much younger than her years and sophisticated. Her hair was short and stylish in a salt-and-pepper cap; her figure was fit and trim. Her makeup was expertly applied and her black pantsuit was runway perfect. She ran her fingers through her hair on one side, briefly drawing attention to diamond earrings. She smiled at Hannah. She stood out in the room because of her beauty and attire.

  Her lawyer was young, perhaps around thirty, and he was very sharply dressed, as well.

  “Do you know any more about her lawyer?” Hannah asked Cal very softly.

  “No. But I looked him up when his name appeared on the paperwork. He hasn’t had time to get much experience but he has a good record.”

  Hannah couldn’t imagine this rich-looking creature wanting custody of a five-year-old on crutches, nor could she envision Mrs. Addison rolling around on the floor with Noah, fishing with him, piggybacking him along a mountain trail. It must be about the trust, Hannah thought. What else could it be? Erin said her mother would never see the truth about Roger. Could she want the inheritance for Roger? But surely no one could be that foolish, that cruel.

  Everyone in the courtroom stood as the judge entered and settled himself behind his large desk. He was smaller in person than in his photo. She felt a rising panic. She wasn’t sure what she had hoped for in a judge. Maybe a powerful Santa-like figure, someone who would be both kind and protective.

  “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “I’ve read through all the documents, the suits and countersuits, reviewed the in loco parentis petition, also known as grandparents’ rights, the will, the bequests, and have listened to and read all the depositions. I chose a hearing this morning because it’s a good opportunity to hear all sides of the argument in the form of a discussion, a conversation. Perhaps there’s a solution that hasn’t presented itself yet but once we hear each other, something will materialize. But let me begin this conversation by removing some of the suspense—I will not be reversing guardianship. The will and accompanying deposition are very clear and very reasonable. It was Ms. Waters’s wish that in the event of her death her son be raised by Ms. Russell. It appears she had very sound reason for making that decision. I won’t object to that.”

  Hannah let out her breath audibly, nearly collapsing against Cal. But Mrs. Addison broke down and began to sob. She cried against her folded arms, head down on the table. Her lawyer patted her back.

  “Mr. Renwick, do we need a recess?” the judge asked Victoria Addison’s lawyer.

  “Please give me a moment, Your Honor,” the young man said. He stroked her back and whispered to her.

  Everyone in the courtroom seemed to hang in suspense, waiting. Finally, Mrs. Addison lifted her head very dramatically, dabbing her wet cheeks, giving her nose a dainty blow, sniffing back emotion.

  “It’s okay, Your Honor,” she said, a quiver in her voice. “I apologize.”

  “Let me know if you need time to collect yourself,” the judge said. “As I was saying, the issue of legal guardianship appears to be settled to the court’s satisfaction. By my count, this will be the third court in these United States to settle it. Ms. Waters did an excellent job of seeing to her son’s future welfare. I have learned that she was familiar with the law and she followed it to the letter.”

  Cal stood. “Your Honor, in that case, can we dismiss these proceedings so my client can get on with her life?”

  “Not so fast, Mr. Jones. Not everyone here is satisfied quite yet. My primary concern is with our minor child. Five years old.” He clucked and shook his head. “And he has suffered an enormous loss. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to hear from the grandmother. According to sworn testimonies, you have not been a part of this young man’s life. Do I understand that correctly?”

  Mrs. Addison nodded, eyes closed, her chin quivering. “I have so many regrets. And now here I am, begging. Noah is my last living family and I’m being shut out of his life...”

  “I was given to understand you have a son...”

  “We are estranged, Your Honor. He’s a...” She cleared her throat. “He’s been in trouble and he stole from me. The problem is drugs, I think. I had to cut ties for
his own good.”

  The judge’s face remained expressionless. He said, “First your daughter and now your son? What prevented you from being a part of your grandson’s life before, ma’am?”

  “My own shortcomings, Your Honor. My daughter and I had a falling-out over my son, her half brother. He was in trouble. He did not treat her decently. No matter what I did, he was always in trouble and I tried my best to help him. Erin, my daughter, she gave me an ultimatum, insisting that I cut all ties with him or with her.”

  “And did she give you a reason for that ultimatum?” the judge asked.

  “The same reason I had for finally giving up on him. Roger was arrested a few times and even served time in jail. He called Erin for help a couple of times. She gave him money once and was never repaid and she was done with him. I can’t say I blame her but at the time I begged her to be patient and generous. In the end, I suppose it was my mistake. But a mother is stubborn. I wanted to help him straighten out. His father was a terrible influence, Your Honor. Needless to say, the family is split apart. My ex-husband died years ago, my son can’t be trusted and now my daughter is gone. And my grandson is being held away from me.”

  “And what measures have you taken to attempt a relationship with your grandson?”

  She looked shocked. “He was given to someone else to raise, Your Honor. I filed a request for guardianship and was denied.”

  “Did you contact your grandson’s guardian? Did you attempt any kind of reconciliation?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  The judge sighed. “Did you ask to visit with your grandson?”

  “No, Your Honor. It was made clear to me by the boy’s nanny that the boy was placed in the care of someone else, that my daughter stipulated he wasn’t to be a part of my life. You can’t imagine how that hurt. I regret not begging my daughter for another chance. I always thought there would be more time to make amends. I also thought Roger would grow up and straighten out but I was wrong about that, as well.”