“She is, but she’s allowed only supervised visitation right now. She can’t take Molly on her own, and especially not in a car. She has a drinking problem.”
Sonja had opened her door and heard her. Over the roof, she glared at Anna. “I have primary custody of my daughter. This...woman has no say in whether or not I take her.”
“I’m sorry.” The teacher—fourth grade, Anna thought—stepped forward and opened the passenger door. “Honey, you need to get out.”
Molly appeared relieved and had started to comply until her mother snapped, “You stay where you are.” Confused, Molly froze partway.
Anna hustled around. “It’s okay,” she said quietly to Molly, holding out a hand. “You know I’m supposed to pick you up today.”
Face pinched, Molly gave a small nod and joined Anna on the sidewalk just in time for Sonja to reach them and grab her daughter’s arm and try to yank her away. Expression furious, she said, “Why don’t you tell the teachers what relationship you have to my daughter. Or, oh! Would that be none?”
“I’m taking care of Molly right now, and you know it.” Much as she hated the idea of using a child as the rope in a tug-of-war, Anna held tight to Molly’s hand. Looking over her head to the teacher, she said, “I think we need to take this to the principal’s office. We’re blocking all the other parents waiting to pick up their children.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what we need to do.” The teacher smiled at Molly. “You come with me right now and we’ll all sit down with Mrs. Bailey.” She leveled a look at Sonja. “Mrs. Kendrick, please circle around and park your car in the lot.”
“This scene is completely ridiculous!” Sonja stormed. “Neither of you have any business keeping my daughter from me.”
Anna finally noticed the teacher’s name tag. It was Mrs. Olivares who said, “I apologize for the inconvenience, but in a case of conflict like this, I have no choice. Once again, I have to ask you to move your car.”
Sonja made a furious sound, whirled and got back into her Jaguar. Since she was no longer blocked in, she accelerated fast.
Anna released a breath of pure relief. “Thank you, Mrs. Olivares. I’ll go rescue my kids and see you in the office. Just...please hold on to Molly until I get there.”
The teacher smiled reassurance. “Of course I will. Come on, honey. I bet I can find you some juice and a snack when we get in there.”
Ignoring their audience, Anna jogged to her car. She waved an apology to the drivers behind her, hastily put the car in gear and started forward.
Josh leaned forward. “Mom? How come Molly didn’t come with you?”
“We have to go to the principal’s office to straighten this out. Mrs. Olivares will make sure Molly’s mom can’t take her.”
A minute later, she parked close to the main entrance of the school, took out her cell phone and called Nate.
“We need you,” she told him, and explained.
“I’m on my way.” The last thing she heard was him swearing.
* * *
NATE WAS GRATEFUL to the aide who took all three kids to a break room. He wouldn’t have wanted any of them, but especially Molly, to hear what had to be said.
“No,” he explained to the school principal, “I did not remove her mother’s name from the list of people permitted to take Molly. That’s my mistake. I wasn’t sure I could do that without a court order.”
“You couldn’t!” Sonja said triumphantly. “You see? I have every right to pick up my own child.”
Mrs. Bailey’s pleasant composure never faltered. “Mr. Kendrick?”
“I trusted Sonja to comply with our agreement,” he said grimly, grateful for Anna’s calming presence in the chair beside him. “Some weeks ago, Molly called to tell me she couldn’t wake her mommy up. She thought she was dead. I found Sonja in an alcoholic stupor. She spent the night in the hospital and agreed the next day to complete a thirty-day, in-house, alcohol treatment program before she could have Molly at home with her again.”
“I never agreed—”
He ignored her. “Unfortunately, she chose to walk out of the treatment center at barely the halfway point. I checked on her to make sure she was all right, and found her drinking and emotionally volatile. I offered to pay for treatment when she is willing to resume it. Molly needs her mother, too.”
“Too?” Sonja exclaimed. “You mean, she needs her mother, period.”
“So Molly has been living with you, Mr. Kendrick?” the principal said.
“That’s correct. Mrs. Grainger—” he gave a slight nod and smile at Anna, knowing he couldn’t afford to betray how much he felt for this woman “—has been caring for her when I have to be at work. Molly already knew Mrs. Grainger and liked her. In fact, you may recall that Molly is in the same class with Josh Grainger.”
“That’s right.” Mrs. Bailey smiled briefly. Then, sounding troubled, she said, “I sympathize with your stance, but do we have a legal right to keep Mrs. Kendrick from taking Molly?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anna move as if to protest.
Fighting to maintain his calm, he said, “Sonja did not have the courtesy to inform any of us that she intended to pick up Molly. Mrs. Grainger would have had every reason to be terrified if she’d arrived to find Molly had inexplicably disappeared. I would certainly have called the police at that point, if you hadn’t already.”
Mrs. Bailey bent her head in acknowledgment, but also some reservation.
He met Sonja’s bitter, angry gaze. “If we ask a Bellevue police officer to do it, would you be willing to submit to a Breathalyzer test?”
She leaped to her feet. “You’re accusing me of being drunk?”
She gave off such a strong smell of mint, it had to be camouflage. His certainty gave him the confidence to say, “I think it very likely that you’ve had enough to drink that you shouldn’t be driving. Especially with a child in the car.”
“How dare you!”
“Do you deny any part of what I just told Mrs. Bailey?”
“Yes! I reacted because I mixed a medication with a drink. You turned that into a crime.”
He couldn’t be merciful. “The paramedics saw an alcohol overdose. They checked the kitchen trash, finding it half full with liquor bottles.”
“That’s such an intrusion—”
“They described you as hypothermic,” he continued, relentless. “Your breathing was irregular and too slow. If I hadn’t called for an ambulance, you could have died. On top of that, it was pure luck you landed from the couch on your side so that you didn’t choke on your own vomit. You and I both know I’ve been concerned for some time about your drinking. I think if a blood test had revealed a medication that might be partly responsible for your condition, you’d have thrown it in my face. Now, I’ll ask again. Will you submit to a Breathalyzer test?”
Her face twisted. “Because you asked? No, I won’t. But I’ll see you in court, you bastard.” She yanked the door open, lurched into the jamb on one side and rushed out.
The three people remaining sat in silence for a minute, hearing the rap of her high heels receding. Nate felt the gentle brush of Anna’s hand against his. It couldn’t be by chance.
He was able to blow out a breath. “I’m sorry I put you in this position, Mrs. Bailey, or made you listen to more than you ever wanted to know about Molly’s mother or our relationship.”
“Mr. Kendrick, it might astonish you to know how intimately acquainted I am with the family circumstances of a great number of our students. I do need to ask what you intend to do now.”
“File for full custody. I spoke to my attorney during the drive. He has no doubt my petition will be granted unless Sonja left here to check herself back into treatment. I doubt that’s what was on her mind.”
He saw her relief. “No, I don’t think so. I encourage you t
o try to hasten the process, so we don’t have to go through this again tomorrow.”
Nate rose and rested a hand on Anna’s back when she stood, too. He wouldn’t have been able to keep it together nearly as well had she not been here. Touching her now...settled him.
“Can you prevent her from taking Molly the next couple of days, or do I need to keep her home from school?”
“I believe I can justify that, knowing you’ve filed for custody and why. And that Mrs. Kendrick didn’t argue the fact that Molly is currently living with you and cared for by Mrs. Grainger.”
At last, they were able to claim the three kids and walk out to the cars. Molly seemed to have shrunk in size, her shoulders and arms squeezed tight to her body, her eyes fixed on her feet. She’d seized fiercely on to both Anna’s and his hands. He looked down and saw how crooked the part in her hair was. She was seven years old. He should know by now how to part her hair. Guilt struck even as her silent misery infuriated him. Damn Sonja.
His eyes met Anna’s. “Can you still get Josh to his practice?”
“Oh...” Anna broke the connection to check the time on her phone. “Maybe half of it.”
He was embarrassed by how much he wished she’d said no. A little gruffly, he said, “While you do that, why don’t I take Jenna and Molly home?”
She laid her hand on her daughter’s head. “What do you think, sweetie?”
Jenna nodded eagerly. “I can play with Molly.”
“That okay?” Nate asked.
Molly’s posture didn’t loosen, but she said, “Uh-huh.”
They parted ways at the parking lot, Nate shifting Jenna’s booster seat to the back of his Lexus and helping her buckle up while surreptitiously watching as Anna drove away.
Damn it, focus. Molly was what mattered right now. Was bringing Jenna along a mistake? It meant he and Molly couldn’t have the necessary talk yet—but he thought she needed a dose of normalcy first.
Starting the car a minute later, he glanced over his shoulder. “Did you two get a snack?”
“Mrs. Stockley gave us peanut-butter-and-chocolate bars. They were okay, but they weren’t as good as Mommy’s cookies. Were they, Molly?”
“No,” his daughter said softly.
“I’m thinking we might be able to find something tastier if we search the kitchen. What do you say, girls?”
Molly’s “Yeah” was a little quieter than Jenna’s, but satisfied him.
“Then let’s go home.” And it was home and not just a house, thanks to Anna.
Who wouldn’t be in his life a few months from now if she stuck to her plan. And, yeah, for a take-charge guy like him, he hated knowing there was only so much he could do to affect her decisions.
* * *
THAT EVENING, NATE stopped Josh with a hand on his shoulder. Anna had already opened the door to the staircase leading to the apartment. She was carrying Jenna, whose eyelids were drooping. This was Nate’s first opportunity to talk to Josh out of Molly’s earshot.
“Thank you for running to get your mother today,” he said gravely. “If you hadn’t done that, Molly’s mother would have gotten away with her.”
“She looked kinda scared,” the boy said, shifting uneasily. “But...her mom wouldn’t have hurt her, would she?”
“Do you know what it means when we say someone is drunk?”
His forehead wrinkled. “Uh...kind of. Like, falling down and stuff?”
“Right. If the police pull over a driver because they suspect he or she is intoxicated—drunk—they ask that person to show that they can walk in a straight line. Often, they can’t.”
His face cleared. “So they can’t drive straight, either.”
“Exactly. Molly’s mother has a problem. I think she might have had too much alcohol today to be able to drive safely. So Molly could have been hurt if they’d gotten in a car accident. Today, you were her hero, and mine.”
“Oh.” He squared his shoulders. “Molly and me are friends, and I could tell she didn’t want to go with her mom.”
“You acted without hesitating. That makes you special.”
Anna reached out a hand to Josh and gave Nate a tremulous smile just before she closed the door behind her small family, leaving him alone.
Nate scrubbed his fingers through his hair. He’d thought his job was stressful. The months before Sonja moved out were difficult. Seeing Molly leave with her mother had been one of the worst moments of his life.
Nothing like discovering he’d been playing in the minor leagues. Having your kid at risk, that was bad. A financial deal falling through? That was nothing.
There was a certain irony in him remembering what Sonja had said to him the day he’d told her he couldn’t join her and Molly for the field trip.
Some of us want an actual life.
She was right. His priorities had been skewed, although she was never willing to understand why he couldn’t take time off whenever he felt like it.
“You own the company!” she’d complained.
Where she’d been dead wrong was in declaring that she and Molly would be fine without him. They hadn’t been fine that day, and they’d become even less fine since.
Nate had come to despise the woman he’d humiliated today in the principal’s office, but he felt shitty about what he’d done to her, too. Not so long ago, he’d loved Sonja or at least convinced himself he did. Liked her, anyway. Enjoyed her in bed. She’d always been over-the-top emotional, but happy as often as she was sad. She was a smart, funny person. Alcohol had altered her entire personality. Or had he helped the change along?
No news there, he thought wearily, but now he was left to try to contain the ongoing damage to Molly. He didn’t know what to say and felt so damned alone. He’d have given a lot to have Anna with him right now.
Yeah, and how many times a day did he think the same thing?
He trudged upstairs anyway, hearing the sound of running water in the bathroom. Funny, he’d almost been sorry when Molly didn’t need help brushing her teeth anymore. He’d been responsible for her getting-ready-for-bed routine in general. Tucking her in had given him joy. It was to Sonja’s credit that she’d understood he and Molly needed that father/daughter time.
He went into her room and sat on the bed while he waited. A minute later, the bathroom door opened and Molly appeared, already wearing her Wonder Woman pajamas. She hesitated, as if surprised or dismayed to see him.
He smiled and patted the bed. “I came to say good-night.”
Her expression serious, she climbed in under the covers, although she stayed sitting upright. “Daddy? Is Mommy in trouble because of...you know?”
He swiveled to face her. “No, but I’m mad at her. Do you understand why?”
She concentrated on pleating her sheet. “Um...kind of.”
He did his best to put into terms she’d understand his feeling that Sonja had broken faith with him after making an agreement. He talked about how scared and upset Anna and he would have been if Molly had seemingly been snatched from school instead of being where she was supposed to be when Anna got there.
He finished by saying, “I’m not going to give up on your mom, and you shouldn’t either. She loves you a whole lot, and she was a great mother until she started needing the next drink of alcohol more than anything. Quitting drinking is really hard. We just have to be patient until she can do that. In the meantime, I love you. Keeping you safe is the most important thing in the world to me. Do you understand?”
Her head bobbed. He waited and was about to say good-night when Molly suddenly dove forward into the arms he managed to open to receive her. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I love you, Daddy! And...and I didn’t like Mommy today! I almost wish—”
With his cheek pressed to the top of her head, he prompted her. “You wish...?”
All he could do was hug his little girl, rock her and somehow convince her that this tumult of feelings was understandable. That she didn’t need to feel guilty, even though he knew she would, anyway.
Even though he, too, was guilty of wishing Anna could be her mommy.
CHAPTER TWELVE
MONDAY THE FOLLOWING WEEK, Anna was called for the first time to sub as a paraeducator. Confident she’d be staying longer with Nate and Molly, she had finally registered with two school districts, trying to improve her odds of working regularly. This job was at Rush Elementary in the Lake Washington district, north of Bellevue.
Jenna was happy to go to Mrs. Schaub’s and spend the day with her friends. Anna assisted in a second-grade classroom, leading reading groups, helping students with projects, gently guiding kids at a distractible age to keep their attention on their work. By the time she left, the aide she was replacing had called to let them know she’d be out another day, and Anna was asked to come back. She felt positively triumphant by the time she raced out to her car.
The trick was getting back to Bellevue in time to pick up Molly and Josh, which she barely managed. Fortunately, this was the next-to-last week of practice. Only two more games.
She was pleased when Nate asked right away after getting home how the day had gone—and then she got a good look at his face.
The lid to the saucepan she’d just picked up dropped to the counter. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” The creases on his face didn’t smooth out, but he shook his head. “It’s just this Sonja thing getting to me. We have a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.”
“Wow, that’s fast.”
“Thank God.” He rolled his shoulders. “I don’t trust her for a minute.”
“No.” What if Sonja had gotten to the school ahead of her today? She wouldn’t have been there to intervene. “Maybe I shouldn’t work until it’s resolved.”
“No.” He reached over the breakfast bar to lay his hand on hers. “I’m keeping Mrs. Bailey up-to-date. She’s alerted the teachers and aides to be on the lookout.”
In A Heartbeat (HQR Superromance) Page 12