by Ana Newfolk
“I know, sweetie, we’ll do everything we can. Even if I have to steal you and Max and take you both to Portugal,” I joked, squeezing her tight.
“Isaac, I filed the temporary custody application overnight. The judge hearing today’s cases is a family friend. It doesn’t mean it will be easier because she will still decide based on the evidence and witness testimony, but she’ll know there’s good reason for me taking this case on.”
“Thanks, Peter; I appreciate all your help. Right, you beautiful girl, what do you say we go out there and kick ass?”
Lucy laughed. “You sounded really American just now.”
“Max must be rubbing off on me.” I winked.
“Ew.” They both replied.
I couldn’t stop fidgeting as we made our way to the courthouse in Officer Jones’ car with Peter following behind us.
Lucy was holding up surprisingly well but I could see it in her eyes. It was the same look she’d had when we’d found her in Lydia’s Magical Gardens. Absolute fear.
My phone rang in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen.
“Hi, David.”
“Isaac, what’s going on? You left a strange message on my phone and Joel has been trying to get hold of Max for hours.”
I sighed and told David what had happened. I realized I was on loudspeaker when Joel let out a loud curse.
“What the fuck is he playing at? Why didn’t he tell me what was going on?” Joel sounded so angry. I dreaded his reaction when and if Max told him what he’d gone through as a teenager.
“Joel,” I called as loud as I could over the phone, “I know how you’re feeling but right now we just need some support. Max needs you, you’re his best friend.”
“What can I do across the fucking ocean?”
“I don’t know. We’re on our way to the courthouse for the temporary custody hearing. If things progress we may need you as character references. Will you be able to fly at short notice?”
“Of course.”
I heard a rustling in the background and muffled voices.
“Isaac. This might not be the best moment,” David said, “but I thought you’d like to know Aunt Teresa has applied for full custody of Filipe in view of adopting him.”
“When will you know?”
“I think it can take a few weeks. Tiago is doing a great job with the lawyer here. They made Filipe see a psychologist and they say there’s enough evidence to suggest his grandparents aren’t fit to look after him.”
“Oh god, that’s great news, David. Send Teresa my love and tell Filipe I will send him a new superhero to keep his Superman doll company.”
“What Superman doll?” David asked.
“I gotta go; we’re arriving at the courthouse.”
“Good luck. Call us later, okay? No matter what time.”
His back was turned but I would have recognized him in the middle of a crowd. If he was a needle in a haystack my eyes would be the magnet that would find him.
“Max!” I cried. He turned around as I ran straight to him.
I caught his mouth like I needed to catch a breath. His arms were strong and tight around me. I didn’t care that we were on the steps of the courthouse or that everyone could see our display of affection. I wanted to touch him and never let him go.
“Baby,” he said in my ear as he inhaled my scent, “fuck you smell nice. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too. So fucking much,” I said between kisses to his neck. “You need a shower though.” The rumble in his chest made me all hot inside, and I nearly forgot we had an audience.
“Micah!”
I turned to see Lucy hugging a tall guy I hadn’t noticed was standing next to Max.
“Hey, how about me,” Max called out.
Lucy came over and placed herself between us, hugging Max tightly. “Hey, big brother.”
“Hey, little sister. How was your date yesterday?”
“It was good, I’m sure Isaac will fill you in.”
I winked at Max and he smiled back before kissing Lucy’s curly hair. “Lucy, I will do everything I can to keep you with me. I promise.”
“I know, Max. I love you.”
Max said, “I love you too,” as he pulled her into a tight hug.
“We should go. We have a room we can use to prepare for the hearing,” the big blond guy said as he shook Peter’s hand.
“Isaac, this is Deputy Chief Micah Nowac. He’s the reason they kept me in jail overnight.”
“What?”
“Calm down, let’s go inside. I’ll explain when we get in.”
The room we were in was set up like a conference room with a big TV screen at one end and a whiteboard at the other. Peter took a seat and Micah sat next to him. They went through Peter’s notes, although I still didn’t know what Micah’s role was in all this. Max pulled me and Lucy to the opposite side of the table and sat between us, holding our hands.
We spent the next hour preparing for the hearing. Peter explained the order in which everything would happen. He prepared us in case we were called.
“If I’m honest, I hope you are all called to the stand. You both have reputable jobs, no convictions, and it’s clear you really care about Lucy.”
“Does it go against us that Lucy hasn’t been at school?” I asked. I was afraid this would be a sticking point but the reason we’d agreed to keep her off for now was because we weren’t ready to face questioning from the school about Lucy’s whereabouts, and were worried it would somehow be fed back to her dad.
“There’s a small chance, yes, but Lucy ran away before she came to you so there are extenuating circumstances.”
“Will they be here?” Lucy asked.
“Who, sweetheart?”
“Dad and his wife.” It was a testament to how Lucy was treated in the Moretti household that she never called Max’s mom by her name. She was always her dad’s wife.
“We don’t expect them to be here,” Micah said. “They were the ones who raised the alarm that triggered the investigation, but since they are expecting us to still be investigating I don’t believe they’ll be here.”
Peter added that since he’d filed the paperwork overnight and the hearing was this morning, it was unlikely that their lawyers would find out about it in time to turn up. If the judge gave us temporary custody, they could challenge it but would still need to wait for a court date.
“How long do we have until the hearing?” I asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Peter said.
“Will you excuse us for a moment?” I got up and gave Max a silent message to come with me.
Max followed, not letting go of my hand. I’d seen a sign for the disabled toilets on our way in so I located them and locked us both inside.
As soon as I closed the door, he pushed me against it and put his hands on my face, pulling my curls back, and looked into my eyes. I rested my hands on his waist.
“What did you mean earlier?” I asked. “You told Lucy you’d do everything you could to keep her with you. Not us, you.”
“Isaac.” He took a small step back and broke eye contact.
“Max?” I choked.
“I… we can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“We can’t be together anymore,” he said.
He could have punched me right in the gut, or ripped my heart out with his bare hands. It would have had the same effect as his words.
“Why?”
“Because I’m about to fight for the right to keep Lucy away from my parents, and if the judge has a problem with our relationship they’ll send her right back to them. I can’t do that to her. I can’t…”
“Max.”
“And how about you? If they win I could be charged with kidnapping.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“How can you not? This could destroy your reputation. All the work you’ve done with the youth centers…”
“Is this what you really
want?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“No, goddammit. Of course not,” he shouted.
I hoped we couldn’t he heard outside the bathroom. Max ran his hands through his hair, his eyes giving his true feelings away.
“I love you so much, Isaac. Last night… fuck, last night was the worst night of my life.” He came back to me and rested his forehead on mine.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he said. “All I could think about was you being alone in the apartment and having to tell Lucy what was happening. I didn’t even find out until Micah saw me this morning. We have more people on our side than I thought, baby. But I’m scared they’ll use our relationship against me.”
I let out a long breath. He loved me. This wasn’t about us, but about him needing to protect Lucy.
“Do you trust Peter?” I asked.
“I do.”
“Then let him do his job. Please, Max, I can’t lose you,” I sobbed, “I can’t…” I shook my head until he put his hands on either side of my face and his lips on mine.
Max’s kiss was reverent, his lips explored mine as he pulled and sucked me into his hot mouth. I pushed forward to get more of him but since he still had hold of my face, there wasn’t anything I could do but accept it.
“Shh, baby, let me love you,” he said.
I relaxed into his hold and let the world and our fears disappear for a few moments longer.
When he was done I was drunk with lust, and love, and Max.
“This was never going to happen, was it?” he said almost to himself. “I never stood a chance to succeed at letting you go.”
“I love you so much,” I said.
“I love you too. Come on, let’s get out there and fight for our girl.”
Max took my hand so I followed him out of the bathroom.
I bumped into him when he froze.
“Mom, Dad.”
The well-dressed couple in front of us couldn’t have been mistaken for anyone other than Max’s parents. The blond hair and feminine features that made Max so beautiful were thanks to his mom, and the piercing dark-brown eyes were his dad’s.
That was where the similarities ended because unlike Max there was not an ounce of kindness or goodness in them. I knew it from their actions and could see it in the disgusted manner in which they were looking at us.
I’d only then realized we were holding hands. And they’d seen us come out of the bathroom together.
Fuck.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Max
I’d heard plenty of times friends saying that a certain look from their parents could take them right back to when they were five years old and were caught drawing stick figures with their favorite crayons on the living room wall.
I now knew what they meant.
Salvatore and Veronica Moretti had in some ways not aged a day and in others looked so different from what I remembered as a child.
The courage I’d borrowed from Isaac in the brief moment we’d had in the bathroom seeped right out of me when we faced my parents.
My mom still looked as made up as I remembered even if the layers of makeup had multiplied to hide her true age. Her long blonde hair I’d always thought looked like fairy hair was pinned up in a complicated do that made her face look too severe. It matched her true nature as much as the expensive-looking clothes she was wearing.
My dad had lost his mustache but his hair was still as thick and dark as before. He’d put on a few pounds that were well disguised by the striped tailored suit. I wondered where they’d got the money for it all.
Things had been tough growing up and money had been scarce. I’d known from an early age we didn’t have as much money as other kids at school but my mom never dropped me off looking less than her Sunday best.
The pain I felt at seeing them again was like a knife through my heart, with the look of hatred in their eyes an extra twist for measure.
How had I not seen it all those years ago? The answer was that I’d been a child and loved my parents unconditionally.
I’d thought they’d been great parents because they’d given me the freedom to do whatever I liked as long as I turned up for dinner on time, attended church on Sunday with them, and more than anything took part in all the school events. I’d always seen it as a sign that my parents were modern and open-minded. How wrong I’d been.
I saw the surprise in their eyes too. Not that they weren’t expecting to see me because if they were here they knew we would be in the same space. No, their surprise was at seeing me holding another man’s hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.
There was one thing I regretted in that moment and that was that they had seen me coming out of the bathroom with Isaac because I was afraid they’d use this against us later.
I didn’t, however, regret holding his hand, so when he tried to let go I held him tighter.
No words were exchanged but so much was said in that brief moment. There was the “I love you” I was saying to Isaac through my touch, and the “fuck you” I was saying to my parents with my challenge.
I carried on and walked past them, bringing Isaac along with me toward the meeting room. When we closed the door behind us I knew my legs were going to give in, so I let myself fall all the way down to the carpeted floor. My hands were shaking and my vision was becoming blurry.
“Isaac.” My voice was trapped in my throat.
He held a glass of water up to my mouth and I took a few sips. It was cool, and it felt good. I breathed in, trying to get my heart to resume its regular beating pattern.
“You did well, Max. I am so proud of you.” Isaac kneeled next to me and pulled my head to his chest. He kept praising me so I focused on his steady voice and let the tears fall.
When I found my breath again I looked around the room to see that all eyes were on me and Isaac. Micah and Peter looked worried and Lucy looked terrified.
“I’m okay. I promise. I’m okay.”
“What happened?” Peter said.
“We bumped into my parents.”
“They’re here?” Lucy shrieked and stepped back until she hit the wall and slid down to sit on the floor.
I took a deep breath and got up. Then I went to Lucy and picked her up. I needed to give her some confidence in her big brother. Once again I looked toward Isaac to steal some of it for myself. He was my guiding light in this moment of darkness when I wasn’t sure I could see the path ahead. He was there.
“Lucy,” I said, wiping the tears from her face with my hands, “I’m sorry for breaking down just now. It’s been a long time since I last saw them and I wasn’t prepared for it.”
“Did he hit you too?” she asked.
“No, sweetie, he didn’t. I thought he was the best dad because he never told me off or cared about what I was doing. Which I have to say was never anything bad. That was why it was a shock when I confessed to them I liked boys and they kicked me out. Seeing them brought back all those memories, but you know what? I’m glad I’ve already seen them because now I’m ready to go out there and fight them with all I have.”
I pulled Lucy into my arms. “You are the most important thing in the world to me and I will fight as hard as I can. We both will.” I looked at Isaac who was nodding fiercely and wiping his own tears.
Peter looked at his watch.
“It’s time, guys.” We followed him, leaving Micah behind.
“Is Micah not coming?” Isaac asked.
“He’s the proverbial card up my sleeve,” Peter said.
I’d once had to testify against the abusive husband of a patient I was treating because after he became abusive toward me the police had the evidence they needed to put the guy behind bars and give the poor woman her life back.
I’d gone into the courtroom with all the confidence of a twenty-year-old young man and as I saw the victim’s character being torn to shreds, I understood why so many refused to come forward.
This was a different courtro
om, but in some ways the emotions it evoked were all the same. In the back of my mind I felt like I was the one about to go on trial even though it wasn’t a trial at all.
Peter guided us through the wooden door that separated us from people in the audience and told us to take a seat at the desk facing the judge’s bench. I held Lucy’s hand and told her to keep focused on me and ignore everyone else.
Moments later I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Isaac sitting behind me on the other side of the partition. We exchanged a smile and then I noticed that Fernando and Diogo were sitting next to him.
Isaac leaned over. “Let’s show them what a true family really is.”
The door to the courtroom opened again, and my parents walked in with their lawyer behind them. They walked straight to their desk without sparing a look for Lucy who was doing her best to keep her head down. A shiver ran through her, like she could feel my dad’s presence in the room.
They didn’t want her; they wanted to get back at me. What for was anyone’s guess.
Everyone stood up when the judge came in. Judge Benson was an imposing African-American woman with short hair and a face that said she was all business.
She looked at the paperwork in front of her before speaking to my parents’ lawyer.
“Mr. Lewis, why are we here?”
“Well, Your Honor, as the paperwork states, my client—”
“Mr. Lewis, I can read. I know what the paperwork says. I want you to tell me in your own words.”
The lawyer looked at my parents and went through his notes.
“Mr. Summers,” she said to Peter, “it looks like Mr. Lewis needs a few moments. Why don’t we start with you?”
“Very well, Your Honor. I am representing my client, Max James, who wishes to apply for temporary custody of his sister, Lucia Lopez. We have good reason to believe Lucia has been emotionally and physically abused at the hands of her father, Salvatore Moretti.”
“Mr. Summers, according to my notes, Mr. James didn’t know he had a sister until recently. Is that correct?”