Chapter 2 - THE SON SHE BURIED
Margaret ordered the courtroom cleared.
Immediately.
Grant stood.
“Your Honor, this is highly irregular.”
Margaret looked at him.
For the first time in years, Grant didn’t look like her successful stepson.
He looked like a man caught standing too close to a fire.
“I said clear the courtroom.”
Grant tightened his jaw.
“You can’t possibly continue with this case now.”
“I know that.”
Margaret turned to the clerk.
“I’m recusing myself effective immediately.”
The room erupted in whispers.
Daniel laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Twenty years too late to worry about conflicts, isn’t it?”
Margaret felt the words land.
She deserved them.
Maybe not all of them.
But enough.
The deputies moved Daniel toward the side door.
“Wait.”
Margaret rarely raised her voice.
She didn’t need to.
Everyone stopped.
She looked at Daniel.
“Is she really my granddaughter?”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Her name is Lily.”
“I know her name.”
“No. You know what the paperwork says. You don’t know her.”
Margaret flinched.
Lily ran to Daniel.
A deputy blocked her.
She started crying.
“Daddy!”
Daniel’s entire body pulled forward.
“Let her come here.”
“Sir, step back.”
“She’s seven years old!”
The deputy reached for Daniel’s shoulder.
Daniel jerked away.
For one dangerous second, Margaret thought everything might explode.
“Enough,” she said.
The deputy looked at her.
Margaret pointed at Lily.
“Let the child hug her father.”
“Judge—”
“That wasn’t a legal order.”
Her voice softened.
“It was a human request.”
The deputy stepped aside.
Lily slammed into Daniel’s legs.
Daniel bent as far as his handcuffs allowed and wrapped his arms around her.
Margaret watched her son kiss the top of his daughter’s head.
Something inside her broke.
She had missed this.
Birthdays.
First steps.
Christmas mornings.
Sick nights.
School pictures.
Everything.
Daniel whispered into Lily’s hair.
“Where’s the other mitten?”
“At home.”
“What home?”
“The motel.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Okay.”
Margaret heard him.
“What’s inside it?”
Daniel slowly looked at her.
“Something Emily died trying to protect.”
Margaret knew that name.
Emily Reed.
Daniel’s wife.
Dead six years.
Car accident.
At least, that was what Margaret had read in the newspaper.
Grant stepped toward them.
“This is ridiculous.”
Daniel exploded.
“You stay away from my daughter.”
Grant stopped.
“Daniel, I understand you’re upset.”
“You don’t understand a damn thing.”
“Daddy,” Lily whispered.
Daniel forced himself to calm down.
Grant lowered his voice.
“You broke into my office. You put me in the hospital. Whatever fantasy you’ve built around Emily’s death doesn’t change that.”
Daniel stared at him.
“I hit you once.”
“You fractured my cheek.”
“You grabbed my daughter.”
Grant’s face changed.
Margaret noticed.
“What?”
Grant shook his head.
“That’s not what happened.”
Daniel stepped forward.
The deputies tightened their hold.
“You touched Lily because you thought she had the mitten.”
Margaret looked from one man to the other.
“Grant?”
Before he could answer, the courtroom doors opened.
A woman carrying a county badge walked in.
“Judge Hale?”
“Yes?”
“I’m with Child Protective Services.”
Daniel went completely still.
The woman looked at Lily.
“We received an emergency report regarding the child’s safety.”
Margaret felt ice move through her chest.
Daniel whispered one word.
“Grant.”
The CPS worker opened a folder.
“Pending review, Lily Reed is being placed in temporary protective custody tonight.”
May you like
Lily screamed.
And Grant smiled.
