[CHAPTER 7]
I moved away from the window.
“Daniel.”
He heard something in my voice.
“What?”
I pointed without stepping closer.
“There’s a car across the street.”
Nathan immediately looked.
Daniel reached for his phone.
Lucas did not need anyone to explain.
He went white.
“Is it her?”
“I don’t know,” Daniel said.
But none of us believed that answer.
Daniel called the police.
The SUV pulled away before officers arrived.
We never saw the driver clearly.
The plate had been partially blocked by mud.
That could have been coincidence.
Nobody in the house believed in coincidences anymore.
Daniel hired private security that same night.
Two professionals rotated outside.
Cameras were added to every entrance.
Motion lights covered the backyard.
Nathan warned us not to turn the house into a prison.
But Lucas already felt imprisoned by fear.
Every sound made him look toward a window.
Emma refused to sleep unless my hand was resting on her blanket.
I stayed in the guest room for the next week.
Not because Daniel asked me.
Because Emma did.
On the third night, she woke screaming.
“Open it!”
I ran into her room.
She was sitting upright, clawing at her comforter.
“It’s open,” I said.
“Emma, look at me.”
Her eyes found mine.
“There’s no door.”
She cried against my chest.
“Vanessa closed it.”
“I know.”
“I yelled.”
“I know.”
“Lucas heard.”
“Yes.”
She whispered, “Daddy didn’t.”
That hurt more than anything.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
He had heard her.
Emma saw him.
Her body went stiff.
He did not approach.
He sat on the floor near the door.
“I didn’t hear you,” he said.
Emma watched him.
“I’m sorry.”
She buried her face against me.
Daniel stayed.
He did not ask her to forgive him.
He did not tell her it was not his fault.
He simply stayed.
Eventually Emma fell asleep.
Daniel remained on the floor.
I covered her with the blanket.
When I passed him, he whispered, “Thank you.”
I nodded.
The next morning, Lucas’s court-appointed child advocate arrived.
Her name was Karen Fields.
She asked to interview him alone.
He agreed only after making sure Daniel would remain downstairs.
An hour later, Karen joined us.
“Lucas wants permanent placement with Daniel.”
Daniel nodded.
“That’s what I want too.”
Karen studied him.
“Wanting it is not the issue.”
“What is?”
“Legal standing.”
Nathan had already explained.
Karen continued.
“The court will consider the existing relationship, Vanessa’s conduct, Lucas’s safety, and whether another biological relative seeks placement.”
Lucas appeared behind her.
“What relative?”
Karen turned.
“We are still required to identify family members.”
His face changed.
“I don’t want strangers.”
“They may not be strangers.”
“They are to me.”
Daniel stood.
“Who?”
Karen checked her notes.
“His paternal grandmother.”
Lucas stared.
“My dad’s mom?”
“Yes.”
He looked at Daniel.
“I’ve never met her.”
Daniel frowned.
“Neither have I.”
Vanessa had always said Lucas’s biological father’s family wanted nothing to do with him.
Apparently that was not entirely true.
Karen had contacted Margaret Bennett that morning.
Margaret claimed Vanessa cut off communication after Lucas’s father died.
She said she had sent letters.
Birthday gifts.
Requests for visits.
Lucas looked confused.
“I never got anything.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Karen said, “Mrs. Bennett is coming tomorrow.”
Lucas immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“She has asked to meet you.”
“No.”
“You do not have to decide anything tomorrow.”
“Can she take me?”
“No one is taking you tomorrow.”
Lucas looked at Daniel.
“Promise?”
Daniel hesitated.
He had learned something important.
Never promise what you cannot control.
“I promise I will fight for you.”
Lucas’s eyes filled.
Daniel added, “And I promise I will tell you the truth, even when I don’t know what happens next.”
Lucas nodded.
That was enough.
Margaret Bennett arrived at noon the next day.
I expected someone dramatic.
Instead, she was a small woman with gray hair and tired eyes.
She stopped when she saw Lucas.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh.”
Lucas stayed beside Daniel.
Margaret cried quietly.
“You look like Michael.”
Lucas did not answer.
Karen sat with everyone in the living room.
Margaret explained that her son Michael had struggled with addiction for years.
Vanessa had left him when Lucas was three.
Michael eventually entered recovery but remained unreliable.
He died in a car accident when Lucas was eight.
Margaret had tried to maintain contact.
Vanessa refused.
“I thought Lucas hated us,” Margaret said.
Lucas looked at her.
“I didn’t know you existed.”
Margaret started crying again.
“I know that now.”
Then Karen asked the hardest question.
“Are you seeking custody?”
Lucas grabbed Daniel’s hand.
Margaret saw it.
Her face softened.
“I came because the state called me.”
“That isn’t an answer,” Karen said.
Margaret looked at Lucas.
“Do you want to live with me?”
Lucas shook his head immediately.
“No.”
Daniel squeezed his hand.
Margaret nodded.
“Then I am not here to drag you somewhere you don’t want to go.”
Lucas stared at her.
“You’re not?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I already lost too many years.”
She wiped her eyes.
“I don’t want the first thing I give you to be another reason to be afraid.”
Something inside the room changed.
Lucas slowly relaxed.
Then a security alarm sounded.
One sharp chime.
Daniel’s phone lit up.
BACK DOOR MOTION DETECTED.
Everybody stood.
A second alert appeared.
SIDE GATE OPENED.
The security guard outside shouted.
Daniel moved toward the hallway.
Nathan, who had arrived for the meeting, blocked him.
“Stay with the children.”
We heard pounding.
Then a woman’s voice.
“Lucas!”
He stopped breathing.
Vanessa.
“Lucas! Come outside!”
Margaret looked stunned.
Daniel grabbed both children and moved them away from the windows.
Vanessa screamed from the yard.
“You belong with me!”
Police sirens began in the distance.
Then Vanessa shouted one sentence that made Lucas burst into tears.
“You think Daniel wants you now? Wait until this scandal is over!”
Daniel held him tighter.
“No.”
Lucas cried into his chest.
Daniel spoke loud enough that I think even Vanessa heard through the glass.
“I wanted you before the scandal.”
He looked down at him.
“I want you now.”
May you like
Sirens grew louder.
“And I will want you after it is over.”
