“Your Honor, I . . .”
“I want your honest opinion, Ms. Cole. Should the child be placed in the care of your client on a permanent basis?”
The truth. My truth . . . finally. It was the easiest thing in the world for me to give it to this man who held Zeb’s world in his hands.
“Zeb loves that boy and Hyde loves him back. They are a team, and while I recognize there is a learning curve for both of them, neither could ask for a better teacher. Zeb will never, ever give up on Hyde, no matter what issues from the child’s formative years may present down the road. He will work endlessly and tirelessly to make sure that little boy never goes without, and there has never been a man more willing to open up himself and his home for anyone. Honestly, Your Honor, I wish I was as certain in all my cases that the child in question was going exactly where he or she was supposed to be.”
The man’s eyebrows rose up on his forehead. “Both of them seem pretty fond of you as well, Ms. Cole. The reports from both the CASA representative and the social worker who visited the home mentioned both the father and son brought you up quite frequently in conversation.”
I felt myself flush. “This case started out on a personal note and became more so as I got to know the people involved more intimately.” Maybe it was a bad choice of words because the judge was going to know I meant that Zeb and I were involved sexually, but I didn’t care. There was nothing to be ashamed of. The woman without the mask knew that as she stood there confidently and unafraid of judgment.
“It’s rare that a child in the circumstances that Hyde found himself in has so many good people looking out for his best interests. He is very lucky.”
I nodded a little stupidly. “He is, but so are we. He’s a great kid, Your Honor.”
The judge nodded again and reached for his glasses. “You are someone special, Ms. Cole. In this courtroom and, if I had to wager a guess, outside of it as well. Keep that in mind after my ruling.”
I closed my eyes briefly as his words echoed Zeb’s statement that he was waiting for someone special to be in his life. I took a deep breath to steady myself and went back to the table as the judge told me to have a seat so he could read his final ruling.
“As far as the court is concerned, Mr. Fuller has met all the requirements mandated by the court and provided enough evidence that he is willing and capable to assume fully physical and financial responsibility of the minor child Hyde Bishop. The court reserves the right to intermittently check on the welfare of the child for the first five years of custody, but beyond that you are free to raise your son as you see fit, Mr. Fuller.”
He picked up the gavel, but before he brought it down he said, “On a side note, it does this often jaded court official good to see a man turn his life around, accept responsibility, and make selfless and caring choices. I didn’t know you before, Mr. Fuller, but the man standing before me now is the kind of parent I wish all children had fighting for them.”
The gavel hit the top of the bench, the judge left in a flurry of black robes, and I turned to Zeb with a huge grin as his mother and sister got up and slowly made their way over.
I wanted to reach out and touch him, to hug him and celebrate with him. His eyes were shining bright and his smile was so infectious that I couldn’t help but return it.
“You won.” I whispered out the words around the lump in my throat.
His grin dimmed a little and he climbed to his feet. I went still as stone when he bent over and pressed his lips to the top of my head.
“Not yet, but the game isn’t over yet.” He straightened to his impressive height and looked down at me with serious eyes. “Thank you, Sayer. You gave me everything.”
He walked away from me and threw his arms around his family. They all shared an embrace and I could hear his mom crying.
Victory was very sweet, but watching Zeb walk away with it because I wasn’t ready to let him share it with me felt like the greatest loss in the entire world.
CHAPTER 16
Zeb
Hyde had been in my custody for two full weeks when Rowdy called and told me that everyone was getting together at Asa and his girlfriend Royal’s new place for a housewarming party. He mentioned that everyone was curious about the little boy they had heard so much about from Sayer and that had been keeping me occupied. I hadn’t really seen much of my friends since the whole custody case started and I knew there was a big part of me that wanted to go on the off chance that Sayer would be there. I agreed to swing by for an hour and refrained from asking my friend Rowdy if his sister was planning on making an appearance. I knew he had to know what was going on—or rather what was no longer going on—between the two of us, and if he didn’t mention it I wasn’t going to either. That was an open wound that didn’t need salt poured on it.
Taking myself out of Sayer’s life ranked up there with the hardest things I had ever done. Seeing her in court, listening to her tell the judge about all the love I had to give to Hyde and yet not being willing to take any of it for herself when it was so freely offered had me ready to rupture at all the places where I was barely holding it together.
When she told me that I won I wanted to shake her and ask her how in the hell she could say that when we hadn’t spoken directly in a month. There was no winning without her being where she was supposed to be. She was supposed to be with me, with my son, and we were supposed to be a family. She was the one that had fought to make it so and she was the one walking away from the spoils of the war.