The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(42)

Cal shook his head. “You’re his legal guardian. You don’t need permission to travel or vacation with him.”

“Can I get some kind of restraining order? At least preventing Roger from getting close?”

Again, Cal shook his head. “He might have a history of abuse but he hasn’t abused or threatened you or Noah. You can’t just sign out a restraining order because you don’t like someone or because you’ve heard bad things about them. That being said, I plan to look into his history with the law and find out what I can. If he’s a dangerous felon, we need to know.”

“Noah has cerebral palsy. He manages with leg braces and crutches. He’s in really good shape. He’s pretty strong and nimble. But, Cal, he can’t run away if someone is after him. He’s smart and happy and otherwise healthy but he needs health care supervision, physical therapy and a medical protocol. It’s amazing how well he’s doing after just losing his mother. He has his moments,” she added with a shrug. “His grief comes through, but Owen and Romeo help so much... The thought of him going to an abusive or uncaring home, even for a day or weekend, just fills me with panic.”

“Given the facts and Erin’s meticulous planning, I think we’re going to avoid that. Let’s save the panic for later. It might not ever become an issue. Are you still planning to stay the whole summer?”

“Of course. We’ll talk about the next steps in a couple of months,” she said.

“Are you considering adoption?” Cal asked.

“I am, but I don’t want to rush Noah. I want to be sure he understands he’s not giving up his mother. I also want him to know I want him forever. Before this complication, I thought we’d just take as much time as we needed to get to that conversation. Would it help if I—”

“I doubt it would make much difference. But unless you are subpoenaed or there’s a warrant and extradition, which is almost impossible, stay here. If you need something from your house, do you have a friend who can get it for you?”

“Yes. I wasn’t planning to go back before the end of summer.”

“Good. If there’s a court willing to hear Mrs. Addison’s case for custody or visitation, we should get Mr. Tamaris to step in, given he not only represented Erin, he’d known her for a long time.”

“And the court appointed an attorney ad litem to represent Noah,” she said. “The name is in the paperwork.”

“Excellent. Give me a few minutes to copy all of this. I’ll have a conversation with Mr. Tamaris, tell him that I’ve agreed to represent you and I’ll let you know where we are in a few days. I’ll also do a background on both Roger and his mother. Meanwhile, it might be best if you told your Minneapolis contacts not to share your current whereabouts with the Addisons.”

“Oh, believe me...”

“Try not to worry,” Cal said. “If Mrs. Addison had been involved in Noah’s life from the start, if she’d filed for her rights before the court granted your guardianship, she might have a case here, but if you’ve told me everything, I can’t imagine what leverage she would have.”

“Blood,” Hannah said. “She’s using the fact that she’s his only blood relative.”

“Hannah, the family court judge generally likes to keep families together when possible, but also does not hesitate to remove children from abusive or negligent homes to put them in foster care. How is Noah’s grandmother going to care for him? Is she gainfully employed? Independently wealthy?”

“There’s a trust,” she said.

“Is it large?” Cal asked. “Substantial?”

“Depends on how you look at it,” Hannah said. “When you consider what college might cost in a dozen years, when you consider any special needs he might have because of his condition, it’s probably not enough. If I didn’t have to think about Noah’s future, it would seem huge. Over a million dollars.”

Cal sat back in his chair. “Hello.”

“That’s what terrifies me,” she said. “That she could somehow get custody, get control of that trust, ignore Noah’s needs and—” She couldn’t finish. “Over the years she’s given her son a fortune to help him get out of trouble and I’m afraid that’s all she wants. Erin used to say, ‘If you met my mother, you’d like her. But she isn’t really who you think she is.’ Please help us, Cal. Noah shouldn’t have to shoulder any more disappointment. He’s been through so much.”

“Don’t worry, Hannah,” he said. “We’ve got this.”

  “Have you known Cal a long time?” Hannah asked Owen.

“I met him shortly after he and Maggie married. We run into each other sometimes. He hangs out at Sully’s with his daughter and I’ve seen him on the trail a few times. And in the way of this neighborhood, I know about him. People talk about him, about being helped by him, about helping him work on that barn. And there’s this understanding among the locals that Sully, while maybe the friendliest guy around, has an uncanny instinct about people and Cal wouldn’t be married to Maggie if Sully had a bad feeling about him.”

“He made me feel so much better,” Hannah said. “Do you think he’s actually a good lawyer?”