The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(51)

They were quiet while Hannah made coffee. When two cups were brewed, Hannah sat down at the table with him. “I can’t lose him,” she said in a whisper.

“You won’t,” he said, covering her hand with his. “I don’t want to invade your territory but I want to help if I can. You have to speak up, Hannah. You have to tell me what you can allow me to do.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“Well, I’ve been away. This has happened in my absence. I’d like to talk to Cal, ask some questions, find out what his strategy is. But you’re the client. If you’d like me to do that, you’ll have to tell him so.”

“We can go see him together, if you want.”

“Do you want my help? Is it all right that I’m involved?”

She thought about what he’d been through, losing his own son as he had. Would he be traumatized? Could he be so overprotective that his rational thinking was slipping? Or would his own experience make him even more helpful? But the objective thinking was up to Cal, who had experience in this sort of thing.

“I would like your opinion but I don’t want to be a burden,” she said.

He shook his head. “You didn’t bring trouble to my door, Hannah. You came here with your boy, I love both of you and I want to be part of your lives. Just tell me if I’m too involved. Tell me if I need to back away.”

“I will,” she said. “Right now I really do need your support. I’m scared, Owen.”

“Is it all right to call Cal? I’d like to hear his ideas.”

She nodded. “He filed for a continuance to gather together the people who knew Erin and Noah and Erin’s plans for Noah. He said he also hoped to be talking to some people who know the Addisons. He should be in touch about the date of the hearing soon. Like within a day or two.”

Owen talked with Cal but had very little additional information to report to Hannah. The court date was set for just three days later. There was a rush to get plane tickets for their witnesses. Judd was able to put together a deposition from the babysitter, Linda. Kate was on her way but Sharon had to be excused, as her due date was upon her. Sharon was deposed at home. Kate was bringing clothes from Hannah’s house—business attire for her to wear to court.

Then there was Noah. Some kind of explanation had be made but she didn’t want him to be worried. While they were reading in the hammock, she broached the subject.

“Aunt Kate is coming tomorrow for a very short visit,” Hannah said. “I have to go to the court to wrap up a few loose ends about my legal guardianship of you. Just some minor legal details.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because you and Owen whisper a lot.”

Oh, he was so smart. “I’m not worried about anything, but I do have to go to court and you really can’t go. Court can be long and boring so Sully said you can spend the morning with him. And if it takes longer than the morning, he will bring you back over here to let Romeo out. We’ve been talking about going to court because Owen wants to go with me.”

“Why?” Noah asked.

“Because he cares about you. And he cares about me, too,” she said. “I bet you never thought we’d go through so much legal paperwork just to be together, did you?”

“But it will be okay?”

“It will be okay because I love you so much and I’m so proud of you,” she said. “I never thought it would be you and me, Noah. But now that it is I can’t imagine it ever being any other way.”

“Hannah? What if you die?”

She was stunned for a moment and just held him closer. She took a deep breath. “First of all, it’s highly unlikely. But I understand your worry about that. Your mom planned carefully, Noah, so if I couldn’t take you, Sharon or Kate could.”

“And Owen? Could I stay with Owen?”

“I don’t know the answer to that. That sounds like another question I have to ask a lawyer. And Owen. I would have to ask Owen.”

“Will you, then? Ask him? I know he has a lot of trips and stuff but maybe I could stay with Cal or Sully when he has trips.”

“Don’t you want to stay with Sharon or Kate?” she asked. “This is silly—I’m never leaving you. Nothing will happen to me, Noah.”

“I like Kate and Sharon a lot,” he said. “But I don’t want to miss Owen and Romeo.”

That dog better live to be a hundred, she thought. “We will talk about all possibilities and make sure you feel happy and secure. Okay?”

“That would be good,” he said. “My first choice is you.”

“And my first choice is you,” she said. “I miss my best friend Erin every day, and every day I say a little prayer of thanks to her for giving you to me.”







Try not to become a man of success but
rather try to become a man of value.

—Albert Einstein



10


Cal was pleased with their assigned family court judge, one Leonard Vincente, who had been on the bench for forty years. But Hannah was a little panicked. She looked at his picture online. He was ancient.

“He’s sharp as a tack and has decades of experience,” Cal said. “I’ve only been before him once but he has a very strong reputation. He’s respected. He comes across as a kind little old man but he has a very sharp edge and nothing much gets past him. That was both my experience with him and what I’ve heard about him.”