The Sheriff's Mail-Order Bride (The Watson Brothers #2)(39)

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Gina’s hopes of getting Tyson out of the way before they started talking over her case were dashed when he followed Layla inside, like a hungry puppy after a big juicy bone. He looked totally besotted with her and Gina couldn’t blame him. She was stunning and seemed like such a determined person. Layla was put together like the perfect package, and Gina felt inadequate beside her. What is it going to take for me to stand up for myself? I don’t want him here to judge me but I’m hardly in the position to piss off the lawyer.

Rory took the sleepy little boy from her arms and carried him upstairs, leaving her at a loss for something to do to keep her hands busy. Her nerves were shot and having Tyson around didn’t do anything to help.

“Right, let’s get this started, shall we?” Layla picked up her briefcase just as Rory walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

He came over and put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. “It’ll be fine, stop stressing.”

She took a deep breath and let herself be led to the dining table where everyone else had already taken a seat.

“Right.” Layla took out a legal pad, pen, and a sheath of papers. “This is what I have so far. Feel free to interrupt anytime, Gina, and give me the facts as you know them. I want to keep on track with this so let’s keep assumptions to a minimum, please, and if you have nothing to add, keep your opinion to yourselves, it will only slow us down.” She looked at everyone around the table in turn.

Gina glanced at Tyson, but his gaze remained locked on Layla.

“Right, Mr. and Mrs. Bellingham have filed suit for the sole custody of your son, Fisher. The reasons behind this are as follows. You are being cited as an unfit mother.” Layla looked at her. “From what I can find out, they’ve done some digging around and found out about your family history as well as the hovel you and Fisher lived in. I quote, ‘the appalling conditions she subjected the child to and the unsupervised time when she was elsewhere.’” Layla raised an eyebrow and glanced at Gina. “Care to fill me in?”

Gina felt the blood drain from her face and gripped the edge of the table. Why would someone tell them that? It’s not fair. I did my best.

“What does she mean?” Rory gripped her hand. “Gina, what did you do to Fisher?”

She swallowed, feeling the cold sweat break out on her face. What would he think of her when he knew how she left her son alone? “I…I couldn’t help it. I had no choice.”

“No choice with what?” His hand pinched her skin, his grip that tight.

Gina looked into his eyes. This might be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Rory would frown on this kind of behavior, she knew he would. “I had to leave Fisher alone in our room one day.” The collective gasp around the table wasn’t a surprise to her. “It was only for a moment, I swear. It was so cold outside and he was already sick. I didn’t want to take him outside.” She glanced at Layla, begging her to understand.

“My neighbor was out, the one who used to babysit for me. I don’t know where she was or when she’d come back but I ran out of formula and he was past due for a feed. I know I shouldn’t have but I’d been under a bit of stress with work and everything—my mind was on other things.” Like how I was going to afford to feed my baby. “I had to go to the pawn shop, get rid of the last thing of value that I owned, my father’s watch. It would have been enough to feed Fisher until I got another job.” She reached out to Rory. “It was only for a moment. I swear it was.”

“It must have made an impression on someone for them to remember it and tell the other side.” The lawyer’s cool gaze raked over her skin.

“When I got back he was crying and they were trying to open the bedroom door. But he was fine, merely crying in hunger and feeling miserable with his cold.”

“This might be the action that will cost you your son. You do realize that, don’t you? It’s what some would called abandonment. If it can be proven that you left a tiny baby alone, it won’t look good for you in court.”

She’d been prepared for it but hearing it from Layla made it all the more damning.

“How could you?” Rory pulled his hand away and stood up. She watched him stumble to the kitchen counter and lean heavily against it. Chance rose and went to him, slipping his arm across his brother’s shoulders and talking in whispers that she couldn’t hear.

“It was unavoidable and it wasn’t as bad as it sounds.” She lifted her chin and stared at Layla. “We lived in an old run-down house in a business district. Next door there was a pawn shop, a grocery store, and a liquor outlet. I could hear my baby from the shop when the wind wasn’t howling up the alleyway. It wasn’t as though I caught a bus uptown.” She glanced over at Rory who stood watching and listening.

“It was either leave him where he was warm and dry or take him out in the rain when he was sick, only to make him sicker still. There was no way I could have afforded the hospital if he got pneumonia so I chose what I thought was best for my baby and, as you can see, it didn’t do him any harm. I was able to conduct my business within minutes and if it wasn’t for my ‘neighbors’ wanting to stick their noses in where it wasn’t their business, they wouldn’t have been any the wiser. Fisher was hardly screaming the place down. He’d only just woken up and was getting fidgety when I got back.”