every three months.
We were all so grateful for the unprecedented about-face that no one dared to call the staunch woman out on the fib. She was too proud to admit she’d made the wrong choice, but at least she was fixing her mistake.
After the judge promised us that the ‘clerical error’ in the judgment would be fixed straightaway, we turned to leave before she could change her mind again. It was all I could do to keep from skipping down the hallway, and the others seemed just as giddy.
Molly’s step faltered beside me when she saw the handcuffed woman sitting on a bench awaiting her time in court.
Angie’s eyes lit up at the sight of us, just before she said to Grant, “You’re a big celebrity. You can get me out of this little mess, right?”
“Why would I help you?” he asked her solemnly.
“Because I’m the mother of your son,” she screeched.
Grant shook his head and reached out to take Molly’s hand. “No, you’re not, and we just spoke with the judge from our case and got the mistake in our custody arrangement all straightened out. Scout will be living here in Maine with us.”
Evidently sensing that this avenue wasn’t working, Angie changed gears. In a frantic, desperate tone, she offered, “I’ll split the money with you. Two different magazines are in a bidding war for the first pictures of your son. I’ll share it with you, if you help me stay out of jail.”
“So, that’s what this was all about. You don’t care about Scout at all. You were just after a big payday.” Shock and disgust were evident in Molly’s tone.
Angie didn’t even bother to deny the truth in Molly’s accusation. “Grant, please. I need your help.”
“Once you’re out of jail and cleaned up, we can talk about your scheduled visits with Scout, if you truly want to see him. But we will require drug and alcohol tests each time, and there will be no pictures taken.” Grant told her firmly.
As a group, we turned to go with Angie shouting after us, “You can’t leave me here like this!”
26
Avery
Once we were outside the courthouse, we gathered as a group. Molly had happy tears in her eyes as she said, “Thank you all so much for bringing our little family back together. We did it!”
We whooped and hollered, drawing stares from the few straggling passersby, but not caring.
“We should go out to celebrate!” Grant suggested.
“Absolutely!” Meg quickly agreed. She was always up for a free meal.
Gage’s eyes sparkled with mischief down at mine, just before he said, “We could go get lobster rolls.”
I considered kicking him in the shin, but he was too damn adorable for me to stay truly angry with him for long. Instead, I redirected the group by saying, “It’s really early for lunch. How about if we head over to Levi’s bakery?”
“Great idea,” Meg said, obviously on board with visiting her husband at work.
Levi served us celebratory fresh blueberry muffins with steaming mugs of coffee.
We carefully clinked the mugs together in a toast when Gage said, “To Scout and his parents.”
“Here, here.” Grant said as we tapped, then took tentative sips of the hot brew.
Scout evidently felt left out because he lifted his sippy cup of juice and held it out to us. We all toasted again with him. This time, Molly looked at me and said, “Cheers to the happy new couple.”
Gage and I sealed this toast with a kiss on the lips. I was sure my mother would hear all about it before I had a chance to talk to her, but kissing Gage was worth facing her potential wrath.
Once our little party broke up, Gage and I walked hand-in-hand back toward his truck. When I mentioned that my mother would probably have the full scoop on our relationship before I had a chance to tell her, Gage said in a somber tone, “At least you still get to talk to your mom.”
I stopped walking and turned to face him. “Your mother doesn’t talk to you?”
Gage shook his head before adding quietly, “She passed away.”
My palm went up to my mouth before I said, “I’m so sorry.”
Curious, I asked him, “Did that last beating from Jack take her life?”
“No, she survived that, but just barely. I have no doubt that he would have eventually killed her, if he hadn’t been stopped. She died of breast cancer.”
“You must miss her so much,” I guessed.
Gage nodded before adding, “But I hadn’t seen her in a