36. Chapter 36

Not only did Beth have parental rights to my son terminated, but she also racked up a slew of criminal charges. Thanks to my previous court order stating that she wasn't to come to my home, and my neighbor's video evidence that she had done so many times, including trying to find a way into my home when she realized I wasn't there, stalking charges were added to the others she faced. She had already been charged with communicating threats, assault, child endangerment, trespassing, unlawful entry of an occupied dwelling, and possession of a schedule II-controlled substance that Beth did not have a prescription for.

She was remanded to jail until her criminal trial since there was no one available to bail her ass out. Having her locked up made for a less stressful move. There was no doubt that Beth would be able to find us easily once she was released, but with the combination of stalking, violence, and controlled substance charges, we hoped that she would be in prison for a good long while after her trial. I was also issued a restraining order against Beth for my son, Posie, and myself just in case justice wasn't served the way we hoped.

After moving all of our stuff into Pops' house, and storing some of it, I was crushed when Posie tried to go home to the barn on our first night back.

My family were all gathered in the living room as we recounted everything that happened with Beth when Posie yawned for the fifth time. J.J. had been down for the count two hours earlier. "Why don't you go on up to bed?" I asked her.

She stood and nodded but didn't head for the stairs. "Yeah, I'm wiped out." When she headed in the direction of the front door I ran after her.

"Where are you going?"

"," she insisted.

"No."

"Yes."

"Posie, why?"

She huffed her way through another yawn. "Max, your son has been through enough."

"Exactly why you should be here if he wakes up. He loves you."

"I love him too, but he just went through a whole ordeal with his mother, moved his belongings to a new place, and it hasn't really settled in yet that he's not going back to the only home he's ever really known besides Beth's apartment. He needs time to adjust before we throw me into the mix in a permanent way. I adore him, but I'm still a new person in his life. I'm also a new relationship for you, whether we've written letters to one another for years or not."

"I'm his dad, and don't see a problem."

"That's because in your mind we've sort of been together all along, even though that isn't true."

"It is true, though."

"Your son doesn't know our whole history. Let's wait until he's more adjusted."

"You're overthinking things," I argued.

"Son," my dad called to me, and I turned to see my parents and Evan standing there watching us. "I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but we think Posie is right about this. J.J. has had a hell of a couple weeks. It won't hurt to give him an adjustment period. He can still spend time with Posie, so they can get to know one another, but moving in together should probably wait."

"You never know what will happen with that evil mother of his either. It's best to have all your ducks in a row for legal reasons," My mom added.

"I have full custody of him now," I argued again, though it was weak as their arguments started to penetrate my own selfish desires. While it was true that my son knew all about Posie, she was still a new person in his life, and it probably wasn't fair to drop her in as a new member of our household all of a sudden.

"You have to check in at the station tomorrow," Posie said which drew my attention back to her. "You can bring him to the barn, and I can show him around and hang out while you do your thing there. It will give J.J. and me a little one-on-one time to get to know one another better."

I nodded and then moved in to give her a kiss goodnight. "See you in the morning, sweetheart."

"Don't be mad at me," she begged before backing out of our hug.

"Sweetheart, you're looking out for my son's best interest over ours. I could never be angry about that."

Posie's smile lit up the entire room the minute I reassured her.

"See you guys in the morning. You have the key and code, so help yourself inside whenever you guys are ready in the morning."

After getting to spend a few nights with Posie in my arms, it sucked that she wouldn't be there again for a while, but I understood what everyone had been trying to say to me. My son came first, even if I thought Posie fit into our lives like a puzzle piece that had been missing, J.J. had never had that puzzle piece in his pile to start with to know that she needed to be plugged in with us.

Over the next few months, Posie and I dated like a normal couple. Like a normal couple who knew one another a lot better than most, at any rate. She watched my son some days while my mother took him other days. When J.J. finally started asking questions about why we don't live with Posie, we knew it was time to start addressing that situation.

"You ready to move in?" I asked her one day when she brought lunch to me at the station.

She shook her head. "Not yet. I have someone coming by to discuss the barn expansion."

My brows went up in shock. We had discussed expanding the barn to a full house and studio before shortly after Pops passed away, but when it was never brought up again, I assumed she would eventually move in with me and J.J. in Pops' old house. "I didn't realize you were still thinking about that."

Posie smiled at me and nodded her head enthusiastically. "If you don't want to, we can discuss other options, but here's what I was thinking…" She took a deep breath and then dived into her plan to give us all a fresh new space for our new start together. My woman wanted to have a barndominum built on the other side of her barn with a roof over that attached the current structure to the older one, to leave an outdoor area in between them where J.J. could play or we could entertain outdoors even in bad weather.

"I'll still be able to keep my studio for work in the old barn and have it separate from where we live, while giving us all a new beginning in a house we work on building together."

"What about Pops' place?"

"Well, I have an idea about that, too."

"Do tell, sweetheart."

"Jake still wants to move here, right?"

"Yeah, once he's finished with the assignment he's working on." My best friend was undercover in an operation that could take as long as a year to finish. Posie knew about it, but we didn't normally bring it up in public spaces.

"Right, and that could take a while and Angela won't want to move here until he can come with her, so it gives us time to get our house built and then we can rent Pops' house out to them."

Angela was the woman Jake had been dating seriously for the past two years. I wasn't certain that she had staying power with him undercover, but that didn't mean Jake wasn't ready to move anyway. The undercover work was wearing on him. It was rare that I received updates, but his handler kept me in the loop as much as he was able. I worried for my friend, considering he was only three months in on the assignment and already voicing his discontent.

"You would be okay with Jake living in your dad's house? I asked after putting my worry for my best friend aside for later.

Posie rolled her eyes at me. "Jack has been gone a while. You've complained more about wanting to update the place, while Jake loves the old, homey feel. It would mean that your best friend lived next door, which is a huge plus in my book. We can design our own home to be a good mix of modern and homey. You love my barn and have talked about incorporating updates that I have into the old house where it will be costly to do so." She offered up a shrug of her shoulders as if to say, ‘Seems like a no-brainer to me'.

"Okay," I agreed.

"Seriously?" She hopped up and down in her seat, which worked to get my dick hard.

"Fuck my life, Posie. I have to hide under my desk for the next few minutes now. Keep your luscious tits from bouncing in my line of site and I'll let you have veto power for everything on our new house."

My woman giggled and stood up to lean over and give me a sizzling kiss that did nothing to cure the problem I had in my pants.

After Posie left, my Chief came to my desk and grinned down at me. "You are one lucky son of a bitch," he stated.

"I fuckin' know it. Took me long enough to get here with her, so I appreciate every fuckin' minute."

He knocked on my desk twice. "Glad to hear it. Her father was a friend of mine a long time ago. He'd be happier than a pig in shit to see his little girl glowing the way she does around you."

I didn't realize that my Chief had known Posie's dad. It should have clicked, since he was a couple years older than my own father, that he was probably around when all that shit went down with their first child. Still, it made me feel good to know someone else – who I wasn't related to – thought her father would have approved.