Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Aweek went by in a silent truce, but Jace felt a shift in Charlie. He told himself it was stress over the baby. They were all tense, counting the days until the thirty-seven-week mark of Charlie’s pregnancy when, for all intents and purposes, the baby would be out of the woods.

Mary Ann had gone radio silent, giving Jace hope that she’d skipped town. Once a quitter, always a quitter.

Or worse. Perhaps it was the calm before the storm.

Travis’s poison oak was all but gone and Grady was preparing for summer break. Next week there were finals and then, according to Grady, it was lazy days hanging out at the creek or the Dry Creek public pool.

Whatever had been eating him seemed to disappear along with Mary Ann’s relentless phone calls.

“Shake a leg.” Jace banged on Grady’s door. “Pancakes in five. If you miss the bus today, it’s a long walk to school.” Jace’s way of saying he wasn’t driving him.

He had a cattlemen’s meeting in the opposite direction of the high school and his schedule was tight today. He was trying to clear the decks before the baby came so he could take time off.

Charlie wandered into the kitchen just as Jace was serving up Travis and Grady’s pancakes.

“Morning, sunshine. You want pancakes?” She was hardly eating these days and it worried him.

“I’ll have one or two.”

“Coming right up.” He made them extra thick and passed her the syrup.

“What’s on your plate today?” he asked her and she rolled her eyes.

“Same old. ER reruns, followed up with sleep, and then more sleep.”

He grinned. “It’s almost over. And when it is, you’ll pray for sleep.”

“I suspect that’s true.” She smiled back.

It was the first one he’d gotten out of her in a while and it lit him up.

Travis excused himself to do chores and Grady took off to meet the bus, leaving Jace alone with Charlie.

“I’ll try to get home early today,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it. Between the boys and the cousins, I’m waited on hand and foot.”

“You ever think I might just want to spend time with you?”

She didn’t say anything and he shook his head.

“You’re still pissed that I went to Mary Ann’s house? Jeez, Charlie, let it go already.”

“When you let her go I’ll stop being pissed. How’s that?”

“What do you want from me? You want me to tell her she can see Grady whenever she wants or that she can keep on harassing Travis until he relents? Would that make you feel better?”

“All I’m saying is that the boys should be able to make their own decision. First, though, they should hear what she has to say. But as long as you go around bullying everyone, that’s not going to happen.”

“Bullying everyone?” He snorted. “I’m tired of talking about this. We haven’t heard from her in a week. She’s probably gone. She probably went back to France or whatever place she saw last on the Travel Channel. Can’t we just give it a rest? I’m tired of talking about her.”

“Are you, though?”

“Okay, I’m leaving to go to work now before this turns into a fight, which for the sake of our baby neither one of us needs.” He swiped his hat off the hook in the mudroom on his way out and got as far as the ranch gate before he pulled over to the shoulder of the road and dialed Charlie on his phone. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

This would pass, he told himself as he caught the highway to the Auburn Cattleman’s Hall, then sat through a boring meeting on beef prices. Cash, Sawyer, and Tuff usually joined him for the biannual meetings, but today his cousins were MIA. He’d give them hell for it later.

When he got back to his office he found Brett waiting.

“Annabeth let me in. I have something for you in my truck.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“Come on out and see.”

He followed Brett to the Civic Center parking lot. Brett’s truck had been modified with all kinds of nifty hand controls so he could drive it, and even had a lift for his wheelchair. A veteran’s group had paid for it and Jace made sure to donate to the nonprofit every year.

Inside the bed was a cradle made of pink ivory wood. Jace only recognized the wood because he’d seen it in Brett’s shop and had commented on how beautiful it was.

“Take it out,” Brett said.

Jace hoisted it out of the bed of the truck and ran his hands over the fine workmanship. It was as much a piece of art as it was furniture. “This is freaking amazing. I don’t know what to say, man. This is just . . . you’re an artist.”

Brett’s grin spread across his face. “It swings.” He pushed the cradle to show Jace how it worked.

“Charlie’s going to go nuts. Wow, I can’t believe you did this for us. This is like an heirloom . . . something to cherish.” Jace was too blown away to put into proper words how much the gift meant to him. Not just because it was a thing of beauty but because Brett had gone through so much and had come out the other side.

“Enjoy it, amigo. I’ve got to motor, but I’ll see you around.”

Jace stashed the cradle in his office for safekeeping. As usual, his inbox was clogged with dozens of emails. Most of them junk. But there was one that stood out from the rest, making him curse under his breath.

Jace: Attached is the original court filing for custody. Note that I get visitation rights one day a week, every other weekend, and half of all calendar holidays. I would like to spend the day with Grady Friday, after he gets out of school. Then we’ll take it from there. Please let me know if that works with everyone’s schedule. If not, I’m willing to choose another day next week.

Thanks,

Mary Ann

He clicked on the attachment, even though he remembered exactly what it said. He was the one who’d initiated the custody arrangement, with no pushback from her. In the beginning, for the sake of the boys, he’d wanted joint custody. But she wasn’t interested. Hell, most of the time she didn’t even show up for her weekends, let alone the weekday visits. And then she left the country.

Jace forwarded the message, then called his lawyer and told him to check his inbox.

“Is the agreement still valid after all this time?” Jace asked. “Can she disappear for six years without exercising her visitations and then just like that demand them? Tell me this is BS, Jerry.”

“Let’s calm down and give me a second to read everything.”

Jace hung on while Jerry read the court order.

“It looks pretty clear-cut as far as Grady, Jace. As I told you before, Travis is aged out. It’s up to him whether he wants to see his mother.”

“Even after all this time? Even after she disappeared on the boys? Isn’t there something in the law that says if you don’t use your visitations, you lose them?”

“Maybe, but that would require going back to court, making a case against her. I’m not going to lead you down the garden path, Jace. It’s a difficult case to make unless there is evidence of abuse. The judge would likely want to hear from Grady. If you want to fight, we’ll fight. But take some time to think about it.”

Jace couldn’t believe that a woman who had all but thrown her children away could actually have rights.

He caged his fury and asked, “What do I do in the meantime? Force my kid to spend the day with her?”

“If you don’t want to be in contempt of court, you do. You could try stalling. Tell her Friday won’t work and schedule something for the end of next week. Then if you want me to seek an emergency change in visitation, I could try. But the chance of getting one is slim to none given that this isn’t considered an urgent situation. And Jace, it’s only temporary. You’d still have to go through the regular hearing process, which could take more than a year.”

Jace got it. Mary Ann was an absent mother, not a violent one. He’d seen the ravages of abuse in a home and he’d never compare that to his situation with Mary Ann.

“Okay, let me think about it,” he told Jerry.

“Let me know what you decide. And I’m sorry, Jace.”

After he hung up he considered paying Mary Ann another visit, but what was the point? It was now clear that his ex-wife was here to stay. And to fight for the children she should’ve cared for six years ago.

* * *

That evening he called a family meeting and explained to Grady about the original custody agreement and how Mary Ann got to see him once a week, every other weekend, and on alternate holidays.

“So, I couldn’t be with you guys on Christmas, I’d have to be with her?”

“We’re going to try to change that,” Jace said. “I don’t want you to worry. And as far as this Friday, I’ll send her a message that you’re not available. Sound good?”

“What about Travis?” Grady wanted to know.

“Travis is nineteen, so none of this applies to him,” Jace said.

“But he can see her if he wants to, right?” Grady turned to his older brother.

“I’m not seeing her. She can go to hell for all I care.”

“Travis, please don’t talk like that,” Charlie said.

“Sorry.”

Jace reached over and squeezed Grady’s arm. “Hey, buddy, I don’t want you to worry about this. No one is going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, comprendes?”

Grady worried his bottom lip. “Yeah, I guess. Can I go do my homework now?”

Jace and Charlie exchanged glances. Grady asking to do homework was as common as Jace winning the lottery, which was to say never.

“Go for it, kiddo.”

“If the meeting is adjourned, I’m going over to Ruben’s to see his new car.” Travis got to his feet. “I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“Be careful,” Charlie said. “It’s foggy at night.”

“I always am.” He kissed her on the top of her head and left through the back door.

“I thought he was on the outs with Ruben.” Jace couldn’t stand the kid. He was a spoiled brat and a bully, but he made it a policy to let his kids pick their own friends.

“My guess is he’s more interested in the car than hanging out with Ruben,” Charlie said. “What are you planning to do about Friday?”

“Tell her Grady already has plans, which isn’t a lie. Last I looked his dance card was packed with end-of-the-school-year activities.”

“And then what? You can only come up with so many excuses.”

Jace leaned back his head. “Go back to court.”

“I thought the lawyer said it was a long shot, that judges tend to favor the mother in situations like this?”

“I don’t know, Charlie. What do you want me to do? You saw Grady. He wants no part of her.”

“Or he thinks you want him to want no part of her.”

They were back to this again. He’d had a long day and was exhausted.

“Could we table this for now?”

“Sure. But we’re going to have to deal with it eventually,” she said, her voice terse.