Chapter 41
Griffin
Looking at the woman next to me and holding my little man on my lap as he dribbles spittle on his new outfit, I think I’ve finally made it. I think I’ve broken through the hardest chains that were around my neck from my past.
While I still have a lot to process and a lot of work to do, Sawyer has helped with all the legal things.
Tanner has been a man to confide in, and Hudson, who’s sitting here with us now, provided some introductions to a therapist. He’s good.
Met him a few times already. No doubt I’ll meet with him many more.
I always hated talking about things. I hate the whole woe is me mentality. But there's more than just me to think about now, and Savannah and Tommy deserve the best version of me. I’m going to give that to them.
“So little Tommy is doing well. Growing, all things indicating that he’s happy and healthy. Congratulations on the engagement, by the way, and the marriage…” Hudson’s eyes gleam at me.
“Thank you.” Savannah gives him the brightest smile, and I give him my standard nod.
I did what I said and took Savannah and Tommy over to Sawyer’s office and signed the paper with Sawyer and all our friends as our witnesses.
Victoria cried, Tanner promptly served everyone a shot of our new Builder’s Arms Whiskey, and the whole thing was done in about fifteen minutes.
Enough time to ensure we did everything legally required and not too much that Tommy started fussing.
“We didn’t want bells and whistles… Didn’t want a long engagement,” I tell him, and he nods, still smiling, looking at me in a way that tells me he knows something I don’t.
“Hmmmm, we’ll have to have another whiskey to celebrate at the bar this week. Your Builder’s Arms was nice.” Hudson stands, and Savannah grabs her bag. I pass her the little man as I take the baby bag from her. The thing weighs a ton. Who knew babies needed so much shit.
“You’re right. It is. The best Whiteman’s has ever made.” I’m a little biased, but the whiskey Tanner made with me in mind is by far my favorite.
“How’re things going with the therapist?" Hudson asks me, and Savannah looks up at me, pride shining on her face. It was something she mentioned to me that time in my office, and after some thought, I decided to listen to the woman I’ve made my wife.
“I’m going to take Tommy out into the sun while you finish up.”
I watch her walk down the hall, giving me the space to talk to Hudson alone, not that she needs to. I’m not hiding anything from her. She knows I’m talking to a therapist about my past.
“It’s going okay. Is it helping? I’m not sure yet, but it sure isn’t harming any, so I’ll continue to chat with him every week,” I tell him honestly. The feeling of being stripped bare isn’t as raw as it once was, but it’s still present. I walk toward the exit, Hudson keeping pace beside me.
“It might not feel like anything changes, until one day things just shift a little. Trust the process.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. It’s kind of like how Savannah and I came to be. Nothing changed until it did. She crept up on me while I stayed in denial until the point of no return hit me and then I was all in.
“I’m trying… taking my time…”
“Griffin!” Savannah screams, and my head whips to the front glass doors, my feet moving toward her instantly.
“What the heck’s happening?” Hudson looks up, eyes wide with concern, and I see Savannah in the parking lot, two men approaching her.
“Fuck,” I grit out, running to meet her.
“Call the sheriff!” Hudson yells to his staff and follows me.
“Who the fuck are you?” My shoulders are tight as I stand to full height and feel ready to rumble with them.
One guy is older, tall, skinny, pale-looking.
Sports or fitness is obviously not his hobby.
The other guy is younger, late twenties, maybe early thirties, his shirt done up right to his collar, his hair brushed so precisely I’d think he sold insurance.
“We’re here for the baby.”
My stomach twists. Not again. Not this nightmare. Savannah deserves better than this.
“It’s not your baby, Dad. It’s mine.” Savannah’s voice is stern, but I see a flicker of self-loathing in her eyes. That flicker guts me.
“Give me that baby. It’s my baby!” The young guy steps up to me, getting right in my face. I spot two women walking towards us with purpose, one looking familiar. Eden. Savannah’s sister. I assume the older woman is her mother.
“Are you Savannah’s father?” I look to the older man, completely ignoring this fucking idiot in front of me who thinks he has a chance getting past me to grab Tommy. No one is getting past me.
“The Lord commands obedience, and she has chosen nothing but rebellion and sin. That’s not something I can accept.
” He strides toward me, thinking I’ll let him past because he’s spouting words from the Bible, but I step in front of him, halting his path.
Savannah deserves better than a father who spits scripture like poison, better than a mother who cuts her down with every word.
I step forward, fury boiling. “You’re not going near my wife.” My voice is low, dangerous. He falters, shocked that I’d claim her so openly.
“We don’t want her! We want our baby!” Eden screams, taking my attention. “Douglas, get him!”
The younger man lunges. I yank his collar, slam him back, forcing him to stumble, almost falling to the ground. My knuckles itch to break bone.
“Do not touch my son!” I shout at her, turning back in time to see Douglas reaching out to snatch Tommy from Savannah again.
This asshole clearly didn’t learn the first time.
Hudson’s next to her in a heartbeat, but I reach out and pull his collar again so hard he falls backward, this time stumbling on the ground.
“That baby is ours.” He’s angry now. Not because he loves Tommy.
But because probably for the first time in his miserable life, they aren’t getting what they want.
What they feel entitled to. They probably prayed on it, thought that God would deliver whatever they wanted immediately regardless of who they step on to get it.
Ignorant fools. Even I know God doesn’t work that way.
“You need to get out of my way!” The young buck stands and takes a swing, hitting me in my gut.
I hear Savannah gasp from behind me, but it barely registers.
My body is stiff, so his hand practically bounces right off before I throw a punch, my fist landing on his cheek so solidly that it knocks him from his feet and he staggers back even farther.
“The sheriff is on his way. You need to leave,” Hudson tells them, but the air of authority standing there in his white doctor’s coat isn’t something these people seem to care about.
“Faith. Please, please, give me my baby…” Eden’s crying now, almost screeching, completely losing it, and the use of Savannah’s real name trips me up a little.
“Oh, you horrible, horrible girl. You selfish, disgusting, sinful girl. How could you do this to your sister? How could you do this to your family?” Her mother starts to rant, and I see Savannah flinch, the light dimming in her eyes.
Tommy wails in her arms, sensing her fear.
My chest aches with anger, disgust, and heartbreak all at once.
She deserves better than this. We both do.
We both had parents who failed us. But we will not fail our child.
“Hudson, get them inside,” I tell my friend. He grabs some nurses who all wrap around Savannah and the baby and pull them back into the hospital. They’re safe, secure as Hudson falls in line next to me.
I turn back to face them, rage burning. “This stops now. Tommy isn’t yours. He will never be yours. If you come near my wife or child again, you’ll rot in a cell.”
Douglas snarls and lunges at me again, his fist slamming into my ribs once more.
Pain flashes hot across my side, but I barely flinch.
I’ve taken worse. My own father used to whip me with a belt some days, so I can take anything this bastard gives me.
Instead of a punch, I drive him back with a shove to his chest that rattles his teeth.
Savannah’s father moves to stride past me, his eyes wild, word vomiting more scripture, as the women continue with their tantrum, screaming into the air.
“The Lord will strike down the wicked! The child is ours by divine right!” He spouts a twisted sermon, his steps determined, but I plant myself in his path, chest to chest, refusing to yield. I don’t want to hit him. I don’t want to hit the man who is my father-in-law. But I will if I have to.
Behind him, the women shriek. “The wages of sin is death!” Eden screams.
“The Lord will destroy the unfaithful!” Savannah’s mother wails, sounding more out of control with every breath, their voices pitched in desperation and anger.
Douglas steps forward and swings again, wild and desperate. He’s determined; I’ll give him that. I catch his wrist midair, twist hard, and he yelps as I slam him back against the pavement.
I’m trying hard not to completely lose it with them.
If I took a swing, I would knock teeth out.
An assault charge is not something that’s going to help in this situation even though they have now thrown multiple punches my way.
Self-defense is one thing, but deliberate assault is another. Something I learned at a young age.
Then I hear it. Sirens. Blue and red lights flash across the white hospital exterior, and the sheriff and Sawyer stride towards us, voices cutting through the madness.
“Enough!” the sheriff bellows, and he and his team take stock of the situation.
Sawyer looks at me. “I was in his office when he got the call.”
“Probably good that you’re here. This is Savannah’s family.
They’re here trying to take Tommy. Again,” I emphasize, and he nods.
Knowing everything about this situation, since I briefed him regularly as we worked on the adoption paperwork.
“Sheriff, these people came into the hospital with the intention of kidnapping my son. Doing so by using physical force, harassment…” I say, and Sawyer steps forward.
“Kidnapping, assault, harassment, endangerment of a child…” Sawyer starts listing legal terms, taking over talking to the sheriff as the deputies move fast, cuffs snapping onto wrists.
Hudson talks to the sheriff, telling him what he saw, and the sheriff looks at me with narrowed eyes.
“I won't cuff you, but I’ll need you and your wife to come to the station to be interviewed.”
I nod, happy to oblige. “We will.” We know each other. He isn’t stupid; he’s aware of the situation.
“I can get you the hospital security camera footage. It would’ve caught everything,” Hudson adds. I’ve nothing to hide, and now that I know cameras are here, I'm glad I didn’t start punching.
As the sheriff moves toward his deputies who are restraining the two men, Eden starts striding toward me, shrieking nonsense, her palms raised like she’s calling down fire from Heaven.
She steps right up to me, lunges at me, and slaps my face with a shrill cry.
I stand rigid, refusing to strike back, though every nerve screams to retaliate.
The deputies seize her instantly, cuffs biting her wrists.
She looks stunned, as if she truly believed she was untouchable.
Her face laces with fear as she’s thrown into the police car.
“Assault by the female perpetrator,” Sawyer says, making notes on his phone, and I take in a deep breath, refusing to feel the sting on my cheek.
One by one, they’re dragged to the waiting police cars, still screaming, probably still praying I would submit to their will.
Not able to watch this anymore, I turn and walk into the hospital, needing to see her. I stride down the hall and find her hidden in Hudson's office with a nurse nearby, some water, and a cup of tea. Savannah’s still shaking, tears in her eyes.
“What happened?” She looks at me as I enter the room. Thank God she didn’t see it. Didn’t see the craziness I just witnessed. “What happened to your face?” She’s on her feet instantly, rushing toward me and cupping my cheek.
“Your sister slapped me.”
Her eyebrows rise, and I see the anger swirl.
“She has gone too far,” she grits out, looking like she’s about to walk out to the parking lot herself to defend my honor. I grab her hand before she can leave.
“They’re gone. The sheriff took them to the station. We’ll be charging them with everything we can,” Sawyer says, looking between us as he enters the room.
“I’ll go down to the station now and make sure everything is handled. I’ll be putting forth an AVO so they can’t come to the bakery, to your house, or within a mile of it at any time. But I think after what I witnessed, they would be stupid to try.”
I nod to Sawyer, knowing he has it handled. It’s handy having a friend who’s a lawyer. Things move at a much more rapid rate.
“Let’s give them some space,” Sawyer says to the nurse, and they both walk out, the door shutting behind them.
I look down at Tommy, now sleeping peacefully in his mom’s embrace.
“It’s over. It’s all over. They won't bother you again. They won't bother us. Tommy is safe. You are safe,” I reassure Savannah. She pulls in a deep breath and leans forward, her head pressing against my chest. I wrap my arms around her and pull them both to me tight. She doesn’t say anything.
She doesn’t have to. I feel her body shaking.
And when I feel my shirt get damp, I know she’s crying.
But I stand, holding her through it all.
Letting her get it out. Knowing her nightmare is now over. And we can finally move on.