Chapter 6 #2
She spun her chair around and away from the desk and plucked a paper off the fax machine sitting on a table behind her. She rolled back forward and handed it to me.
I smiled as I read the contents of the letter.
It was from Caitlyn’s Aunt Sharon. It pleaded to allow Caitlyn to live with her dear friend as she was unable to take care of her niece herself.
Jenny had contacted Sharon—though I didn’t know when—and after speaking with her convinced her to write this, the devious little vixen.
“Will it work?” I asked her.
She picked up my paperwork again and smiled. “That along with my recommendation?” She looked down at what I’d written and smiled. “You’re damn right it’ll work, Mr. Mitchell. Grant Mitchell,” she said, as though rolling my name around on her tongue.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get custody of her?”
She pursed her lips as she thought about it.
“I’ll be honest. It usually takes quite a while, but I’m hoping that with her mother…
” she paused and looked over at the little girl who was watching her with solemn eyes and changed course.
“I’m hoping that with her Aunt Sharon willing to sign over her rights as Caitlyn’s last living relative—that they know of—we’ll be able to push this through a lot quicker.
My bosses are going to want her to be able to settle into your home securely, rather than being kept in limbo.
Especially considering her inability to speak.
She needs a stable environment and her Aunt knows that is you.
That’ll go a long way to smoothing everything out. ”
I took a deep breath, glad that we had Jenny on our side.
She was already making this process easier and I’d always be grateful to her for that.
Reaching over, I squeezed Caitlyn’s little shoulder, comforting her.
Her eyes moved over to me and she gave me a brief smile.
I focused back on Jenny as she began speaking again.
“It would also help if you had full custody, or at least joint custody of your kids. Perhaps you can have your…ex,” I couldn’t help but note the anger in her voice, not at Wendy, but at me, “also write a letter.”
I hesitated before answering, “I, um, I can work out something like that. I’ll have full custody soon.”
Her head perked up in curiosity. “Really? When? What changed?”
I couldn’t do this now, and especially not in front of Caitlyn. It was just too much. “Something changed. A lot changed. Anyway, you think all this together will work? Caitlyn will get to stay with me?”
“I think you have a really good shot.” She looked down at Caitlyn and all her anger drained away. She looked back at me, smiling hugely before remembering she was angry with me. “I’m going to fight as hard as I can to make this happen, Grant.”
I liked the way she said my name, though I didn’t hear it much anymore.
Like most of my brothers, I went solely by my road name since retiring from the Army.
I’d gone in young—at eighteen—and worked my way through the ranks until I’d gotten that coveted spot in a Ranger Unit.
It’d always been my goal. I’d only retired two years ago at thirty-eight.
Hit my twenty years and called it a day.
I’d seen more than enough to last me a lifetime.
Spent so much time away from my family that I’d almost lost it.
Not my brothers, they’d always be there for me.
I’d joined the MC when I hit twenty-five.
The Army knew, they just thought we were a band of military men who liked to ride bikes.
They had no clue what we did over the years.
We’d been together since before we retired—and some of them were medically or honorably discharged—and we stuck together now. Nothing would tear us apart.
It hadn’t been the same for me and Wendy.
She’d taken my girls from me and left. It’d taken over a year before I could convince her that we could work together to raise them.
Finally, she’d begun letting me see them again.
That year without my kids was one of the darkest of my life. I’d never choose to go back to that.
“I’ll still have to play this by the book,” Jenny warned, snapping me back into focus. “I’ll file this with my managers once we get back.”
“Get back?”
“From the home check,” she said in a tone that told me she’d just gone over this while I was zoned out.
“Sure. No problem. Now?”
She sighed. “Yes, Priest. Now.”
We walked outside toward the truck and she tilted her head. “Who’s is that?”
“Belongs to the club.”
She frowned, then shot a look around. “You’re going to need to prove you have reliable transportation that belongs to you. Not the club. And not your bike. Something that you can take Caitlyn back and forth in.”
“No problem.” Buying my own truck was a waste with the cage rides always available at the clubhouse, but it was a small price to pay to secure Caitlyn’s safety.
I could probably get Lockout to sign over the title of one of the trucks or SUVs to me.
“You may as well ride with us,” I told her, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from going to her car.
“You’d have to bring me back. That makes no sense-”
“Ride with us. You can talk more with Caitlyn.” Caitlyn, picking up on my vibe, reached out a hand and grabbed Jenny’s, then proceeded to give her the doe eyes.
I owed that little girl for that alone. Giving her a wink, then letting my face smooth out into an innocent expression when Jenny stared at me suspiciously, I fought not to laugh.
I knew bringing Caitlyn into it would get her.
I wasn’t above using my daughter—I already thought of Caitlyn as mine, we just had to make it through the formalities—to convince this woman to spend time with me.
“Fine,” she said with a glower at me, then a sweet smile for the little girl holding her hand.
She stepped aside as I settled Caitlyn into the booster seat. She scribbled something down on her clipboard.
“Seriously, Jenny?”
“I told you. I have to do this by the book. Anything you do right, I’m noting it.
If there’s something wrong I’ll have you fix it,” she told me.
She waited until I shut the door so our voices would be muffled.
Still she lowered hers before continuing.
“I have eyes, Priest. That little girl is already in love with you. More importantly, she feels safe with you. That is why I agreed to help the MC so quickly. If it wasn’t the best thing for her, I wouldn’t be doing this, no matter how nicely you asked. ”
“Lucky for me it is then.”
“Lucky for you,” she echoed, tapping her pen against my chest.
I grinned and opened the door for her. I’d dressed the part today, was wearing a pair of slacks and a button down shirt with a collar.
Felt like a prison. I longed for my jeans and cut.
Soon enough I’d be back to being me and I’d be hard at work pursuing the woman climbing into my truck.
Once we got this inspection out of the way, she was all mine.