Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Mazzy
“So, how’s the daddy?” With her eyebrow raised, my mentor and boss, Miranda, shoved a huge bite of salad into her mouth.
I was in my third semester of law school and had met her during my first, when she’d been teaching a class on family law. During a discussion, I’d spoken about my experience with an absent co-parent, and that had snowballed into being offered a position as her assistant.
Since then, we’d spent a lot of time together, and while we weren’t besties who braided each other's hair, we shared pieces of our lives during the few spare moments we had. Needless to say, she was well aware of Ben’s re-entry into my life.
I took a sip of water and wiped my mouth as I nodded. “Last night, we told Katty he’s her dad, and she burst into tears, so I’d say pretty good.”
Miranda snorted. “How did he take that?”
“I think he was close to bursting into tears himself.” Poor Ben. He’d only ever seen cheerful Kateryna, and our baby girl could cry. He’d have to get used to it.
“Hmmm.” She speared more salad with her fork. “Has he been showing up consistently?”
“So far, yes.” I popped a chip in my mouth. “He’s making Katty a priority.”
With the exception of when he’d been away for a match, we’d seen Ben every day over the last two weeks. The change in schedule had put a dent in my study time, so it wasn’t exactly sustainable, but I was making it work for now.
“Have you thought more about what kind of custody arrangement you want to make?”
“To be honest, not really.” That first day, I’d been all about it, but after getting to know Ben better, I hadn’t given it much thought. “I think we’ll play it by ear for now, see how things shake out. Ben isn’t trying to take her from me.”
Miranda leveled me with an “Are you for real, bitch?” stare that would have had me quivering in my boots a year ago. Now, I knew her too well to be afraid of her.
Well, I was a little afraid, just not at a quivering level.
“Mazzy, how many women have walked in here saying they thought the same thing, only for the father to turn around and seek full custody?”
I wrapped my napkin around my fingers, letting her question and all its implications settle over me. “Quite a few.”
“Right.” She steepled her joined hands beneath her chin.
“And what makes you think you’re so different from any of them?
” I opened my mouth to respond, but she held up her hand.
“I’ll tell you: nothing. Even if this Ben character is some god-tier man without a selfish bone in his body—which I highly doubt—protecting yourself and Kateryna is still paramount.
Especially because Ben has the Wells fortune backing him.
You don’t have that kind of money behind you.
Staying one step ahead of the game is incredibly important. ”
“This isn’t a game, Miranda.” Even I could hear how weak my argument was. Ben had billions of dollars and three powerful brothers. Not to mention his fame and professional sports team. I had Aunt Barb and Kylie.
When it came down to it, if he decided to take Katty from me, he could.
“Fine. You don’t have to agree with my word choice. However, think about what you would tell a client. Would you advise them to fly footloose and fancy-free until something goes wrong or tell them to put measures in place to prevent any misunderstandings?”
I wanted to argue with her, but I had been in the room one too many times with distraught women who’d lost their children to a bitter, vindictive ex-husband—women who had sworn up and down they’d never seen it coming.
I didn’t want to be in that situation.
“You’re right,” I admitted. “I’ve been caught up in how surreal and wonderful it is to have Ben around; I haven’t thought about what this looks like long term.”
She pushed her salad bowl to the side and folded her hands on the table. “So let’s talk about it. Between the two of us, I think we can come up with something fair.”
Worry over hurting Ben niggled at me, but this was about protecting myself and Katty. No matter how I felt about Ben, until our agreement was in writing, nothing was certain.
Surely he’d understand that.