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“This isn’t legal,” I tell him furiously. “I don’t know what kind of lies you told the judge, but I know custody isn’t granted like this.” I glare at both of them. “I’m going to fight you until you lose not only custody, but all parental rights.”
“Excuse me,” a familiar voice interjects, promptly followed by a dwindling siren and a sea of red and blue lights.
Isaac stands in the rain, his coat drenched, his blonde hair darkened by the water. Yet his blue eyes feel like home to me as soon as they find mine. I’m breathless, stunned and unable to move.
“Isaac,” I manage.
“Who are you?” Elijah’s lawyer asks with a heavy frown.
The cops come out of two vehicles. Only now do I begin to register the entire scene unfolding around me. Noah, Levi, and Beau join Isaac on the sidewalk, not caring in the least about the rain as they all look at me with warm eyes and reassuring smiles. I don’t know what to think in this moment, yet I cannot deny the faint relief currently sneaking through me, gradually unlocking my frozen joints.
“Isaac Kendrick,” Isaac briefly introduces himself, then nods at the manila folder. “I assume that’s the hastily procured court order you got solely for the purpose of tormenting Ms. Snow and her children?”
“You need to mind your own fucking business,” Elijah retorts, pointing a finger at Isaac.
“I reckon you need to keep your mouth shut for a minute or two,” Noah shoots back. “Unless you want to leave this place in the backseat of a police car.”
“Who’s this?” Elijah asks me, pointing a thumb at Noah. “Did you gather all your boyfriends to try and stop me from taking my children away from you?”
“Mychildren,” I say it again. “You were just the sperm donor.”
I can tell from the hard looks on the men’s faces that I’m not losing my kids today. Whatever this is they’re playing at, I’ve got a feeling it’s the kind of power game neither Elijah nor his attorney were prepared to deal with. And judging by the team of lawyers getting out of yet another vehicle that has just pulled up, I’m starting to think my luck may have turned toward even better avenues.
Once more, Isaac, Noah, Levi, and Beau have come to my rescue.
28
Stella
Ihave so many questions.
“Are you okay?” Levi asks and brings an umbrella over to me. He springs it open and keeps it above the both of us. All I can do is nod softly, barely able to look him in the eyes.
“They’re trying to take my children,” I whimper, close to tears.
“Again, I ask, who are you and what business is this of yours?” Elijah’s lawyer asks. “I have a court order here that clearly states Mr. Cummings has been granted temporary custody of his children until a court analyzes Ms. Snow’s situation to ascertain whether she is fit to retain her parental rights.”
“And while I understand you feel entitled to use that court order to intimidate Ms. Snow, her attorneys would like to have look at it before you’re allowed to take the children away from her,” Isaac replies.
As if summoned, the lawyers step in and request to see the papers. What follows is a tense conversation between them and Elijah’s attorney as they go over every single line in the manila folder. Elijah is getting restless, and I can tell from his growing anxiety that he’s not exactly sure whether he’s going to pull it off anymore.
Meanwhile, I’m speechless and slowly leaning against Levi, watching the lawyers’ back and forth with bated breath. Noah eyes me intently, his gaze swirling with glimmers of concern and… love. It has to be love. I’m hoping it’s love, because I see it in Levi, Isaac, and Beau’s gazes, too, as they all look at me. I’ve been naked and afraid out here, frozen and helpless, only for the four of them to simply catch up, swoop in, and make me believe there’s a sunrise coming after this terrible storm.
“I’m sorry we were so late,” Isaac tells me. “You didn’t make it easy for us to find you.”
“Just don’t be mad with Theo. She was only trying to help,” Levi whispers.
“How… What are you doing here, though? Who are those guys? I don’t have a lawyer,” I reply, trying to catch up with my hurtling thoughts. “I don’t understand.”
Isaac smiles softly. “We aren’t going to let you go through any of this alone,” he says. “You do have lawyers. See those guys over there, currently telling Elijah that his court order won’t help him today? They’re your lawyers.”
“I can’t afford those suits,” I reply.
“Please stop,” Noah groans, jokingly rolling his eyes. “Did you really think we’d let the mother of our future children suffer like this? Come on.”
Future children?
As if reading my mind, Beau chuckles lightly. “Well, you’ve got one already on the way, but there are four of us. Three of us will be hoping for our turn.”
