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I hung up, fighting the angry tears that threatened. “Why? Why would they do this?”
Mark pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry, Jules.”
After taking a deep breath, I knew I needed to pull it together and wiped my eyes. “I have to get dressed and brush my teeth.”
He let me go and finished dressing himself. “I’ll go to my room and then join you down there.”
I stopped mid-shimmy into my jeans. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Hypocrite much? But when it came to Tristan, I didn’t need any additional possible judgment against me. Such as one about my sleeping with a new man during the same week my estranged husband was buried. Not now. Not with CPS involved.
“Tell them you called your attorney, and I’ll come in from the parking lot instead of from inside the hotel. You can say I’m in town to assist you since Rob’s mother threatened to go after Tristan’s inheritance.”
“Okay. That might be good. Thank you.”
He stepped closer and lifted my chin. “We will get through this.”
We. It sure felt good to hear.
* * *
My levelof anxiety rose with each floor that dinged in the elevator ride down to the lobby. Once the doors opened, I immediately spotted the police officer in uniform. Alongside him stood an older woman dressed in a suit, clipboard in hand.
Swallowing hard, I squared my shoulders and approached them.
“Hello, I’m Juliette Walker.”
The officer let the CPS representative take the lead. “Ms. Walker, I’m Tamra Fields. This is Officer Duncan. I apologize for the early morning visit, but our office received a call yesterday alleging child abuse.”
My eyes flicked from her to the officer. “I’m assuming it was from my deceased husband’s mother?”
He gave a curt nod. “Yes, ma’am. She’s alleging that after the funeral she saw you shake your son hard.”
I had to swallow the urge to shout out what a load of shit this was. “I can assure you that never happened. In truth, my son was half asleep by the time the service was over and we reached our car. My former mother-in-law followed me there in order to spew terrible things. I’m sorry you were called. She’s displeased that my son is getting his father’s inheritance. That’s what this is. Revenge. And I have witnesses to back up my story.”
She didn’t look surprised. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
“I’ll need the names of others who were there. And I apologize for the trouble if that is true. But unfortunately, we’ll need to see the child. Where is he now?”
“With my mother and stepfather. I’ll call and tell them we need to come up.” This went against every fiber of my being. Instead, I wanted to take him and run. I tamped down on the urge, reminding myself I’d done nothing wrong. When I saw Mark come in from the front door in a suit and tie, I realized I hadn’t mentioned him.
“My attorney friend has arrived. I called him immediately when I found out you were here.”
Mark introduced himself, checked their identification, and had them recap the allegations. As I watched him in action, I was grateful for his presence.
After calling my mother, we went up to their room for privacy.
My baby immediately lit up upon seeing me and reached for me to pick him up. I did so, trying to fight the tears.
Ms. Fields gave him a friendly smile. “Hi, honey. How are you?”
“Great,” he said with a smile, hugging me close.
“Can I see his arms?”
I tensed but appreciated that she had a job to do. I put Tristan on his feet and knelt down. “Let’s take your shirt off, baby.”
After helping with the shirt, I had to stand there with a mixture of rage and indignation while the woman from CPS inspected him. The police officer simply stood by the door without any expression on his face. He, too, was here with a job to do.
I had to keep myself from screaming.
