Page 50 of Her Righteous Protector

“I wanted to talk to you first. Have you told him about Bob and Peggy’s harassment?”

She hadn’t. To begin with, it had never occurred to her because she was so used to handling things on her own. But after overhearing Max ream out someone named Nic for not telling him about a problem he was having she knew she was going to be in deep shit for not having told him about Meghan’s parents. The man was a little overprotective.

Hannah grabbed a bottle of water and pulled out the Tylenol bottle from the cupboard. She shook out three pills and winced when she saw that the water bottle was empty. She ended up swallowing the pills dry.

“No, I never really talked to Max about it,” Hannah admitted. “But, Mr. Peterson, they’ve never met Zephyr; how could they have any kind of case to secure guardianship?” she asked.

“They really can’t. But they can make things difficult, and they can tangle up things in the courts. What’s more, they have an attorney who is known for taking cases like this on contingency, so she will fight this if she thinks there is money to be made.”

“Oh for God’s sakes,” she bit out, “CPS was called against them for how they raised Meghan, how could they have a leg to stand on to take Zephyr? Anyone with eyes could see they just want Meghan’s life insurance money!”

Hannah’s stomach began to rebel. She hadn’t eaten anything today, it was hot, and she’d taken the pills.

I’m a dumbass!

She saw Max and Zephyr start to head in.

“Hannah, I’m going to have to inform Max what’s going on later today. This was a courtesy call to you.”

Oh, fuck.

“Thanks, Mr. Peterson, I appreciate it. I’ll have him give you a call this afternoon.”

“Thank you,” he said before he hung up.

The backdoor burst open and Zephyr skidded across the kitchen floor as he practically fell against her. “I’m going to be the bestest player in t-ball! Max, I mean, Dad, knows everything!” Zephyr yelled.

Hannah touched his little head and smiled down at him, then up at Max. It always gave her a thrill when Zephyr called Max, Dad.

“Tell you what, you go take off your shoes, wash your hands, and you get a half-hour of tablet time. How does that sound?”

Zephyr’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. “For real?”

“Yep,” Hannah assured him.

Zephyr sat down right in front of her and pulled off his shoes, then threw them near the backdoor as he zoomed up the stairs.

Max frowned as he looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

Hannah reached around him, grabbed the package of English muffins, pulled one out, and took a bite.

“Did you forget to eat?” he asked. Then he picked up the bottle of Tylenol. “Do you have a headache?”

Hannah nodded.

He led her out to the sofa and she sank into the cushions. “Now, this isn’t a project, so tell me what in the hell is going on.”

Hannah took another bite out of the dry muffin.

“Fuck!”

Max whirled to the kitchen and came back in two minutes. He yanked the muffin from her fingers and handed her a plate with a ham sandwich. “Eat.” After she swallowed her first bite, he handed her the glass of apple juice he was holding and handed it to her. “Swallow.”

The process continued until she had eaten half of the sandwich.

When her stomach was feeling a little better she looked up at him. She easily read his expression. She knew a lot of people might think he was angry, but she knew that he was scared and concerned.

“I’m better now,” she assured him as she put the dishes down.