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“Zeph?”
I turned back to Lleyton, giving him my full attention. “Yeah?”
He sighed. “No matter what Lyric says, don’t give up on her. I’ve never seen her as happy as she’s been with you. I don’t know why she thinks the two of you together are no good, but fix it. Whatever is broken can be repaired. Because Amelia hasn’t been calling you Daddy Zepherin because she’s confused. It’s because she can see her mom loves you.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but I didn’t have words to get out.
Lleyton just slapped me on the shoulder. “Look after her. She and I would have murdered each other if we’d tried to be a couple, but she’s a great mom and an impressive woman. Treat her well.”
I was so desperately in love with her that it was an easy promise to make.
He drove away with Amelia and Lyric, taking them both home.
I stood on the grass for hours, waiting and watching the comings and goings of police and the sun moving across the sky as morning turned to afternoon turned to evening.
I was still standing there, tiny smile on my face, when the police brought out Byron in a body bag.
35
LYRIC
Amelia in her Edgely Academy uniform was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. Navy knee-length pleated skirt, crisp white blouse with the school crest embroidered on the pocket, and a red tie around her neck. I’d brushed her hair until it shone, and it fell in waves down her back, held off her face with a matching red headband.
I’d paid for her expensive uniforms with the money Lleyton had been paying into my bank account. I’d confessed to him the fraud Zeph and I had committed, tricking Lleyton into paying me when he thought he was paying for Amelia’s daycare. Maybe I’d picked a good time to lay my soul bare, right after everything had gone down with us working together to rescue Amelia, but Lleyton hadn’t been mad. If anything, he’d looked a little guilty and told me to keep the money, for all the child support he hadn’t paid over the years.
He’d even continued his payments, never being late with even one.
He’d grown up. We both had, and we were working together better than we ever had, both of us just wanting the best for our daughter after how close we’d come to losing her.
Gran clapped frail hands together, in approval as Amelia did a twirl around Gran’s rehab room. She was still struggling to regain the movement she’d had prior to her accident, but she liked the rehabilitation center. It wasn’t terribly different than a nursing home, and Gran seemed to be enjoying the social interaction. When I’d commented on it during one of her more lucid days, she’d waved me off like I was talking nonsense. But then I’d found some nursing home brochures in her drawer, and the nurses had whispered she’d asked them for some information.
We still had time before she would be healed enough to go anywhere, but we’d pursued legal action against the owners of my building, arguing that the neglected state of the building had caused Gran’s fall. They’d settled out of court for an amount that had covered her medical expenses, with a little to spare which was all we’d wanted. With Zeph and I both bringing in an income, we could afford anything extra required to set Gran up in a care facility if that’s what she wanted.
When Amelia ran off to twirl for Gran’s physiotherapist, Gran leaned in and whispered to me, “How did you get that school to agree to take her? You were so sure she wouldn’t get in.”
I’d already told her this story a couple of times, but she kept on forgetting. “The school had a change of heart, I guess.” Or more accurately, the church had asked us what they could do to help make amends for the ordeal we’d been through. Anything to stop us going to the press.
I might have suggested they make a sizeable donation to Edgeley Academy to fund scholarships for four young girls so we could make sure their traumas didn’t stop them from receiving a quality education. The church had readily agreed, and Amelia and the three girls we’d found with her were given full tuition scholarships. There was one ready for Toby as well, once he was old enough.
It was the goddamn least the church could do, after failing so badly to see what was right beneath their noses.
Zeph had been one of those who’d donated in the name of a scholarship for the girls, hating that he’d been blind to it all too. He’d signed the check for the complete amount of his savings as his last act as a priest.
Then he’d gotten in his car and driven to the home we’d rented together. It was still in Saint View, but a nicer part than where my apartment had been. It was three bedrooms. One for us, one for Amelia, and one for Gran, should she decide to come back to us.
Gran kissed Amelia’s head. “Off you go to school now, Slugger. Thank you for coming by to show me your pretty uniform.”
Amelia kissed her back, and then we were in the car once more and delivering Amelia to the gates of Edgeley Academy.
“You going to cry?” Zeph asked, a small smile playing around his mouth as we got out of the car and joined the stream of families walking their little ones through the gate for their first day.
I shook my head determinedly, smiling down at Amelia, skipping along beside me, full of excitement. “Nope. I’m too happy for crying. I’m just so glad she gets to be here. And that the other girls do too.”
Zeph nodded then pointed up ahead. “Look who’s up there. You sure you’re not going to cry?”
Amelia squealed with excitement and let go of my hand, running ahead. She ran straight past Lleyton and Kat, who frowned in confusion, but my girl had eyes for someone else. “Aunty Eve! Uncle Josh!”
Eve and Boston stood at the gate, frantically waving at Amelia. Amelia threw herself at Eve’s legs, and Eve put her hand over her heart and mouthed, “So cute!” at me.
