Page 85 of Here With Me

Doris and Patrick sat several chairs down from their small group. Lottie had barely said hello to them, instead sticking close to Sadie and her family.

Which was fine by Sadie. She’d rather keep as much physical contact as possible, especially with the possibility that Lottie would go home with someone else. Sadie hugged Lottie closer, her own body shivering. Regret hung in her stomach, highlighting every mistake she’d made as a guardian—David might top the list, but there were plenty more. She’d heard that he’d returned, but probably not for long before he took off on his next adventure. He’d called her yesterday several times, but she’d sent each call to voicemail and hadn’t allowed herself to listen to his messages.

One heartbreak at a time.

Blocking out everything around her, Sadie buried her nose in Lottie’s hair, trying to memorize this moment. The feel of Lottie in her arms, the peachy scent of her shampoo, the weight of her daughter pressed against her. Please, Lord. Don’t take her away. But either way, I’m trusting her into Your care.

Quick footsteps echoed on the floor, and Sadie turned to see Leah hurrying toward her.

Behind Leah a handful of Heritage folks walked toward them, bringing hope and love to the cold hallway. Leah squatted down in front of Sadie and wrapped her arms around both Sadie and Lottie. Sadie stood as the others approached. She blinked back tears when Caroline stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her.

“This time, we’re here for you Sadie. David, too.” Leah pointed at David, who stood at the back of the group, his dark eyes trained on her.

Oxygen seemed to seep out of the room. She blinked and looked away. She could not deal with him today.

“He’s here for support.” Caroline squeezed her shoulders. “Not answers.”

Sadie couldn’t keep the tears at bay, and a few leaked out, trailing down her cheeks. Sadie wiped at them. Hopefully her mascara wasn’t streaking, since it was supposed to be waterproof. “Where are the girls?”

“Mayor Jamison’s wife has them at a park.” Caroline stepped back, making room for people to talk to Sadie.

Mayor Jamison, his usual friendly expression filled with compassion, stepped up, his hands on his belly.

“Thank you for coming today.” Sadie needed a tissue. She wiped at her face again.

The mayor crushed Sadie in a hug. “We never let our own face struggles alone. And you, Sadie, are one of us. You may have moved away for a while, but you’re back. And you never stopped being one of us. And now Lottie is, too.”

He set Sadie back to arm’s length and gave her a curt nod before moving down to greet her parents.

Sadie sat back down, and Romee settled in next to her and placed her hand on Sadie’s. “Listen, I’ve been praying and thinking about everything. God’s going to see you through this. It’s not easy to trust when we can’t see the outcome, but that’s the time it’s necessary.”

She couldn’t contain the air that whooshed from her lungs. “What if?—”

“No what-ifs right now. I want you to remember this—” Romee squeezed Sadie’s hand. “You have a host of people behind you. An entire town, really. You are a fantastic mother to Lottie. You’d have to be blind not to see the love between you two. Trust God to work it all out. With Lottie. With the hardware store. With David. Nothing is over yet.”

Sadie blinked, the tears that had started flowing coming quicker. God had brought crazy trials into her life. But if she’d married David and gone to Costa Rica all those years ago, she would have missed out on loving Lottie—something she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. God had brought them together. Two girls needing a place to fit in. Two girls loved by a God who would carry them through life, to bring about good.

Through heartbreak, He’d brought Lottie.

Isn’t that how God worked—bringing her through heartache to give her gifts?

And He’d brought David back. She easily found him standing at the back of the crowd. He watched her, and his lips turned up. Her breath caught and her heart tip-tapped a merry beat.

He was here. With her. Even when he didn’t need to be. Why wasn’t he in Costa Rica?

She needed to apologize, but stubbornness and anger plus the stress of the court case had kept her from answering his calls. Kept her rooted in place. Today was for Lottie. He understood—she could see it in his eyes, and in the way he held himself back.

Romee squeezed Sadie’s hand once again. Simon Martin, her lawyer,strolled down the hallway in a brown suit. His thick brown hair in a perfect lawyer combover. His stylish glasses sat on his large nose. His facial hair trimmed neatly. Next to him, the older man Doris and Patrick had hired as their lawyer. He wore an equally nice gray suit. His head bald, a thin gray mustache covering his upper lip.

Simon stopped in front of her. “If you’re ready, we can head in.”

Lottie clung to Sadie. Her small body trembled.

Sadie patted her back and kissed the top of her head. No matter what happened today, she’d had the opportunity to love Lottie like her own, and she wouldn’t trade that for anything.

“I love you, Lottie. Regardless of the outcome, you remember that I love you.” She hugged her little girl tightly before they stood and entered the courtroom.

They were the last to enter, and Sadie kept her gaze on Lottie as they made their way to the front of the room, hand in hand. Once seated in wooden chairs behind a matching table, Sadie finally glanced around the room, one like every courtroom she’d seen on TV.

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