Page 106 of Falling for Brody

She'd already arranged for Kay to pick up Chip and take him to the house where Bea would make sure that he was fine until she got back.

Bea had tried to corner her as she left the house to drive to Richmond and Rhea had managed to get out the door without a meaningful conversation.

Bea had lived a long life and had a shrewd eye.

She knew something was up, but Rhea couldn't stop to deal with it at the moment.

She had to do what was right for Chip. No matter how much she cared for Brody and everyone else around her in Fallport, Chip was the one depending on her.

And she was going to do what she needed to.

She hoped that they'd get some real answers in court today. Keely had explained what the hearing would cover.

The Russel's lawyer would have to say what they were planning to do and detail their challenges to her custody.

She was only looking forward to it in the way that Keely had talked about. Once they knew their plans, they could formulate the best way to defend against it. Keely had always suggested a more proactive method. Counter suing to block any rights they had to Chip until he was an adult. Then, he could make up his own mind.

She wished that she could keep them away from Chip forever, but that wasn't possible.

Rhea would just have to do what she could for now and face the rest of it later.

When she pulled into the parking lot for the court building, she took a moment to pull herself together.

A soft knock at her window turned her head and she saw Keely standing by her car. A strange look on her face. Keely stepped back and Rhea got out of the car. "What's wrong?"

Keely shook her head. "I'm not sure if something is wrong but it's very... strange."

Rhea leaned against her car, wrapping her arms around body trying to hold herself together. "What is it?"

"Their attorney filed a petition today to be released from the case."

"Released?"

Keely looked as confused as Rhea felt.

"It happens every so often," she explained. "Attorneys take a case and they start working on it only to find that what their clients have represented to them isn't the truth. Or something else happens. Like a dispute over money."

"Money." Rhea nodded. "They never had money that I could see. Well, except for the money that Charles gave them. Maybe they couldn't pay the attorney?"

Keely nodded. "That might be the case. Still, I know about their attorney through connections I have and he's not a guy that I'd work with no matter how much I stood to gain. He strikes me as an opportunist."

Rhea shrugged. "Then he might have fit in well with what I know about them." She looked across the parking lot and sighed. "So what does that mean for the case."

"Well," Keely crossed one leg over the other and sighed, "the judge pushed back the hearing as the client, Margo Russell-"

"Charles' mother."

Keely nodded. "She wasn't available, and this judge is very concerned about the appeals court overturning his cases. So he errs on the side of caution more than I'd like. "So we go in and we wait to see what the judge does. If he allows the attorney to withdraw that’s one thing. From there we take the next step after that..."

Rhea felt her whole body start to ache. "So do I stay?"

Keely smiled at her. "If you can, please stay. No matter what happens this afternoon, we can meet afterwards and go over plans to fight this and I'd like to go over more details about the counter suit I'd like to file."

Rhea looked at her phone. She knew that Chip was safe and with people who care for him. "Yes. I'll stay. I'd like to set all of our pieces on the board and get this settled as soon as we can so Chip and I can put this behind us."

Rhea felt Keely rub her hand on Rheas' arm.

"Let's go inside and find a quiet place to sit. The bailiff is going to call me when the case is going to be called."

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