Page 35 of No Regrets

Checking the lunchmeat, she made a ham and cheese sandwich heavy on the salad dressing and settled at the bar with a Coke at hand. She was expecting Kaden to call, but wouldn’t be surprised if he waited until he was on the road home. Speaking to him at the office was near impossible.

“Boo.” Two fingers poked into her sides, making her jump three inches off the bar stool. Kaden laughed when she turned around and glared at him, ready to tell him off. “Miss me?”

“Before or after you nearly gave me a heart attack?”

He grinned taking a sip of her drink. “Before.”

“Yes.”

“After?”

“No.”

They both laughed as he settled onto one of the stools next to her, eating the food on her plate. She watched him eat was left of her half-eaten sandwich and shook her head.

“I would have made you one, you know.”

He shrugged. “Takes too much time. I didn’t get lunch today.”

“Me either.” She grabbed a bag of potato chips and chomped on them. “I thought you said you’d call?”

“I was going to, but I got caught up. How’s Shiloh?” His expression turned serious as he waited with the last bite of her sandwich halfway to his lips.

“She’s fine. I gave her a bath, and she played in the bubbles until the water turned cold and her skin looked like a prune.” Brianna grabbed her soda and took a drink. “Your mother called and said she’d take care of it. But I don’t want Shiloh going back to that place. She didn’t like it, and I didn’t like it.”

“Well, she’s not going then.” He took the dirty dishes to the sink and came back to the bar, leaning in front of Brianna. “Is there another place you can take her?”

“My mom’s. It’s not that big of deal.” She folded the bag up and clipped it. “Oh, guess what?”

“What?”

“Shiloh said her first word today.”

Kaden’s eyes lit up with pure parental pride. “What was it?”

“Daddy. She even pointed to our graduation picture and said it.”

“God, I love that kid so much.” He grinned, moving around the counter to kiss Brianna soundly on her lips. “You look hot in that outfit.”

He moved past her toward the hallway. “Where are you going?”

“To kiss Daddy’s girl goodnight.” He grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back to take care of her mommy too.”

* * * *

Kaden hated family law. From neglected children to divorces, he hated seeing the pain and suffering of those who were innocent. Aside from criminal law, which he only took because he believed everyone had a right to a fair and speedy trial, family law almost always broke one of the two parties hearts, or if he wasn’t careful, it broke the lawyer’s heart.

Right now, it was the latter. Maria Gonzales’s granddaughter had been tossed from orphanage to orphanage, from foster home to foster home—all in the five years she’d lived on this earth. Now the grandmother came up from Cuba looking to gain custody of the child, but only if she would be granted United States citizenship. She didn’t want to be forced to take her granddaughter back to a place where the future was not guaranteed.

“Counselor, what have you to say?”

“My client wishes to be granted legal custody of her granddaughter, Your Honor. And a special request of citizenship since she is an illegal alien from Cuba.” Kaden responded.

“Citizenship must go through immigration, counselor. You know that.” The judged glanced at the papers on her desk. “Hearing denied for guardianship, unless your client agrees to take her granddaughter back to Cuba?”

Maria shook her head, and the judge’s gavel fell.

“Mister! Mister!” a little girl came up to him, pulling on his pant leg, while a social worker tried her best to keep the child away from him. “You’re going to help my grandmother, right. You’re going to let me go home with her?”

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