Page 74 of Second Start: Family
“I can.”
“Then my lawyer goes with him. Eric—”
“I can’t. I’m your lawyer, Hall, not Dan’s.”
“We have aguardian ad litemto serve your son’s interests, Mr. Quick,” the judge said. “She’s waiting for us in the conference room.”
“I want to meet her. You’re not taking Danny anywhere until I meet her.”
The judge, a good foot shorter than him, but imposing nonetheless, regarded him for a long moment. “Very well.”
He and Eric went down that back hall to the conference room and talked to the woman briefly. Eric asked about her background. That was fine, but Hall knew he wasn’t going to object as soon as he saw her face. He was silent until the end.
“Dan’s smart in a lot of ways. But he’s hurting — a lot — over the death of his mother. Guess you could say he’s two-thirds grown up and three-quarters still a little kid, missing his mom.”
She nodded with a slight smile. “That’s an excellent description. I will remember it.”
And then there was nothing to do but return to the judge’s chambers and sit here, while Naomi and her lawyer arrived, then the sounds of a few others taking the chairs behind him.
Not Kenzie. She had both classrooms for now, with Vicky here.
Hall’s focus remained on that door to the hallway.
Until it opened again.
The judge entered, followed by Dan. She gestured him to the chair by her desk, closest to the windows. The guardian ad litem woman sat beside him.
The judge surveyed those gathered before bringing her gaze to Naomi, then him.
She said, “I know your formal positions from your attorney’s written statements. I’d like to ask you each some questions.”
What it boiled down to was Naomi’s lawyer saying a hundred times in a hundred ways that Hall was a crappy father and Eric saying he wasn’t a hundred-and-one times in a hundred-and-one ways. While he and Naomi mostly sat like separate bumps on a log, except when the judge asked them direct questions.
He’d done okay there, Hall thought, knowing more about Dan’s classwork, latest medical checkup, friends, interests.
But Naomi always had the ace that she could give Dan what he most wanted — schooling in Cheyenne that could set him up well for college, work, and a life away from the ranch.
Hall heard the inequality of what they could offer Dan in the answer to each question. The house, Internet access, available electronics, opportunities for extracurricular activities, all the things Naomi and her lawyer emphasized as enrichment.
Then the judge asked Vicky to come up and take the empty chair — the witness chair.
He couldn’t blame Vick for saying what a good student Dan was, how much he’d benefit from getting that scholarship, that she’d nominated him because he was extraordinary. And she did say the family was good — said it before the judge asked.
But then the judge asked about the impact of Annie’s death, and Vicky Otter told the truth as he knew she would — it had been difficult for Dan and there’d been friction between him and his father.
“Mr. Hall, what’s your response to Ms. Otter’s observations?”
“She’s right. Dan was always real close with his mom and not with me. But I love him. We’re family. And with more time…”
“At the expense of his opportunity for a better life?” slid in Naomi’s lawyer.
“A better life? That’s your judgment,” Eric came right back. “When that determination is up to the judge.”
“And to Daniel,” the judge said.
Flash-freezing ice squeezed Hall’s heart. Dan would leave. Leave and never come back.
He looked at his son, but his head was down.
