Page 88 of Tru Blue
He shook his head.
“But you were willing to risk your freedom again to protect and raise the kids. To risk everything. Including me.”
Truman shook his head. “No. I wasn’t willing to lose you. I went to the courthouse to find out the process, like you suggested. You were right, Gemma. There is another way.” He glared at Quincy again. “Was another way.”
Gemma covered her mouth, fresh tears tumbling down her cheeks. “You went to the courthouse?”
He nodded again, trying to calm the storm within him long enough to tell her what he’d learned before he’d been thrown into searching for his brother.
“Since the state’s not involved and the kids have been in my care, all I have to do is submit a Complaint for Custody to the court. They said if I turn in our mother’s death certificate and sign an affidavit stating the father can’t be found, I should be fine. The court doesn’t typically do investigations with custody complaints unless a party to the litigation requests it. There’s no one to oppose this. They said it would typically be granted without a hearing in the normal course of the court’s business. But now…”
He looked at Quincy, standing more confidently and clearheaded than he’d ever seen him. He was torn between his brother’s sobriety and the cost to everyone involved.
OVERWHELMED DIDN’T BEGIN to touch on the emotions reeling through Gemma. Between her blowout with her mother and learning the truth about Truman’s—Quincy’s—crime, she could barely think. But it didn’t take much thought to know that if Truman and Quincy had a chance in hell of coming out on top of this nightmare, there was only one way to handle it. And she wasn’t even sure what she had in mind would help.
Or if I can make the call.
Truman reached for her hand. “I’m sorry for all of this. For lying to you about killing that man and for getting you involved in this situation at all.”
God she loved him. She loved his loyalty, the depth of his love, and everything else about him. She wasn’t about to let him feel bad for doing what he had to do to protect his brother, not when he had proven himself to be the best man she knew.
“Don’t. I’m not upset with you about not telling me the truth. I know you couldn’t.” She glanced at Quincy, who had been carrying so much guilt it’s a wonder he’d survived at all. How had he found the courage to come forward, knowing Truman would be livid, in order to give his brother the future he deserved? He’d confessed all his wrongdoings, with unabashed tears and doleful regret. He told her how the crime had happened, how Truman had stepped in to take care of everything, and how their mother had turned against him. The strength and conviction of these two men was immeasurable, and she knew that despite the long road ahead for Quincy to recover from his drug addiction, and the legal battles they would face, they were a family she wanted to be part of.
Returning her attention to Truman and their conversation, she said, “The same way you can’t be mad at Quincy for wanting to do the right thing. You’ve shown me that the line between right and wrong can be blurred, but that protecting those you love is the right thing no matter what the cost.”
She opened her purse and withdrew her phone.
“Who are you calling?” Truman asked.
“You need the best legal counsel money can buy, and my stepfather is the best.”
“Sweetheart. I have no money left,” Truman said regretfully.
Thinking of that huge bank account her mother had been dumping money into for her for more than a decade, she said, “I do.”
Epilogue
GEMMA PICKED THROUGH a rack of dresses at a sidewalk sale with Crystal and Dixie, looking for something for Kennedy to wear to the Easter parade next weekend. She’d really come into her own over the past few months. They’d been slowly introducing her to crowds, taking her to the zoo, for walks on the beach, and out to the mall, and she was excited about the Easter parade. It had been five months since Quincy confessed, two months since the court granted Truman post-conviction relief and vacated his sentence, and five weeks since Truman had been awarded guardianship of the children. The state could have placed both Truman and Quincy on trial; however, the prosecutor had exercised what Warren had called his prosecutorial discretion and declined to prosecute either of them. Warren had said that Quincy’s age at the time of the crime and Truman’s prison sentence had factored heavily into that decision.
