Brothers of Paradise Series

Jamie laughs again. It’s a chilling sound, and he stares at her like he doesn’t recognize the woman he sees.

“What the hell has gotten in to you?” he says. “What has this asshole told you?”

“Asshole?” I say.

But Jamie is the one who answers. “You never took care of her, you never read her a bedtime story, you never picked her up at daycare. There were weeks when you barely spoke two words to her.”

“That’s all that counts?”

I clear my throat. “Mr. Thompson, your ex-girlfriend and your daughter were in a different city for four months without you coming to visit. Is that not true?”

“I didn’t know where they were.”

“Yes, you did. You suspected they’d gone to Jamie’s mother from the start.” I raise an eyebrow. “But you waited four months. Doesn’t show a lot of paternal affection, does it?”

The white of his face drains away to leave splotches of color. For a few moments, he can’t speak.

“Jamie,” he says, reaching out a hand to grip her arm.

I put a hand on his chest. “Back up,” I tell him. “You don’t touch her.”

“Who the fuck even are you?”

“We’ve told you. I’m Ms. Moraine’s lawyer,” I say. As if on cue, Jamie leans into my side, closer than a friend would, and I can’t resist adding the words again. “Amongst other things.”

Lee’s eyes darken on mine, and there’s a hint of fear there. He’s all bark and no bite. The kind of man who’d verbally abuse a woman-who’d abuse her in any way-isn’t worth the ground he stands on.

“So you have rich friends now?” he asks Jamie, giving her a disgusted look. Like she’s the one in the wrong. “Always knew you’d run back to your little trust fund upbringing. Where’s the independent woman I love?”

“You know,” Jamie says, her voice thoughtful, no sign of the rage I’m feeling at his words, “for all your big talk about sticking it to the elite, I’ve never once seen you volunteer for people who have it worse than you. And independent, Lee? You wanted me to serve you on my hands and knees. You’re a hypocrite.”

He looks between us again, and a light flicks in his eyes. “You want me to leave, Jamie? You want me to sign over custody and never bother you or Emma again?”

“Yes,” she says.

Here it comes, I think.

“Well, what will you offer me in return?” he asks.

I laugh. It’s so predictable. My reaction sets him off, because his arms tighten at his sides. But he ignores me and focuses only on Jamie.

“You left me in a bad situation when you took our money,” he says. “I’ve been kind enough not to press you on it, but you know what you did. It was stealing.”

“I took my money, from my account. It was money I’d earned from my last paycheck waitressing,” she says. “That money was never yours.”

“Mr. Thompson,” I say. “No one is going to pay you a dime to stay away. That’s not what’s happening here.”

“Then I’ll fight custody. I’ll fight it in court!”

I take a step forward, shielding Jamie behind me. “With what money?”

His eyes narrow. “What?”Belonging to NôvelDrama.Org.

“Lawyers charge exorbitant fees. I’d know, Mr. Thompson. Proceedings can drag on for months, if not years. You have a documented past of emotional abuse toward Ms. Moraine and Emma. We have texts and phone recordings, not to mention this four-month-long absence. Do you really want to go down that path?”

My question hangs in the air between us. There’s a gossamer-thin veil of civility over my face, my words. If he tries to raise a hand, if he charges, I swear to God…

“Please,” Jamie says by my side. “Let Emma live a good life. Don’t turn her into a pawn in some game between you and me. She deserves better… and you never wanted fatherhood. You can be free of it. Of us.”

Lee’s voice falters, takes on a desperate edge. “I can still make your lives miserable. I could stay here. But I’ll leave quietly if you give me something. Anything. You owe me, Jamie!”

He wants money.

How predictable.

I rap my knuckles against the closed door behind me, two sharp times.

They don’t dawdle. Henry and Hayden must have been waiting in the hallway, because they join us on the porch right away. Hayden stands to my left and Henry on Jamie’s right.

Lee takes a step back. “What the hell…?”

“I’ll admit, these two aren’t lawyers,” I say. “But they are good friends of Jamie and Emma. Like me. None of us take particularly kindly to threats against either of them. Paradise is a small place. We take care of our own.”

“And we’re not going anywhere,” Hayden adds, cracking his knuckles.

Lee takes another step backwards, eyes drifting to Jamie. “You’ve lost it.”

“No,” she says. “You’ve lost me.”

A figure emerges from the bushes, as Rhys stretches to his full height. He brushes a leaf off his shoulder and walks toward us on the lawn. In his left hand is a film camera.

“Thanks for the show,” he tells Lee. His voice is the slow, arrogant drawl I’d wanted to punch him for so often as a teenager. “The part where you demanded money in exchange for surrendering custody will play especially well in court. You’re truly a devoted parent.”

Lee’s eyes drift across all of us. From Rhys to Henry, from Henry to Hayden, and then to me. Finally they land on Jamie, standing by my side, and the papers in her left hand.

“Where do I sign?”

He ends up getting money. The bus fare out of Paradise, in fact, in an envelope Jamie had prepared. When he’s left she thanks each of my brothers with hugs. I’m so sorry you had to do this, thank you so much…

They each assure her they’d do it again in a heartbeat. Henry dryly comments that all he had to do was stand there. I never knew I could be so threatening, he’d said, and Rhys and I had laughed. If there’s one thing our eldest brother had always been good at, it was threatening us to obey.

We all end up back at Lily and Hayden’s house. Rhys gives me shit about riding into the storm, but the arm he flings around my shoulders lies lighter than it usually does. “I’m not covered in bruises,” I tell him.

He looks at my temple. “I don’t believe that.”

Jamie hugs her mom, and Lily, and Emma when we come back home. Mostly Emma. And she tells her mother that it’s over, showing the signed custody papers.

There will be time for longer discussions when the dust settles. But for now, all I feel is a deep contentment, watching her smile at Lily and laugh with her daughter. It’s the feeling after a fight, after the storm, when adrenaline and fear leaks out to leave only lightness behind.