I nodded, and Logan murmured, “Yeah. She looks just like you, Shannon.”

Maia’s eyes grew round at the compliment.

“Except for the hair.” He smirked.

They both giggled, the sound exactly the same, and I burst out laughing at their twin expressions of amazement and excitement. I had a feeling they were going to be fine, and I started to relax about leaving Maia alone with Shannon.

“Well, you two better hit the road.” Logan’s sister gestured toward the door.

Logan nodded and walked over to give both Shannon and Maia a kiss on the cheek. I followed suit, squeezing Maia’s hand and giving Shannon a grateful smile before hurrying after Logan as he started his determined journey back to Glasgow.

Like the last time I was in Logan’s car with him, there was total silence. Unlike last time, however, I wanted to give him the quiet. He needed it to process everything that had happened. So I gave him quiet. And he took it. For the entire ninety minutes.

When we eventually pulled up to the familiar block of flats, Logan parked and switched the car off. He looked at me.

I gave him a small, wobbly smile. “Are you ready?”

“I want her to fight me.”

He didn’t have to clarify his statement. I knew exactly what he meant, because I wanted Maryanne to fight him too. For Maia’s sake. It wasn’t about him not wanting to take care of Maia. No matter what happened, he was going to do that. But we both wanted Maryanne to give some indication that Maia meant something to her. My mother had never fought for me. It was a special kind of agony knowing your own mother didn’t love you. It was always with me. A ghost haunting me, a demon taunting, “If your mother can’t love you, who can?”

I fought that demon, or whatever you wanted to call it, every day. Most days I won. Still… I didn’t want Maia to have that fight.

Logan gave me a militant nod. “Let’s do this.”

By the time we reached the door, I had butterflies in my stomach and not the good kind. It didn’t help that Logan banged on the door like he meant business. I stared up at his stern expression and reminded myself that I didn’t actually know him that well, and I had no idea what his reaction to this situation was going to be without Maia around as a buffer.

Oh shit.

I guess that made me the buffer this time.

Not even a few seconds passed before the lock turned and the door swung inward to reveal a tall, skinny fellow, wearing nothing but a pair of ratty gray jogging bottoms.

His thinning dark hair was unwashed, his face unshaved, and there was a strong odor of stale sweat reeking from him.

“Aye?” he grunted, scratching his bare belly. Not that he had much of one.

“Is Maryanne home?” Logan said, politely enough.

The skinny man’s answer was to leave the door open, turn around, and walk away.

Logan took that to mean we could enter, and I followed him inside the flat. I was instantly hit with that stench we’d smelled last time we were there. I instinctively huddled closer to Logan as we walked down the narrow hall and into the living room. The skinny man flopped down on an armchair across from us. Maryanne was lying on the couch watching television.

She looked up, her expression giving nothing away.

“Remember us?” Logan scowled at her.

Her eyes narrowed. “What the fuck do you want now?”

I eyed her carefully. She seemed less jittery than last time. I didn’t know enough about substance abuse to understand what that meant. Was she high? Was she not high? Who knew?

Logan forged ahead. “I got a paternity test. Maia is mine.”

“Good detective work.” She snorted, and the skinny man laughed.

Logan ignored them both. “I also got a copy of her birth certificate. You named me as the father on it. You gave her my name.”

“So?”

“I have legal rights, Maryanne. I’m enforcing them. Maia is living with me from now on. Permanently. Do you have anything to say about that?”

Maryanne just stared at him.

Skinny Man frowned at her. “You gonnae take that?”

“What’s it to you?” Logan said, his tone quietly menacing.

I shifted a little closer to him, sensing the fight in him.

“Nothing.” Skinny Man shrugged and then grinned idiotically. “Wee My was nice to look it, that’s aw.”

Logan lunged, but I was faster. I put myself in front of him, my hands pressed to his chest. “Don’t.”

He grabbed my wrists, glowering over at Skinny Man. “If you fucking touched her, I’ll kill you.”

“Naw, man.” Skinny Man got up out of his chair, backing off. “Mare, tell him I didnae touch her.”

Maryanne grunted. “What would he want a wee bairn for when he’s got me?”

Logan was still tense.

I pressed harder against him, forcing him to look at me. Our eyes locked, and I felt all his pain and frustration and impotence over Maia’s history wash over me. I curled my fingers into his shirt and leaned closer. “They’re not worth it,” I whispered. “Let’s just go.”

He blinked at my words, and I felt him relax, his hands uncurling around my wrists. He looked over at Maryanne. “Does this mean you’re not fighting this?”

“Does it look like it?” She gestured around the room. “What the hell can I do for that wee lassie, eh? She’s better off with you. Why do you think I told her about you? She doesnae need me.”

I shook my head. “You have no idea how wrong you are.”

“Get oot ma house, fancy pants.”