Clive left them alone for a few minutes so that he could check the courtroom to see the progression of the other cases. When he returned he announced they were still on the second case.

“Can all of this go away today?” Jason asked him.

“It could.” He didn’t sound hopeful.

“Tell us the possible outcomes.”

Clive made a strange face. “I doubt this will all go away today. If the father was here, and Owen was present to state his desires . . . maybe. But Tereck Junior is out of the country, according to his parents, and unreachable because he’s shooting pictures in the Middle East somewhere.”

“But they can’t testify for him,” Jason said.

“No, but the court will most likely delay any permanent ruling until TJ can be found and come in.”

“So what can we expect today?”

“My ultimate goal is to have Owen placed back in your home.”

That sounded good. “And charges against Rachel for not following a court order she never received?”

Jason’s mention of that information prompted Clive to start digging in his files. He removed a piece of paper and turned it toward Rachel.

“Is that your signature?”

Her face went white. “No.”

Clive pointed to it again. “That isn’t you?”

She shook her head.

“What is it?” Jason asked.

“It’s Owen’s.”

Clive turned the paper around. “You’re sure?”

“Yep.” She turned to Jason. “Why would he not tell me about this?”

“I don’t know, hon. Maybe he was scared.”

Clive put the paper back in his briefcase. “Okay, so when I ask you if the signature is yours in front of the judge, you’re going to say no. You are not going to reveal whose it is.”

Rachel blinked. “You want me to lie?”

“I’m telling you to avoid offering that information.”

“And if Yanez asks?”

“If he asks directly if it is Owen’s . . .” Clive waved a hand in the air as if he were on the fence as to his advice.

Rachel lowered her voice. “You want me to lie.”

“I would never suggest you lie, just hold some truth back without perjuring yourself. If the court thinks Owen received the certified letter, then they will believe you saw it. At that point you defied a court order by taking Owen out of the country, and you’re now at risk of charges for doing so.”

“I never saw a letter.”

“I believe you. But me believing you isn’t going to help in there.” He waved at the bank of windows that led to the courtroom they’d be heard in.

“Wow.”

Clive sat back in his chair, sipped his coffee. “Don’t be so surprised. These walls were built on lies. Only half the people in here are telling the truth, the other half are not.”

“I thought there were laws against that.”

“There are. You spent half a day in New York’s Finest’s locked unit. My guess is you didn’t see anyone in there on a perjury charge.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rachel ran her hand through her hair for the thousandth time. It was past lunch, and the court was just about to be called back in session. There was only one case in front of them. She leaned against Jason on a bench outside the courtroom.

“It just dawned on me that I haven’t called in to work for two days.”

Jason’s shoulders shook with mirth. “I’ve got ya covered.”

“But you’re not my immediate supervisor. I should have spoken with Gerald.”

He kissed the side of her head. “I told him he can expect to see you when he sees me.”

She laced her fingers through his. The thought of going through all of this alone made her physically ill. Did he feel obligated? Every move he’d made felt sincere, but how could she really know? He’d fallen into her drama the moment she was taken away in his office building. She’d leaned on him like a crutch, a life preserver in a tsunami. “I’m keeping you from your life,” she said aloud.

“Whoa . . . hey.” He pulled away far enough to look at her. “You didn’t bring any of this on yourself.”

“I’m invested in Owen. You’re not.”

His smile fell. “I’m going to forget you said that.”

She placed a hand on the side of his face. “I feel guilty for taking you away from your life.”

“Stop.”

She closed her lips and held her breath.

“From the moment we met, I became invested in you. Owen is a part of you. So stop feeling guilty.”

Rachel pushed back the tears in her eyes. “I don’t think I could have done this without you, Jason.”

“You don’t have to.” He kissed her briefly.

She sniffled and pulled back the waterworks.

“Where is he, Jason? Is he hungry? Cold?”

Jason didn’t seem as concerned as she was. “I can’t help but think we’re looking in the wrong place.”

They didn’t get a chance to talk more before Clive walked up.

“We’re on.”

Rachel filled her lungs and let it all out in a rush.

“I won’t let anything happen to him, Em. I promise you.”

The smell of antiseptic and sickness filled each fiber of Rachel’s being. She knew every name of every employee on the oncology floor of the hospital. Unlike the doctors, the nurses had told her that Emily wouldn’t make it through the night.

The light in Em’s eyes had gone out two days before, and Rachel and Owen kept a constant presence in the room. She wouldn’t die alone, it was a vow the two of them had made when they knew there was no saving her. Rachel and Owen had cried every moment they found themselves alone.

But when in Emily’s room, they held it together. When one of them felt the need to break down, they would leave her side.

Rachel had an understanding with the nurses that when Owen needed to step away, one of them was by his side. And if he needed to be alone, they kept their distance, but there was always one eye on him.

But at this moment, the second time Rachel promised Emily she’d take care of Owen as if he were her own, Rachel was alone, and the tears silently fell. “He will be my son from this day forward. I will be there for him when you pass. I will be there for him when he graduates from high school. I will send him to college and welcome his wife into our lives. Your grandchildren will be mine. I will do everything in my power to be there for him. For you.” Rachel held Emily’s frail hand. The difference between the two of them was more than black and white. It was healthy and deathly thin . . . alive and on one’s last breath of life. “I know you’re in pain. I know you’re holding on. Let go, Em. I’ve got him. I promise you.”

Within the hour Emily was gone.

Rachel swallowed her memory and the pain it punched in her heart. She’d already broken her promise, and it hadn’t yet been a year.

With her chin high, she entered the courtroom and sat on the side opposite the Colemans.

Clive sat beside her and whispered, “Don’t look at them. Don’t show emotion toward them. Don’t say a thing until I have you on that stand.”

She swallowed with a nod.

Looking behind her, she saw Jason on the other side of the wooden rail.

He offered a supportive nod.

The bailiff called the room to order, and the judge walked in. Rachel thought they were going to make everyone stand, but they didn’t. Thrown off, all Rachel saw was the color of the judge’s skin.