“He’s my son,” he said again. Quieter. “I love him. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to keep him safe and happy.”
The pen stopped moving.
Judge Marston looked at Bear for a long beat. Then he looked past him, into the gallery. “Logan.”
Bear heard his son stand up behind him.
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve heard everything your father just said.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is there anything you’d like to tell the court?”
A pause. Bear didn’t turn around. Couldn’t.
“He came looking for me,” Logan said. His voice cracked once and steadied. “When I ran. He didn’t yell. He didn’t punishme. He just… hugged me.” Another pause. “I want to stay with him.”
Judge Marston nodded slowly. “Thank you, son. Go ahead and sit back down.”
He picked up his pen. Signed the bottom of the page in front of him. Closed the file.
“Mr. McKenna, I’m confirming sole legal and physical custody of Logan McKenna to you, effective immediately. Ms. Hayes will file the final paperwork with the clerk’s office this afternoon. You should receive certified copies within ten days.” The gavel came down. “Court is adjourned.”
thirty-nine
“Why are you acting so weird?”
At Logan’s question from the backseat, Greta glanced sideways at Bear behind the wheel. Ever since they turned off the highway at the Solace exit, he’d been unusually quiet, even for him. By the time they turned onto Ridge Road, he was white-knuckling the wheel. He should be relieved the hearing was over, and Logan was officially his, but, if anything, he was more keyed up now than he’d been on the drive to Missoula.
She shifted in her seat to fully face him. “Yeah, why are you acting weird?”
“I’m not.”
She studied his profile. The granite jaw. The steel-hard set of his shoulders. The way his thumb was moving against the steering wheel in a small, rhythmic circle that he probably didn’t know he was doing.
She’d seen Bear face down a flooded river without blinking. She’d watched him take down Daniel Goodwin without breaking a sweat. She’d seen him hold his son together while his whole body shook. She’d seen him calmly hold her together when her whole world crumbled.
She had never seen him like this.
“Bear.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re really not.”
“Can we just—” He exhaled through his nose, a long controlled breath, and turned down Ridge Road. “Can we just get there?”
Logan caught Greta’s eye in the visor mirror and mouthed, “What’s wrong with him?”
She shrugged.
He slumped back against the seat and glowered at the back of Bear’s head with an expression that was so Bear-like she had to smile.
The ranch came into view through the tree line, the metal roof of the main house catching the late afternoon sun. Bear turned through the gate and took the long way around the side of the main house instead of parking in front like he usually did, and Greta opened her mouth to ask why?—
“Oh my God,” Logan said.
