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Liam stood and came over to me like a well-behaved boy. "Hello Father," he said to me.
I knelt and opened my arms for a hug. "Hello, Liam," I replied. He came into my arms and I gave him a quick hug. He laid his head on my shoulder briefly and then pulled back.
I pointed at the present that Sophie was holding, and who looked like she was going to pop it into her mouth at any moment.
"That's a present for you," I said and Liam turned to check it out.
"That's for me?" Liam asked, hesitant but eager at the same time.
"Yes," I said and gently removed it from Sophie's hand. "Sophie doesn't understand the idea of giving a present yet, but it's for you from your sister."
I handed it to Liam, who took it and smiled. 'Thanks, Sophia! I have something for you, too."
He went to his backpack and pulled out an unwrapped toy. It was another minion.
"You can have this. You can put it in your mouth. Grandma washed it so it's clean."
"Why thank you, Liam," I said and rubbed his head affectionately. "I'm sure Sophie will love it."
On her part, Sophie happily took the minion from Liam's hands and it went directly into her mouth as expected.
We sat at the table and watched as Liam unwrapped his present.
"It's another transformer," Liam said brightly, holding up the package with the transformer inside. "It's Drift." He examined the transformer. "He transforms into a Mercedes."
I helped him open the package and he proceeded to transform it into its different forms while we had a nice time talking with Brenda about their trip to Malaysia.
"We're on United Airlines and make one stop in Hong Kong before our flight to Kuala Lumpur," she said.
"It's a long flight."
She nodded. "Liam has a Gameboy and has become a big fan of Legends of Zelda. He's got three different versions of the game from a used game store plus several comic books. I think we'll be okay."
"Good," I said and watched Liam, hungry to see him for as long as I could before they left to catch their flight. "We're boarding after you so we can spend some more time together before you go."
When the time came to say goodbye, we walked them to security. After a hug, which lasted longer than I intended, I waved as they went out of sight.
"Well, that's it. Now, it's our turn."
I hugged Kate, feeling quite emotional seeing Liam off and knowing it would be the first time he'd seen his mom in over a month. Part of me hated Maureen for leaving Liam with Brenda. My own mother left me when I was older than Liam. I had forgiven her, now that I met her again and realized that she'd felt she couldn't do anything different and that she had been ready to end her own life. At least I could understand what Liam was going through. And I was determined to be a parent to him, no matter what.
We checked in through security and went to the waiting area outside our own gate. I held Sophie on my knee and the two of us watched out the window at the planes landing and taking off. I saw one United plane and while I wasn't sure it was Liam's flight, I imagined it was him and he was smiling as the plane took off, the transformer clutched tightly in his hand.
After we boarded our own flight, we took our first-class seats. Sophie had a seat beside Kate and I sat across the aisle beside her. I would have liked to have sat beside Kate because she was still nervous on airplanes, but with Sophie beside her, Kate put on a brave face and was generally distracted by having her baby with her.
After takeoff, once we were leveled off and the fasten seatbelt signs flickered off, I went to them and leaned over, looking out the window at the passing scenery. I glanced at Kate, who was gripping the arm rests tightly. She gave me a smile, but I could see it was nervous.
"Only a few hours and we have our layover in Denver," I said with a smile. She nodded and turned back to the window. I handed Sophie her minion and then sat back down, watching the two of them and thinking about the upcoming couple of months back in Manhattan.
The Richardson murder trial would be going on and that would be in the news. It would put a damper on any of my plans to try to win shared custody of Liam, but at least I'd be close to him. I could spend time visiting him at Brenda's and he could have sleepovers at our place on weekends.
Once the murder trial was over and the publicity surrounding it had died down?
I'd be going to court to get shared custody. Then, I'd be converting the spare bedroom at our apartment on 8th Avenue into Liam's bedroom. Until Maureen returned to Manhattan or California to live, I was det
ermined that Liam would live with me and Kate and Sophie during the week, and visit his grandmother on weekends. As his biological father, I had every right to that if Maureen was going to spend most of her time in Malaysia. I'm sure a judge would look at my current circumstances rather than my past and decide on that basis rather than on salacious gossip about my sex life before I was married.
I hoped that was the case.
