AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His brother had died. Nate now had a child to raise.
“The judge said other family members could take the boy,” Lawrence said. “She wouldn’t uphold the will to the point where Nate could just be released to his own care, the way he would’ve been in a few months. So our next best step was the Residential Reentry Center. This way, he’s out, but under supervision. He can take the child with him. And he can have a decent transitional period to work through…everything.”
Ginger nodded, a strangely fierce determination moving through her that Nate would get exactly that. She’dhelp himget exactly that.
“And the family is okay with that?” she asked.
“His parents are getting up there in years,” Lawrence said. “The father has just been diagnosed with colon cancer, and no, Nate doesn’t know yet.” He sighed, and Ginger supposed even lawyers had a human side from time to time. “His sister is married with two kids under the age of four, neither of whom Nate has met.” He read from his phone, though surely he had these familial facts about his client memorized.
“Her husband got in a motorcycle accident only six months after they got married, and he’s disabled and in a wheelchair. She cried and cried when she told me she couldn’t take Connor on too.” He looked up and shrugged. “It’s Nate or the foster care system.”
“Nate will never let that happen,” Greg said. “Ward and Connor came to visit him all the time. He loves that boy.”
Lawrence nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard. Which is why I petitioned the judge for RRC, and specifically at your ranch, Miss Talbot. It’s only a ten-minute drive from his parents and sister. Bethany—the sister—said she could make that drive to see her brother and her nephew. All agreeable with you, of course.”
“Of course,” Ginger murmured. So many things ran through her head that she couldn’t grab onto any one thought and examine it. She drew in a deep breath. “Okay, so I’ll get the clothes on the request sheet, and I’ll be back here on Saturday morning to get him.” She looked between Greg and Lawrence. “Right?”
“Yes,” Greg said, standing. “He’ll be in the Special Housing Unit, Administrative Detention.”
“Why?” Ginger asked.
“Because he’s in crisis right now,” Greg said. “And to lessen the questions and noise from the other prisoners. We put all inmates in Admin Detention during transfers or before hearings. That kind of thing. It’s not like detention at the principal’s office. He’s not in trouble. It’s tosparehim trouble.” He reached for her hand again, and they shook. “I’ll be there to say good-bye to him as well. He’s been a good inmate here.” With that, he nodded and turned to leave the office.
Ginger waited until the door closed and then she took his seat, combing her fingers through her own hair. “Is that all then?” she asked Lawrence.
“That should do it,” he said. “Everything will be ready for you between now and then. You get the clothes. I’ll meet you here with the boy. And…that’s that.”
That’s that.
The words didn’t seem like enough for a man who’d lost his brother and was about to become a father, all within a few minutes. So much was changing, and not for her. She’d have another cowboy on the ranch, which she desperately needed.
She seized onto the gratitude as it slipped through her veins and said, “Okay, then. I’ll be ready, and I’ll be here.” She stood and followed Greg out the door, her focus only on making it back to her truck safely.
Once there, she allowed her mind to wander. Yes, she needed Nate’s help on the ranch. She’d just had a cowboy quit last week, and his appointment through the Residential Reentry Program was a huge blessing for her.
“He’s sure handsome,” she muttered, her mood darkening. “And you’re not going to let him use that against you.”
No, she was not.
Shecouldnot.
The last time she had, she’d nearly lost everything, and it was only by God’s grace that she’d managed to hold onto the ranch and her last shred of dignity.
That’s that.
With the decision made that Ginger would only speak to Nate if she absolutely had to, she made the drive back to Hope Eternal Ranch, the pure blackness that existed to her left threatening to claw at her very soul.
The absence of light over the water of the Gulf sometimes brought her peace. Tonight, though, it only served to remind her of how far she’d come since she’d fallen in love with Hyrum Charles—an inmate from River Bay, just like Nate—and how far she could fall if she allowed something like that to happen again.
* * *
Saturday morning,Ginger arrived back at River Bay with a small backpack. She’d gotten the requested clothes for Nate, as well as a couple of soft drinks, snacks, and a chocolate bar for both him and Connor.
She’d taken prisoners back to Hope Eternal before, and she knew how much they liked chocolate. Apparently, it was very expensive inside prison, and while she knew Nate had worked in investment banking before his time at River Bay, she suspected he didn’t have a whole lot of money to be buying chocolate every week.
Someone met her in the lobby and took her outside to a nearby building, this one much closer than the one she’d trekked to on Wednesday night. It was early still, with the sun barely lighting the sky. She’d left the ranch last night and made the three-hour drive to the town of River Bay, where she’d slept in a lumpy bed and gotten up before dawn.
She smoothed down her hair, wishing it wasn’t quite so bright. Over the years, she’d tried to tame the coppery color with hair dye, but she’d given up and embraced the auburn locks she had. Thankfully, she wasn’t walking down the center aisle of a prison, with rows of inmates on both sides, leering at her through the bars.
