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“You look knackered.”
“Just getting used to the new sleeping pattern,” Jesse replied, sipping his coffee.
“You sure that’s all it is?” Jesse looked over. Tom was tilting his head. “You can still talk to me. You know that right?”
Jesse let out a long sigh, closing his eyes. “I’m just feeling like I’m living in two worlds at once,” he said softly. “And I don’t know which is real.”
“Maybe they both are—or neither.”
Jesse looked at him. “Thanks. That really helps.”
Tom smiled and patted his shoulder. “Everything’s very new right now. And with the custody case and everything”—he shook his head—“it’s got us all off balance.”
“You don’t seem off balance,” Jesse said, eyeing Tom, who looked bright-eyed, well rested and even more chirpy than usual.
“Don’t I?” His smile widened. “That’s good to know.”
Jesse examined him for a long moment then looked away, smiling. But then he sighed again. “The whole world is watching this case,” Jesse said quietly, shaking his head. “It’s so scary big.” He swallowed. “I can’t get my head around it.”
“You should probably decide how you feel…and soon.”
“It’s nothing to do with me.”
“It’s everything to do with you,” Tom said quietly. “She could end up being your daughter, too.”
Jesse didn’t let himself meet Tom’s eyes, however, worried his colleague might see the mingled excitement and terror he suddenly felt.
Chapter Seventeen
“You need to answer their questions honestly,” Emory said to a nervous-looking Dimity as she sat between him and Jesse in the limo on their way to the deposition. “There are no wrong answers. And you can’t get in trouble, no matter what you say.” He added this last as he met Jesse’s eyes.
“But I don’t want to talk to them,” Dimity said. “They want to take me away.”
“They want to do what’s best for you,” Emory said, holding her hand tight. “For them to decide that, they need to know how you feel—really feel…about everything.”
A knot of people were outside Ivor, Harrison & Associate’s building when they arrived. Emory’s security urged them back before they allowed the car door to be opened. When Emory emerged with Dimity and Jesse in tow, shouts broke out and phones were held over the heads of the security guards to film them.
Dimity didn’t look around but held Emory’s hand tight and went with him up the steps to where Darragh Kelly, blank-faced and intent, stood in the open doorway.
He took them through the empty offices at a brisk pace, tapping on a large-screened phone as he went.
“Miss Hawthorn is scheduled first,” he said to Emory. “Then Mr. Truelove. Then you.”
“Good,” Emory replied, slowing his pace as they approached a glass-walled meeting room with a number of grim-faced people sitting around a large table. “Joanna is coming in an hour, then she can take Dimity straight home.”
“Don’t I get to stay with you, Daddy?” Dimity said, looking perturbed.
“It’s late already, darling,” Emory said, kneeling in front of her so they were on eye level. “But I promise we won’t be far behind you.”
A young woman in a smart suit opened the door.
“Good evening,” she said. “I’m the representative from Child Services. I understand the necessity of having these depositions so late in the day, but perhaps we could get Miss Hawthorn’s interview done as quickly as possible?”
“I don’t want to.” Dimity flung her arms around Emory’s neck. He held her close, stroking her back. His face was tight with emotion. Jesse’s heart clenched.
Emory whispered something to Dimity that Jesse couldn’t hear. She straightened, wiped her eyes and nodded. She took the woman’s hand and allowed herself to be taken into the meeting room. Kelly followed Dimity in. Emory took a seat on one of the deep sofas set against the wall. Jesse sat on the edge, his elbows on his knees, one leg jigging.
Dimity sat with her back to the glass. The Child Services rep was on one side and Kelly on the other. One of the suited men pressed a button on a recording device in the middle of the table, and the court reporter began typing as the large, square-faced man in the middle of the row began to talk.
