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The door to the courtroom opened and a deputy from her office strode inside, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
Bella jumped up. “I’m so sorry, Your Honor. I have some documents I need you to address.”
Commotion from both lawyers started up, but the judge stared at Bella hard.
“And you are?”
“I’m Deputy Whitfield. I’ve been investigating several instances of vandalism on Sagebrush Ranch property.”
“What does that have to do with this case?”
Bella glanced over to Grant briefly. “Everything,” she said.
He waved her over and she hurried down the aisle, quickly joined by both counsels. Charlotte’s hot gaze drilled into her as she placed the file in front of the judge.
“Your Honor, claims that Mr. Shaw struggles with alcoholism are unwarranted. Here, you will see that Grant—Mr. Shaw—was drugged the same day an anonymous call came in that he was driving while impaired.”
The judge frowned, clearly not understanding where she was going with this.
“No one was informed about the beer bottles in Mr. Shaw’s possession. They were empty and they’d been dumped in the back of his vehicle. I was the one who found him and I took him to the hospital. Here, you can see he tested negative.” She pointed to the paperwork.
Charlotte’s lawyer made a move for the document. “None of this was shared during discovery. We need a recess.”
The judge placed his hand on the documents. “This still doesn’t change the fact that the two will have to share custody.”
“Well, it should,” Bella said firmly, lifting her chin. “Because if no one knew about the bottles, then how would Mrs. Bradley know? Unless she was the one who put them there. Unless she was the one who made the call.”
“Objection!” Charlotte’s lawyer snapped.
The judge glanced from the lawyer with irritation back to Bella.
“Your Honor, you’re welcome to postpone this hearing or call a recess. Or throw it out and award custody to the one person who deserves to raise his son. It doesn’t matter what you choose, because as soon as we leave this room, I assure you, Mrs. Bradley will be brought in for questioning and charged appropriately.”
The silence was shocking. She would have been able to hear a pin drop. Not even those behind her were shuffling around.
She watched the judge, not knowing what would happen. At this point, what made the most sense was for the judge to toss out this hearing and request a new one. But something told her that wasn’t going to happen.
The judge heaved a sigh and settled back in his seat. He waved his hand, flicking his fingers to the lawyers to return to their seats.
“This is highly unprecedented. Normally in a situation such as this one, the child would be taken into custody until we look into new allegations.” His gaze swept through the room, landing on Bella, then Grant, and finally on Charlotte. “I am no stranger to a parent’s love for their child. However, you are not this child’s parent. This new evidence puts you in the path of an ongoing investigation, and that boy doesn’t need to be stuck in the middle of it.”
Charlotte had gone white, but she didn’t argue.
The judge turned to Grant. “Mistakes happen. But based on the report from our Child Protective Services agent, I think it would be safe to say that Nick will be better off in your care. That being said, you will have a probationary period for three months with an assigned CPS official performing random visits. After that, everything will be made official. This will give the police time to look into the vandalism further and determine whether their suspicions are correct. At this time, I award Mr. Shaw temporary full custody of Nick Bradley, to be reevaluated at a future date. Charlotte Bradley has no claim at this time.”
The room erupted in chaos with Charlotte and her lawyer arguing and others cheering and congratulating Grant. Bella stood back, allowing him to celebrate. The door at the front of the courtroom opened and Tish ushered in a happy Nick.
Bella slipped out the back door. She couldn’t have asked for a better ending for this little family.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Grant clung to Nick like he was oxygen itself. He couldn’t believe what had happened. His head spun with the new information. Bella thought that Charlotte was responsible for everything?
He’d caught snippets of what had happened at the stand, but Bella’s voice had been hushed. At this point, none of it mattered. He could even wait three more months before he had the documents in hand that confirmed he was officially Nick’s father.
Grant hugged his son tighter, then stood, his eyes seeking out the one person he had to thank for all of it. Bella slipped out the door as soon as his gaze found her. He turned to Tish.
“Can you keep an eye on him for a moment? I need to speak to the deputy.”
