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“Then we get him with your dad. Or Andrew or Holt.”
“Can you be sure?”
“No.”
Patrick’s phone vibrated against my back. After he answered, he held it up to my ear.
“Hello?”
“The hearing is at two. I may have to meet you at the courthouse instead of coming by to pick you up.” Andrew sounded as if he hadn’t slept.
“Today?”
“Yeah. They took him without a court order, so this is an emergency hearing.”
My heart thumped. “Will I get him back today?”
“If all goes according to plan.” It seemed like too much to hope for. “Let me talk to Patrick.”
I handed the phone back and closed my eyes. The process was moving too quickly and not fast enough. There was no way we’d have the evidence to prove I hadn’t hurt Blake by this afternoon.
“They had photos of Blake with bruises?” Patrick growled as he tossed the phone onto the floor.
“You know I’d never hit him,” I whispered.
“I know.” He stroked my hair. “Where would she get photos like that?”
“She never kept him on her own. I was always with them.”
“Did you see the pictures?”
I twisted around. “Yeah. They were awful.” Worse than that. Disgusting. The evidence of my so called abuse was damning. The boy in the images was no doubt my son. But the bruises on his skin? They’d never been there. Ever.
“Were they familiar?”
“What do you mean?”
“Had you seen the pictures before?” Patrick smoothed a thumb over my brows.
“I—” I hesitated, trying to wade through the blur of yesterday. I sat up straight. “The day Holt came over.” I gripped his thighs.
“Holt took them?”
“No. He showed up unannounced. That’s how he found out I’d been talking toherbehind their backs.” I dropped my chin to my chest. She’d stolen the photos of my son while I'd been distracted. “Biggest mistake of my life. How could I ever have chosen her over them?”
He tipped my head up. “You didn’t know. And we always want to see the best in people.”
There was something in his expression that made my heart constrict. Like he wished I saw the best in him.
Oh my God. I’d been so unfair to him, completely blinded by what looked like the facts.Thiswas the man I knew. The one who was always there for me.
I squeezed. Things had gotten so bad between us. I’d assumed the worst of him, yet here he was. But I’d have to apologize later. After Blake was back where he belonged.
“Do you have a copy of those pictures?” He took my fingers in his.
“The ones from the social worker?”
“The originals.”
