Page 105 of Forfeits

“Yes, and she’s my daughter. She’s my daughter!”

“Daniel would have wanted us to—”

“Daniel would have wanted Lucy to stay with me,” I said, trying to keep my voice low. I didn’t want to wake Lucy.

“You don’t know that. If he could see you now with—”

“Oh, my fucking God,” I said, then steadied myself. I took two deep breaths and glared at Annie. “Daniel would give me his blessing. Daniel would have wanted me to find”—I almost said ‘love’ but backed off of that ledge—“someone. And I’ve found Aiden.”

“Well, that’s wonderful for you, then. Brian, I think we’d better go.”

“Annie,” I said, staring in a blood-red rage at the top of the dining room table. “I won’t give her up.”

She didn’t respond. She and Brian left, and Aiden locked the door behind them. I collapsed into a chair, feeling the remnant sting of the crop. I relished it. It gave me a distraction from my anger.

“How dare they?” I said to Aiden when he came and sat down beside me. “How fucking dare they?”

“Yeah. Wow. I didn’t really know what you were dealing with.”

“The frustrating thing is that we all think we know what’s best for Lucy.”

“Okay, true, but who has more of a right to decide that?”

“I do.”

“Exactly. Do they actually think they’d win a custody battle?”

“Maybe. But I don’t want Lucy to go through that. So, basically, I have to decide if her mental health is worth me giving in and letting them have her. Maybe we can come to some kind of arrangement.”

“Fletcher,” Aiden said, “what are you talking about?”

I didn’t answer right away, and in the silence we heard the soft pat-pat of bare feet on the hardwood.

We turned around at the same time and watched Lucy, in her panda pajamas, walk to the couch and sit down.

“Oh, hey,” Aiden said, glancing at me. “How’s it going? Great pajamas!”

“Thanks. What are you guys talking about? Did Granny and Grandpa go home?”

I couldn’t deal with this. I was still dropping from our session, and everything had just been too much. I put my face in my hands with a groan.

“Is Daddy okay?”

No. No, Daddy is not okay.

I felt Aiden’s hand on my back, rubbing gently.

“He’s just got a very bad headache, that’s all,” Aiden said. “I’m going to make him some tea. Do you want anything?”

“No, I’m gonna go back to bed. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I thought I heard angry voices.”

Aiden chuckled. “I’m sorry if we were loud. How did you and Robin get along?”

“Oh my God. He’s great. I love him! Can he babysit me again?”

I made some unintelligible noises.

“I’m sure he can,” Aiden said. “Good night, Lucy.”

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