Page 93 of Wed to You

Jagger and Chelseaflanked Kaden and held his hand as they walked into social services.

A woman about Chelsea’s age met them in the lobby. “Mr. and Mrs. Talbot?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Meg Carter, the guardian ad litem for Kaden.”

“This is my wife, Chelsea, and this is Kaden.”

Meg shook their hands and squatted down to talk to Kaden. “I need to talk to your guardians for a minute. Over there, you can see there are some Legos. Do you like Legos?”

“Yes. I have Star Wars Legos at my house.”

“How fun. I don’t think there are Star Wars Legos there, but you can go play with them for a minute while I talk to Mr. and Mrs. Talbot.”

Kaden looked at Jagger, who nodded. Kaden trotted off to check out the box of Legos.

“I know this isn’t an easy situation for you.”

That was an understatement.

“Miss Gilson is already here. There is a playroom set up for supervised visits. A social worker will be in the room with her and Kaden, and I’ll be watching through a one-way mirror.”

“What if he doesn’t like it?” Jagger asked.

“We’ll do all we can to make him feel safe and comfortable. I have your cell phone number if we need you to return sooner. Can I ask what you told him about this visit?”

“We told him his mom was feeling better and wanted to see him.”

“Feeling better?”

“When he was old enough to ask about her, I told him she was sick. It seemed like a better thing to say than the truth, which was she chose her drugs over him and left.”

Meg’s face remained impassive. Chelsea suspected she ran into many guardians and parents who weren’t too happy to be in a custody battle.

“It’s commendable you’ve been able to keep your resentment of Miss Gilson from him.”

“It’s not his fault.”

“Right. Well, I’m going to take him back to the playroom. You can return at four.”

Jagger went rigid. The moment had come. Chelsea looked at him; his face was as hard as granite while his eyes shone with pain. Her heart broke for him. She reached out to rub his arm, offering comfort even while knowing it wouldn’t help.

“Hey, Big K.” Jagger’s voice was tense.

Kaden looked up from digging in the Lego box.

“Miss Carter is going to take you to another room to see your mom for a couple of hours.”

“Are there Legos in the room?”

“There are. I’m sure your mom would love to see what you can build,” Meg said.

Kaden walked over to Jagger and took his hand. “Will you be back?”

Jagger squatted down so he could look Kaden in the eye. “I’ll always be here, buddy. Always.”

Chelsea chanced a glance at Meg, who again remained impassive. Chelsea wondered how she could close her heart to this and yet, knew she probably had to in order to do the job. Kaden threw his arms around Jagger, the first sign since they’d left that afternoon that Kaden might be nervous.

---