Page 97 of The Home Game

“Don’t you get it? I was protecting Eli!”

Antoni blinked. “I’m not sure I follow …”

“Grandma and Grandpa Swanson want custody, yeah?” She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring.

Antoni nodded. “Yes. But we talked about that—”

“Well, Eli overheard too,” Alexis blurted out. “We were both down there last night to shoot pucks. They were worried that they would be bad at it before their first hockey lesson and I—I was going to teach them how.”

“Okay,” Antoni said slowly. “I understand that part. But—”

“So Eli and I both heard you and Matty talking. And Eli freaked and ran up to their room. I thought about going after them but I wanted to know what was going on. But when Matty said he was going to make dinner, I panicked and ran in the guest room to hide.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Eli when we talked after though?”

“Eli was upset! They didn’t want to talk about it with you and it’s not like you noticed at dinner or anything anyway.”

Antoni winced and so did Matty. How had neither of them paid attention to Eli’s mood last night?

Of course, Reese had been fussy because he was teething and River had spilled some burrito on her lap and it had been, well, chaotic at best.

Eli had been overlooked in the midst of it. Damn it! Matty should have been paying more attention.

“We should have noticed,” Antoni said with a wince. “I mean, I should have. That’s my fault.”

Matty wanted to argue that no, it was on both of them, but he kept his mouth shut. He’d just have to do better in the future.

“So I talked to Eli about it after dinner,” Alexis said. “And they were freaking out that Grandma and Grandpa Swanson would cut their hair and dress them in boy clothes if we had to go live with them.”

Matty bristled at the idea. “We wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Yeah?” Alexis said. “Are you gonna tell the court no if they get custody? Are you going to fight anyone who comes to take us away?”

Honestly, if Antoni would let him, Matty would take them all to another country if that was what it took to keep them safe.

He’d do anything to keep them safe.

“I understand why you’re both worried about that but it’s not going to happen, Alexis,” Antoni said calmly.

“Oh my God. You’re living in a fantasyland, Uncle Antoni! We don’t know what’s going to happen. And I’m not just gonna sit here and wait to find out. I won’t let them hurt Eli!”

“Neither will I,” Antoni said. “But even if your grandparents got custody, we don’t know for sure what they would do. Maybe with some time and some education they would understand—”

“No, you don’t get it. They’ve already done it before!” she argued.

Horrified, Matty straightened. If those people hurt Eli ….

Antoni leaned forward. “What do you mean? What did they do before?”

“Before—before Mom and Dad died, Eli and I went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Swanson overnight. And they—they cut Eli’s hair. They put them in boy clothes and chopped up their dress right in front of them. It was awful. Eli was screaming and crying and begging them to stop so I snuck away and called Mom and Dad to take us home. They came right away and yelled at Grandma and Grandpa and said they were never letting them near us again.”

Alexis was crying now and the fear and worry in her eyes made Matty’s stomach churn.

“Why didn’t I know about this?” Antoni whispered.

Alexis shrugged, wiping at her face. “I really thought Mom had told you.”

“No. She didn’t.”

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