Page 84 of Shattered

“Are you sure you weren’t adopted?” The detective cocked her head to the side.

Before I could respond, Dad cut in, “I ain’t agreeing to nothing without my lawyer.”

“Dad, you're looking at the possibility of up to ten years in jail for grand larceny, and Mom could get fifteen for breaking and entering. What I’m offering is the deal of a lifetime, but once I leave this room, I’m not coming back.”

Neither one of them said another word, so I took their silence to mean they were listening. Shuffling the papers to get the one I wanted, I laid it out, then took the pen offered by the detective and sat it on top.

“Sign here and you’ll both onlydo a year.”

“What’s the catch?”

“These are adoption papers.”

“No way in hell,” Mom huffed.

“Shut up, Trudy. I ain’t cut out for prison.”

“Your rights as parents would be gone forever. Jett would be mine.”

“And how does signing over our kid make the charges go away?”

“The only one that would go away completely is the B&E. The district attorney has agreed to prosecute you both on a lesser charge of petty larceny, which only carries a year sentence.”

My father’s face turned bright red. He’d done a good job concealing the man I knew, but now his true colors were about to shine brighter than a beacon on top of a lighthouse. As a child, I feared his temper, but now it only spurred mine on.

“You ungrateful little bitch. You’ve got some nerve waltzing in here, making demands of the people who put a roof over your head for eighteen years. I should tear these papers up and throw them in your damn face.”

“If that’s how you feel, then good luck being Bubba’s bitch.”

I pushed back from the table and started to stand.

“Wait. I said I should, not that I would.”

“We need to think about this.” Mom slouched in her chair.

“I’m leaving in two minutes.”

My bravado was beginning to fail. I gave them two minutes because in three, I’d beg. They didn’t know it, but there was no way in hell I was walking away without those papers signed, even if it meant dropping all charges. It wassomething Koen and I argued about the night before. In the end, he understood my conviction.

Sweat dripped down my spine as I anxiously awaited their decision. When my father reached for the pen, I nearly fell to the floor with relief. Twenty seconds was all it took for them to choose their freedom over their child.

Twenty seconds.

Then I saw those clear skies.

EPILOGUE

Five monthslater

Koen

This was it. The moment of truth. I was marrying the woman of my dreams. Again. Since, technically we were already married. This time though, we’d have our friends and family at our sides to celebrate.

The wedding was being held at the Ritter Park Rose Garden. Even though the roses hadn’t reached full bloom yet, my mom and Willow had done an amazing job filling in the space with every color of flower imaginable. We’d opened our home to them and Riley two weeks ago, and as much as I loved them, I couldn’t wait for them to go back to California.

While the women had opted to get dressed at our house, then take a limo to the property, the guys were using the small greenhouse we’d been given as a dressing room. I was just putting the finishing touches on my outfit when Jett burst through the door.

“Hey, Pops. How do I look?”

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