Page 31 of Moose

I could imagine how sweet she would sound screaming my name. Shaking my head from those thoughts, I walked closer to her.

Sav winked as Lily stood up.

“Let’s talk outside.”

I followed her out the door and down the steps. Sav and Hawk had a little table set up under the steps and we sat down.

“Tessa showed up at the school. Tried to take the kids. Some teacher, Oliva, stopped them. Thankfully, Sav was there delivering baked goods and could get the kids in the car.”

“Then she followed them?”

Lily nodded. “Yes. She called Hawk on her way home and rushed the kids upstairs before Tessa could grab them. Savannah held her off until the cops came.”

I shook my head. “Fuck. Is Sav pressing charges? The cop told me Tessa assaulted her.”

“Of course. We’re doing everything possible to prove she’s unstable.”

“I should kill that bitch for touching my fucking girl and scaring my kids. She can’t ever get fucking custody, Lily.”

She sighed. “She’s not going to, Moose. I can promise you that. The kids are also old enough that they can decide who they want to live with. They don’t even know Tessa. The closest thing she’ll get is supervised visits.”

“I don’t even want that!”

Lily tugged on her ponytail. “I know. I don’t want that either, but the court is about reuniting families. If she can prove that she wants to be in the kids' lives, they’ll start there.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it either, but we need to play the game. We can clearly prove she’s not capable of having unsupervised visits, so that’s a win for us. And I bet she won’t do well during her first one, making my job easier.”

I stood up and headed toward the stairs. “I want her to sign her rights over. I want her out of my fucking kids’ lives. That’s my end goal here, Lily. And I sure as fuck know it’s yours too.”

Lily followed behind me as we walked back into the apartment. Savannah was just making dinner as we sat at the kitchen table.

She turned and smiled at us. “Dinner will be ready soon!”

Lily shook her head. “Oh, I can’t stay, Sav. I’ve got a ton of work to catch up on.”

Nova tapped her shoulder. “Miss Lily, you have to eat dinner. Stay and then you can work. You need a break.”

I laughed at my daughter, and Lily smiled.

“Alright, but only because you asked me.”

She winked as Nova plopped down next to her.

A few minutes later, Sav took dinner out of the oven and set everything up on the counters.

“Maybe we need to look for a house, babe. I don’t have enough room to feed everybody!”

Hawk wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck.

“Whatever you want, baby.”

I smiled as we all sat down to eat. This is what I lived for; my family happy and together.

As we ate and laughed, the kids cleaned their plates, then went to watch a movie on the couch. Savannah had told me the kids already did their homework, so I didn’t mind.

Looking over, I saw the kids were already fast asleep. Sighing, I went to walk over when Sav put her hand on my arm.

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