Page 17 of Made For Me

“You,” the mother says, her voice filled with venom. Her hand flies up and her finger comes out and my feet are moving at the same time as hers. “You did this.” She shakes her head. “You and all your bullshit lies you fed her. You did this to her.” She roars out, “You killed her!”

My heart speeds up and my hands fist at my sides, I don’t even take a second to assess the situation before Julia can say a word. “If you don’t calm down.” I step in front of Julia to make sure she can’t see her. “We are going to call security and you’ll be escorted from here.” My voice stays tight as I ignore the way the burning in my stomach is building. If it was up to me, I’d throw their asses out in a blink of an eye.

“Pfft,” the woman says, “and I’ll call the police and say you are hiding my grandchild from us.”

“Stacey,” the short balding man says from behind her. “Calm down.”

“Shut up, Stanley,” she snaps at him and all he can do is look down. “We have a right to see our granddaughter.”

“And no one will stop you.” My voice stays calm, even though my body is shaking with nerves. “But if you are going to come in here and disrupt things, then we will have no choice.”

“Show me where my granddaughter is.” She folds her arms over her chest. “Or else I’ll call the news, or better yet.” She takes her phone from her pocket. “I’ll record you stopping us from seeing our grandchild after our only daughter died.”

I feel Julia’s hand on my arm. “Chase,” she says softly, “it’s not worth it.”

The door opens and I see two security guards come in and I look over at Emmanuelle, who just nods at me. “Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” She walks toward the security guards. “You can act calmly and we will give you five minutes with your granddaughter,” she informs them and the woman opens her mouth, but Emmanuelle holds up her hand to stop her. “Until she is transferred to her own room, or”—she looks at the guards—“you will be escorted out of here without seeing her, and only be able to see her when she is transferred.” She takes a step toward the woman. “And I would hate for paperwork to take longer than it should,” she warns, her voice low. She looks at the man. “I suggest you talk to your wife and choose option A.”

“I don’t want that bitch anywhere next to her.” She points at Julia and I’m about to go Hulk on her. I have to swallow down the rage and look down at the floor. I don’t even know why, but heat fills my body while anger fills my veins. I want to roar out but Julia doesn’t give me a chance.

Julia steps in front of me now. “I’m her caseworker,” she responds, her voice tight and strong. “You can throw insults at me. You can stomp your foot and throw hissy fits until you are blue in the face. At the end of the day, Penelope is my main concern.” She stands tall. “I look forward to the home visits.” She turns to the security guards. “There is no father listed on the birth certificate, so unless he comes forward, this is her next of kin.” She looks at the man. “You have five minutes.”

“Fucking bitch,” the woman mumbles as her husband ushers her forward.

“Wow,” Emmanuelle says, shaking her head and walking with them.

“You okay?” I ask when it’s just the two of us.

“I’ve been called worse,” she tells me, not looking at me. “Abigail is in there.” She motions with her chin. I look at her, not sure I understand what she said when I look at the room and my cousin Abigail comes out.

“Jeez,” she exhales, looking over her shoulder. “She has hair just like Grandma Parker. I wonder what Sunday dinner is like at her house.”

“Did she say anything to you?” I ask her and she shakes her head.

“No, Emmanuelle told me to leave, but while I was leaving, she told Penelope her mother is dead.” She closes her eyes. “All Penelope said was mama.”

I don’t have a chance to say anything because the grandparents come out of the room. “Watch yourself,” Stacey tells Julia right before she walks away from her.

Julia doesn’t say a word to either of them and only when the door closes behind them does Abigail say something. “Eat glass,” she spits, turning around going toward Penelope’s room.

I look over at Julia and see her shoulders slumped a bit as she shakes her head, looking down and laughing. “Are you okay?” I take a step toward her, my hand coming up to hold her elbow.

“You mean, did what they said hurt?” she asks. “More than I will let them know. But I have to focus on Penelope now.”

“You know there was nothing you could have done,” I assure her, and I’m about to say something else when the phone rings in my back pocket. I pull it out and see it’s Anthony, the equipment manager. “Hello,” I say when I slide the button right.

“Hey, we need you at the rink,” he replies, and I look at my watch to see it’s close to eight. “Tristan got here early and decided that he was going to go on the ice by himself. Idiot pulled something and was screaming for help.”

“I’ll be right there,” I say, disconnecting the phone. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

“Go on. I’m going to be here for a bit. Knowing Stacey, she is going to file for emergency custody before she asks how her daughter died.”

The pit of my stomach hurts when I nod at her. “Will you call me if you need anything?”

She shakes her head no and I roll my eyes. “Listen, what you did last night was a lot more than you needed to do.”

I put my hands in my pockets before I do something stupid like touch her face. “What happened last night?” I ask her, playing dumb.

“Don’t you have to go put on your cape and go save someone else?” I can’t help but laugh at her. “Go.” She moves her head toward the door.

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