Chapter Fifteen

Snatching the documents from him Jared stares down at the official legalized paperwork. Evan quietly shuts the door and begins pacing the foyer, making sure the others were still outside talking. Then he faces him head on.

“What the hell is she doing, Jared? Does she think she can seriously take my daughter from me?” His voice raised louder with each word.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, he states quietly, “Calm down Evan. No one is going to take Shasta from you. Did you read the full contents of this subpoena? She’s demanding full custody with full child support, along with spousal support.”

Evan frowned with confusion. “She can’t receive that; we were never married."

“She’s going by that she was only fifteen when she had Shasta, making you eighteen at the time.”

“What the fuck.” He snatches the paper from him to read everything it stated. “Can this even stand in court?”

“Not the spousal part, no. But the custody…” When he trails off Evan snaps his head up to look at him with dread, not liking the way his friend seemed uncertain.

This scrap of paper was making him nervous and scared and he couldn’t help the overwhelming panic starting to settle in the center of his chest. “What am I going to do Jared? I can’t lose my baby girl.” His voice wobbled making Jared lay a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, you aren’t going to lose her. We won’t let that happen. You have been taking care of her since the day she was born while Kristan went off and did whatever the hell she wanted.”

“But she’s her mother. The court will take that into consideration.” He was beginning to shake a little as his mind starts going off in dangerous territory of what ifs.

“We are going to get the best damn lawyers money can buy. Even if it breaks our bank, none of us are going to have her take away your little girl. Come on, lets just get back to the get together and not think about this tonight. Don’t stress, my friend. We’ll make this right.”

With that he steers him back towards the backyard where the women were sitting still chatting. He couldn’t help looking at Shasta where a huge smile was stretched on her cute, adorable face while talking animatedly to Isabel.

His chest tightened at the thought of her being taken from him. He couldn’t lose her; she was everything to him. The most important being in the universe. Without her he didn’t think he could go on living. She may have been a mistake, but she was a beautiful most wonderful mistake he ever created. She was one mistake he didn’t know he needed to make, and he was so damn glad he did, regardless of the aftermath that followed. If he had a chance to go back into time he wouldn’t have change a thing that night.

With a new sudden resolve he looks to Jared once more before opening the sliding door and states with a hard tone, “You’re right. If she thinks I’m going to sit back and have her take away my child she’s dead wrong. She just fucked up big time Jared. Because I’ll make sure she has the biggest, ugliest fight on her hands trying to take away my livelihood from me.”

And with that he opens the door, puts on a big smile and joined the rest of the group outside. 

***

After the party and putting Shasta to bed, then making sure Isabel’s mother was in for the night they laid in bed together as he told her what had transpired. She stared at the document with an expression of worry.

“She won’t win right? I mean sole custody. Shasta will be heartbroken. I may not know Kristan very well other than the nasty side of her but Shasta…even at her young age, she wants nothing to do with her mother.”

Taking the paper from her he sets it on his night table by the bed. Both leaning against the headboard he looks back over to her. “I’ve already discussed it with Jared. And he has agreed to help us. We’re going to hire some damn good lawyers and I’m going to fight tooth and nail on this. Shasta is my daughter, and I’ll do everything I can to keep her one hundred percent of the time. Kristan isn’t a good mother, hell she never even wanted to have her. The only reason she did was because she wanted to make Jared jealous and shove it in Mila’s face.”

“She’s not doing this to get her daughter is she?” She asks quietly, thinking about the portion of spousal support, which won’t stand in court thank goodness.

“No, she just wants the fat checks that I could provide her. If she got Shasta she would just pawn her off to her mother to raise.”

“Poor Shasta.” She whispers feeling heartbroken for the little girl whose mother only saw her as a paycheck.

“She’s not going to live like that, I’ll make sure of it.”

Looking over to him she couldn’t help the overwhelming love she felt. The feeling was growing every single day and the more time she spent with him and his daughter the more she wanted to stay by their side for the rest of her life.

“What can I do?” She asks, wanting to do whatever it took to help him win this fight.

“What you’re already doing.” He tells her, pulling her close to his side as he grazes his fingers through the strands of hair that fell on the side of her face.

Not helping himself, he leans in and captures her lips in a tender kiss that soon turned into one of desperation and longing. Laying on top of her he grinds himself into her soft flesh causing her to moan that was filled with desire. All their worries and concerns for the future was pushed aside as they solely focused on the sensations their bodies were giving them.

When he enters her with a tenderness he didn’t even know he possessed the only thing that popped into his mind was he was never going to let her go. And just like with Shasta, he was going to do whatever he could to keep her. And with that thought planted deep in his brain happiness showers over him that he may have just found the woman of his dreams he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.