Page 129 of Beating Heart
She was not the victim.
“And you are choosing not to have council present?” River asked as he opened his file.
“Mark and I can speak for ourselves.” Tara leaned forward, her smile forced. “There is no need to take a paternity test; I know that Cutler is your son. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You don’t need to apologize, baby. You were upset,” Mark said, reaching for her hand.
“Well, it was a shitty thing to say to a man who loves his son, and it’s a dangerous game to play, Tara. But it’s for the better because it was time for this to come to a head,” I said.
“Meaning?”
“This is how things are going to play out.” River took charge, sliding over a packet to each one of them. “These are the numbers for back child support, should you pursue custody. You would also be expected to pay child support moving forward, as well. You have never paid a dime for your son, and all the financial and emotional responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of my client, who does it happily. He would like to continue to do it.”
“Well, then why would I pay him if he wants to continue with the arrangement that we have?” she asked, as her husband gaped at the numbers on the pages that were set in front of him.
No shit, jackass. Raising kids is expensive.
“We’re not paying this. She sees that kid once every couple of years, so there’s no need to pay. You can keep the arrangement you have, as we don’t want children,” the scrawny asshole hissed, and Tara shrugged.
Emerson squeezed my hand beneath the table.
“Great. Then you will need to sign over full custody to Nash. This means that you don’t get to come to town and decide when or how often you see Cutler. You are giving up that right, but you gave it up years ago anyway. This is just a formality to protect my client and his son.”
“Our son,” Tara said, and Mark shot her what looked like some sort of warning look.
“Your name is on the birth certificate, but you haven’t been a mother to that little boy, and you know it,” I said. My voice was even and calm, and I reserved judgment because I wanted to try to talk some sense into her. “Come on, Tara. Do the right thing here. You don’t want to be part of his life, so you can’t just come around whenever things go wrong in your relationship and mess with his head.”
The room fell silent, and she looked away, staring out the window for a long moment.
“He’s right,” Mark said, keeping his voice low. “We’ve got our own lives, and it doesn’t include this town or the people in it. You’ve said it yourself.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t care about him.” She looked back over at me, chin high.
“No one’s saying that you don’t care about him. I was sort of hoping that you did care about him enough to do the right thing,” I said.
“Listen, we’re not here to judge you or debate whether or not you care. This is a legal matter at this point. You either take responsibility, which includes financial responsibility, or you sign the papers and let the man who’s been raising him continue to do so,” River said, as he pushed the custody agreement across the table.
“And what if I want to come to town once in a while and say hello?” she asked.
“Then you call Nash, and you schedule a visit. But you won’t make demands or play head games with either one of them. The truth is, you should be thanking this man for stepping up for your son. Cutler is the best kid I’ve ever known. He has a massive heart, he’s smart, he’s kind, he’s everything you want your child to be. And that’s due to the job that Nash has done. Day in and day out. He’s shown up for that little boy, and if you really look at your son, you’d see that,” River said, as he stared right at her.
My chest squeezed at his words.
All I wanted was to do a good job raising my little boy. If it was the one thing I accomplished in life, it would be a win.
So hearing him speak this way about my son, it hit me hard.
Because Cutler was the best kid in the world. He was all the things River had just said, and then some.
Tara’s eyes watered the slightest bit, and she nodded. “He’s a really good boy, Nash.”
“He is,” I said, and Emerson’s grip on my hand beneath the table tightened again.
“Then just sign the papers. Nothing changes. He’s not saying you can’t come visit every couple years. But at least we won’t have to pay for the kid.” Mark wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
I was equal parts relieved and offended by his words.
There was no price that I could put on the happiness my son had brought into my life. If you said I’d have to give away everything I owned and every penny I’d made until the day I died just to keep him with me, it would be a no-brainer.
