Christmas Miracle: A Family by Dianne Drake

tear threatening to slip down her cheek.
    “Is Fallon crying?” Tyler asked James.
    “Looks like she is.”
    “Am not,” she denied.
    “I’m sorry,” Tyler said, slipping his hand into her. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
    One tear turned into a waterfall, and she excused herself from the room before Tyler felt any worse. Right now she was just so darned happy for no reason she could understand that her cry was going to take a good half-dozen tissues.
    “Happy tears,” James reassured Tyler. “Women do that.”
    “Women,” Tyler said, mimicking James’s tone of voice. “They just do that.”
    James had to clear his throat and refocus, because he was about to do that, too.
     
    The appointment with Jason Greene was short. Fifteen minutes was all it took then James was back in the waiting room, where Fallon was busy watching Tyler play with a video game. She’d decided to come with them, but only because Tyler had braved the stairs, knocked on her door, and asked her. “He said it’s promising.” James put on his jacket. “But there’s a lot of research to do first. He thinks, though, that if everything is as I think it is, it could go my way because Shelly is establishing a clear pattern of behavior.” A heavy sigh escaped him. “He warned me that it could be a long, expensive fight if she doesn’t want to surrender custody, because oftentimes parents like Shelly who don’t want their children will put up the fight anyway, for appearances or financial gain.”
    “And?”
    “Let the fight begin, if that’s what happens. It’s not about the money and Jason said he’s going to make sure it’s not about what Shelly wants since she’s proving she doesn’t want Tyler. I’m actually conservatively optimistic about this, Fallon. Jason said I shouldn’t start celebrating yet, but I feel like celebrating, anyway.”
    “Small celebration,” she said, smiling.
    His looked over at Tyler, who was so engrossed in some kind of virtual reality he hadn’t even noticed James standing there. “I see video games in my future.”
    “Then be prepared to take a beating because he’s good. And I’m not just saying he’s good for a five-year-old. He’s good for anyone.”
    “With all the bad things that have gone on around him, he’s really struggling to be a normal little boy, isn’t he? The kids I see in my practice are just like him…fixed on the games, paying no attention to the adults. Creating their own little worlds.”
    “He needs to be normal, James. Needs it all the time, not just when he’s with you.”
    “Well, no matter what else is going on with Tyler, Jason’s going to file for emergency temporary custody first thing tomorrow morning. He thinks I’ll have a pretty good chance of having it granted this time, and that having temporary custody gives me a much stronger position when we get to the hearing for full custody. Besides, it’s a good safeguard for Tyler. If Shelly does come back, I won’t have to give him to her. She’ll actually have to hire a lawyer and go to court to get him back as long as the temporary custody is in force.”
    Tyler glanced up at the mention of his name, clearly torn between what was being said about him and staying involved in the race between to two cars on the game screen. His car was winning. “What’s good for me?” he asked, then immediately switched his attention back to the game.
    “Staying with me without going anywhere else for a while.”
    With those words spoken, Tyler crashed his car and the game was over. He held onto the game controler for a little while, and the frown on his face clearly indicated he was thinking about what James had said. Finally, when he’d processed it, satisfied he understood, he looked up. “Like back to my mom and my old dad?”
    “In a way,” James hedged. “You OK with that, Tyler?”
    Tyler responded with his typical shrug then stood up. “Are we still going to live with Fallon?”
    “For a while,