The Awakening by Lorhainne Eckhart Page A

yesterday, when he’d taken Laura to visit her son, he was consumed by how Gabriel could have been put in such an unsuitable place. He was pretty sure he had been locked in that room, and the other kids who stared blankly at the television had been ripped away from their parents, too. The house itself wasn’t liveable, so how in God’s name were those people suitable foster parents? This made absolutely no sense. He’d talked briefly with Diana after they’d returned to the ranch. She, too, had been horrified, as she’d grown up in a foster home that was loving and decent, with an older couple who’d later adopted her. Andy had tossed and turned all night and even ignored his mother’s rant that morning before he slipped out the door. His father followed him outside and demanded he stop this nonsense with “that girl, the maid” and get back inside to repair the damage with Alexis, or Jed would end up paying the consequences.
    He’d hesitated, but the screams that haunted him from the past were enough to have him get in his truck and drive away. He could not—would not—stand for another child to ever suffer that way again. Now, as he stared back at Diana and shook his head, he understood what it meant to be at the mercy of someone powerful. “Can you do this without him?” Andy whispered.
    She looked at Jed and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
    The judge sat and cracked his gavel, drawing everyone’s attention. He was an older, graying man with thick glasses. He read a file and then peered up at Laura. “So, are you the young mother who was sleeping in a car with your son?”
    Laura glanced at Diana; Diana gripped her hand before she could speak.
    “Your honor, this is my client, Laura Parnell…”
    The judge snapped and jabbed a stubby finger at Laura. “I asked this young lady, so you will please be quiet.”
    Andy glanced at Jed. Diana appeared to visibly start. “Your honor, this is highly inappropriate. I am the counsel for Laura and am here to speak for her.”
    The judge snapped and appeared angry. “Miss, you will speak when I tell you to. Is that understood? This is my courtroom, my rules.”
    Andy watched, wondering for a moment if there was a camera planted somewhere, if someone would jump out at any moment and say, “The joke’s on you!” Laura appeared completed confused. Diana patted her hand and whispered something in her ear.
    “Yes, Your Honor, I had my son, Gabriel, with me in the car. But it was only for the night. I have a job now…”
    The judge snapped again. “What you did was reckless endangerment of a child, out in the cold, your child hungry. I know there are some judges who lean toward giving parents chances at the expense of a child’s welfare, which is completely against the principals of protecting a child. Where is your husband during this, anyway?” The judge glared at Laura, and Andy wanted to push through the gate and stand beside her.
    But Diana cleared her throat. “Your Honor…”
    “I did not ask you to speak. You, speak. You, be quiet.” He jabbed his finger again toward Laura, then Diana. Diana glanced back at Jed and Andy, her face pale, her eyes snapping with fire.
    Laura’s face was tinged pink, and Diana wrote something down on a pad of paper and gestured to it. Laura stuttered, “Your Honor, I’m not married.”
    “Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” the judge growled. “Fine, let’s move on. Mr. Tate, is it?”
    The counsel for Child Services slid back his chair and stood slowly, buttoning his gray blazer. He wore round glasses, and his blond hair was in a stylishly short cut. “Yes, Your Honor, I’m the counsel for Child Services. We ask that you deny the petition until a thorough investigation can be conducted. The mother was found in a dilapidated old car parked in a shopping mall overnight, where loitering is strictly prohibited, with her child. It rained, and the temperature dropped to thirty degrees overnight. The deputy who