“Come with us to the hearing.”
I jerked my eyes up. “What? No…I’m the drug addict neighbor, remember? I didn’t help his cause at all.”
“That was a low blow by their attorney,” Jackson said. “If the judge sees the real you and not the image Holloway tried to plant in his mind, it’ll help. And frankly, we need all the help we can get.”
“Can they really just take Olivia away?”
Jackson rubbed the back of his neck. “The system’s improved for fa
thers’ rights in the last ten years, and courts never want to pull children out of good homes. There’s a statute about Sawyer acting and providing for Olivia as if she were his own, which gives him some claim to her, but it’s all we have. I don’t know that it’s going to be enough. Especially since Molly gave the baby to Sawyer but never bothered to put his name on the birth certificate,” he added bitterly. “If she had just done that…”
He broke off and shook his head.
“I’ll go if you think it will help,” I said, slowly. “Of course, I will. But are you sure that’s what he needs?”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah, I do. Sawyer needs you. He needs…” He blew air out his cheeks. “God, he needs something and I don’t know what to do for him. He’s like a robot these last few days. Hardly talks except to Olivia and even then it’s like…”
“Like what?” I whispered.
“He looks at her like, inside his mind, he’s already saying goodbye.”
My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh no.”
“I know he’d fight for her with everything he has, but that’s just it. We don’t have much to fight with. At least not as far as the law goes.” Jackson put his hands on my shoulders. “Sawyer needs you. You do something for him I’ve never seen before. You make him happy.”
Tears filled my eyes. “I don’t know, Jackson.”
“I do. The judge needs to see Sawyer as something other than cold and stiff. I think you’re the only person who can bring that out of him.”
“I’ll try,” I said. “But what if Sawyer doesn’t want me there? What if…”
“He doesn’t have a choice,” Jackson said, his old smile coming back. “He has to take the advice of his attorney—me—and I say I want you there.”
I smiled and hugged Jackson. “Okay, I will.”
“Thank you, Darlene.” Jackson gave me a final squeeze and let me go. “I’ll have a car out front at nine o’clock.”
“I’ll be there. Oh, wait! Come here.”
Jackson followed me to the kitchen area and I put the oven mitts on his hands.
“Take the casserole to him. It has peas in it. For Livvie.”
Jackson smiled. “He might guess that I didn’t step out to make a phone call.”
I grinned. “Your cover is blown.”
I opened my front door and craned up on tiptoe to give Jackson a peck on the cheek. “Thank you for helping him.”
“Right back at you, Dar,” he said, and went out.
The next morning, I put on my best I’m Not A Junkie outfit—a flowing, white dress with colorful flowers that brushed my knees. I usually paired it with my combat boots to give it some edge, but today I wore my low-heeled dance shoes, and toned my usually heavy eye-makeup down. I piled my hair on my head in a loose bun and put on my lucky gold hoop earrings.
I was downstairs at ten minutes to nine, my stomach twisting itself in knots. Sawyer and Jackson were at Elena’s, giving Olivia over to babysit. I slipped past them to wait outside. If I talked to Olivia for even a second I was going to burst into tears.
The front door opened behind me a few minutes later. Sawyer stopped short. He was devastating in a dark blue suit and paler blue tie. I could swear I saw the stoniness of his eyes melt a little as he took me in.
“There she is,” Jackson said, his smile brilliant. “Our secret weapon.” He kissed my cheek. “You’re a vision. Everyone in that courtroom will be helpless not to fall in love with you.”