He pointed at his ex, “That is none of your business.” He looked around the daycare, suddenly aware that they had an audience. “You can’t just show up here and take Arabella,” he said.
“I’m her mother,” Charity challenged, defiantly raising her chin. “I have rights.”
“You abandoned her, Charity,” he reminded. “And judging from the look of you, you’ve been living on the streets for a couple of weeks now and you’re high.” His ex gasped and took two steps back as if he had physically slapped her.
“How dare you accuse me of being on something,” she shouted.
“What is your latest drug of choice, Charity?” he asked. “Meth, cocaine? I’m guessing it’s not pot—you’re too stoned for that.”
“I’ve just had a glass of wine—that’s all,” Charity insisted.
“I’m betting that a blood test will tell the truth since you don’t seem to be able to. I won’t let you see our daughter, Charity. You need to get yourself cleaned up and get some help,” Ace said. “Then, we can talk about you seeing Arabella—supervised visitations, of course.”
Charity stepped closer to him and he could smell the alcohol on her breath. She wasn’t lying about drinking but he was sure she skipped the wine and headed straight into the hard liquor. “You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do anymore Ace,” she shouted.
“Charity just let me help you,” he said, reaching for her arm. She pulled away from him and stumbled backward, barely able to stay on her feet. If it wasn’t for the counter hitting her in the ass, she would have been on the floor.
“I don’t need your help and don’t tell me what to do, Ace,” she slurred. Charity turned to face Ashley and Ace felt bad for the poor girl. He could tell that she wasn’t used to dealing with women like Charity—hard, relentless, uncaring. Arabella’s daycare provider was about to get a crash course in crazy bitch if he didn’t get Charity out of there.
“You give me my kid, right fucking now,” she spat. Ashley took a step back from Charity as if she was scared out of her mind, and who’d blame her for being frightened of the crazy woman yelling at her?
“The police are on their way,” Ashley almost whispered.
Charity barked out her laugh and pointed her finger at Ashley. “You little bitch,” she shouted, “I should have known you’d call the cops. Well, you know what? Good—let them come. They’ll give me my daughter. They’d never keep a mother from her kid, it’s just the way things work,” Charity said.
As if on cue, two policemen showed up and Ace felt a sense of relief. He needed to get his crazy ex out of Arabella’s daycare and then, he’d find a way to apologize to the staff for Charity’s behavior.
“Officer,” Charity slurred, standing in the police officer’s way. “I’m so happy you’re here,” she said. “Arrest him, and her, hell—arrest them all and give me my kid,” she said. The cop looked her over and sidestepped Charity as if sending her a clear message that she was being ignored. She grabbed for his arm and he spun around, pulling Charity’s arm back behind her body and pinning her up against the counter.
“How about we fit you for a pretty pair of cuffs while my partner and I figure out what’s going on here, Ma’am?” he had the handcuffs on Charity so quickly, Ace didn’t have time to protest.
“Are they really necessary?” he asked.
“She accosted a police officer, Sir,” the cop said. “Now, I suggest you stand down until we can figure out what’s going on here.” Ace held up his hands and took a few steps back from where the cop held Charity by the arm, her hands cuffed behind her body.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on here,” she growled. “He has my baby and I want her back.”
“I have legal custody of my daughter. Charity left our daughter with me and took off with her new boyfriend a couple of months back. I’ve had a lawyer draw up papers for sole custody and they were approved by the judge,” Ace said.
“You did what?” Charity shouted, trying to turn to face him. She cried out in pain when the officer pulled her by the cuffs back to face him. Ace almost felt bad for her but she was doing this to herself. Charity needed to calm down before she ended up in a jail cell for the night.
“It’s true,” Ashley said. “I have a copy of the court document here on file. I have to have all legal documentation of guardians and people allowed to take children from my care.” She pulled the paperwork from a file cabinet that sat behind the check-in counter and handed it over to the cop who wasn’t detaining Charity.
“Did she draw up the papers for you?” Charity asked Ace. He knew exactly who she was referring to—Trinity. He just wasn’t going to dignify her question with an answer. What he and Trinity had between the two of them wasn’t any of Charity’s business. Ace also knew that ignoring her would only piss her off further and probably have her in the back of a cop car in no time flat.
“My sister has always been a little slut. She’s jealous of me and what I have. Trinity is taking you and Arabella from me because she doesn’t have anything good in her life,” Charity spat.
“You walked away from me and Arabella and took off with your new boyfriend. You did that to yourself, Charity,” Ace said. “Trinity had nothing to do with you deciding to leave your life behind and follow that looser, Rooster.”
The police officer who took the paper from Ashley cleared his throat. “Everything is in order,” he said, nodding to Ace. “Mr. Wild, I suggest you get a restraining order against your ex for both you and your daughter, so that this doesn’t happen again. That way, any time your daughter is on the premises at the daycare, she’ll be protected.”
“You want to press charges, Ma’am?” he asked Ashley. She looked over at Ace and he shrugged. He was torn on what to tell her to do. On the one hand, she was the mother of his kid, even if she was high as a kite right now. On the other hand, if Ashley pressed charges, that might keep Charity from returning to the daycare center to cause another scene.
“Up to you,” he breathed.
“Ace,” Charity sobbed. “How can you be so cold? First, you keep my daughter from me and now, you’re all but telling this glorified babysitter to lock me up and throw away the key?”
“You need help, Charity,” he said. “Maybe a few days in jail will help you sober up enough to think more clearly.”