Andy arrived a short time later, as did the social worker who’d overseen the custody case on behalf of the court. When Andy produced documents outlining the legal arrangements Gonzo had made should he ever be injured or unable to care for Alex himself, Lori read them as everyone else watched and waited for her reaction.

“As you can see, Sergeant Gonzales was very clear about who he wanted caring for his son if the need should ever arise.”

“He can’t just decide that! I’m Alex’s mother!”

“Yes, but he has full custody so he can decide. He has directed that Ms. Billings and his parents care for Alex in his stead. I’m sorry, Ms. Miller, but you have no standing here.”

Lori looked to the social worker. “Will you tell him that’s not true? Tell him I’m the mother. I have rights!”

“Lori, the court gave full custody to Alex’s father. He does have the right to decide who cares for Alex in his absence.”

“This isn’t fair,” Lori said as she broke down.

“You really need to go now,” Andy said.

“Come on, Lori,” the social worker said, curling her hand around Lori’s arm. “Let’s go.”

Thankfully, Lori went quietly, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

Andy sat with her and Nick. “Unreal,” he muttered.

“No kidding,” Nick said. “To come here and try to take advantage of the fact that he’s injured...”

“Takes a special kind of person to do that,” Sam said.

“Tommy was very concerned about something like this happening, so he had me draft documents right away that spelled out his wishes,” Andy said. “I had no idea we’d need them so soon. What are they saying? He’s going to be okay, right?”

“We don’t know,” Sam said. The not knowing was starting to get to her.

“Before things got so crazy this week, I was planning to call you for an update on Scotty’s adoption,” Nick said. “Have you heard any more?”

“As you know, the P.I. is trying to track down his birth father. We have to make every effort to find him, and once we’ve done that, the rest should be a formality.”

“What if we can’t find him?” Sam asked.

“Then we can move forward without him. We just have to show an effort was made to locate him. I wouldn’t worry. Even if we find him, his father never had anything to do with him, so I can’t imagine he’ll discover a sudden interest in him.”

The thought of that was enough to send Sam’s anxiety further into the red zone, so she decided not to think about it.

After what felt like an endless wait, the surgeon finally appeared to speak to Gonzo’s parents and Christina.