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Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Also by Silas House
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Part One
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. Part Two
  27. 1
  28. 2
  29. 3
  30. 4
  31. 5
  32. 6
  33. 7
  34. 8
  35. 9
  36. 10
  37. Part Three
  38. 1
  39. 2
  40. 3
  41. 4
  42. 5
  43. 6
  44. 7
  45. 8
  46. 9
  47. 10
  48. 11
  49. 12
  50. 13
  51. 14
  52. 15
  53. 16
  54. 17
  55. 18
  56. 19
  57. 20
  58. 21
  59. 22
  60. 23
  61. 24
  62. 25
  63. 26
  64. 27
  65. 28
  66. 29
  67. 30
  68. 31
  69. Part Four
  70. 1
  71. 2
  72. 3
  73. Epilogue: The Everything
  74. Acknowledgments
  75. About the Author
  76. About Algonquin
  77. Copyright

“Not lie, Asher. And she’s not gonna take him away from you. You can’t expect him to go back and forth all the time, half with you and half with her—”

“Why not?”

“A child needs his mother.”

“Not when his mother is a judgmental fanatic who cares more about church than she does her own damn son!” His voice rose with each word. He tried to calm himself. He knew it was the wrong thing to say but he wasn’t going to apologize. “You realize that she’s asking for me to only get him once every two weeks? You know what that’ll do to him.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve prayed and prayed about this. I’ve struggled so hard with it, Asher. But this is what the Lord has told me to do.”

He hung up on her, drew his arm back, fought the urge to throw the phone into the river.

17

17

As they made their way up the tiled stairwell to the courtroom, Fisher tried to prepare Asher. “So many people are opposed to what you’re standing for—and that video has become so popular—that the odds have been against us from the beginning. It’s not right. But—”

“Well you’re not one to give your client a lot of hope before they go into the trial,” Asher said.

“Hearing. Not a trial. Big difference,” Fisher said, and stopped on the landing to drain her Mountain Dew. “And I’d rather you go in with low expectations than high.”

At the end of the hallway Zelda stood by the large wooden doors that led into the courtroom. She was clutching the top of her purse, her face screwed up in confused grief. As Asher and Fisher walked toward her, Lydia’s lawyer shuffled out of the ladies’ room and took the crook of Zelda’s arm, directing her into the judge’s office.

Asher felt as if he didn’t have any emotion in his body.

“Can you honestly say that Asher Sharp is not a good father?” Fisher asked Zelda.

“He’s a real good father, but—”

“A simple yes or no, Mrs. Crosby.”

Zelda struggled to keep her eyes from drifting to either Asher or Lydia. She looked down at her lap, causing her voice to be muffled, so Fisher had to ask her to repeat herself. “Mrs. Crosby. Can you honestly say that Asher Sharp is not a good father?”

“No,” she said, and just before Fisher could spin on her heel and say that was all, she added: “But he’s misled right now. He’s all mixed up.”