The Awakening (11 page)

He nodded his head. “I’ll go check it out, and you two wait here.”

“Andy, wait…” Diana started to protest, but he’d already jumped out and shut the door. He stepped up on the porch, which was missing a front step, and pounded on the door.

Laura turned as Diana climbed over the front seat and sat in the driver’s side. “The Friessen men, in case you didn’t notice, Laura, don’t ever sit back and let anyone take charge, let alone a woman.” Diana yanked open the door. “Let’s go. Looks like someone answered the door.”

Diana walked with Laura. Andy was speaking with a short, plump woman who appeared to be in her fifties. There was a small dog barking and barking, which she bent over to pick up. A cat ran out the door and scurried around the house. Andy glanced down at Laura; the woman had them stand outside as she yelled upstairs to someone.

She returned to the open door. “Which one of you is the mother?”

Laura felt stung, but it was Andy who spoke. “This is Laura Parnell. She is Gabriel’s mother.” Andy touched her shoulder, and she didn’t flinch. She welcomed his support. Her heart was pounding, she was terrified, and her heart ached to see her child.

“Well, come in. It’s cold out there.” The hallway wasn’t even finished. The floor was plywood with an old rug thrown over it, and the walls were Gyprock. She led them up a steep stairwell, with no handrail, which was open to downstairs.

Andy led the way into a large, open living room, kitchen, and dining area. The dining room wall had insulation covered by a plastic vapor barrier. The ceiling had the same, and the walls were unfinished. Two dressers were pressed against the wall in the overcrowded living room. The television was on, and there were five young children on the floor, watching it. The woman carried that yappy dog that continued to bark. Laura looked around frantically but didn’t see Gabriel with the other children.

“Andy, where’s Gabriel?”

The way the woman watched her, she didn’t want to talk to her. Andy didn’t appear too happy as he looked around this house, if it could be called a house, that was. She had seen his darker moods and recognized one now.

“Where is Gabriel?” he asked, staring down at the woman, his arms crossed.

The woman had soft brown eyes that widened as she spoke. “Oh, he’s in the bedroom. I’ll get him. There were what appeared to be two bedrooms off this square room and another door that was closed. A toilet flushed behind that one. The room the woman went to had a half door with a bolt, similar to something used on stall doors. She opened it and went in. Diana followed the woman and looked in, but Laura was frozen. Her little boy, Gabriel, came out holding the woman’s other hand. She still held the yappy dog. He raced to his mother, and Laura went down on her knees and crushed him in a tight hug, struggling to hold back her tears.

They stayed for only an hour. The woman must have been watching the clock, as she stood up and said they were done and to say goodbye. She also made it clear to Andy that she didn’t want a scene to upset the boy and the other children she was caring for. It was Andy who got Laura through it, who leaned down and wrapped his arms around her when they both sobbed, and he whispered in her ear, “I’m going to get him back for you, I promise.” When Laura stood up with Andy’s help, Gabriel reached for her, screaming, but the woman yelled for them to go, and she grabbed Gabriel and took him back in the room, shutting the door while they left.

Laura didn’t know how she had gotten into the car, but Andy buckled her seatbelt and was holding her hand as they drove away.

Chapter Nineteen

Andy was dressed in a dark green suit, one of many he had custom tailored earlier this year. He looked the part, like a wealthy millionaire, as he strode into the virtually empty Arlington courtroom where Diana, Jed, and Laura waited. He didn’t have any time to meet with Diana or speak with Jed before the courtroom doors closed and the other witnesses entered: the counsel for Child Protective Services, the deputy, the sheriff, and a man Andy presumed to be the social worker who had taken Gabriel away, based on how Laura stiffened when she saw him.

A clerk announced the judge and the case. Laura moved beside Diana at the defense table and glanced back at Andy. He reached forward and rubbed Laura’s back, and she smiled for the first time at him. Diana glanced at the closed door and then at Andy. She leaned over the rail and whispered, “Where’s Stan?”

Andy shook his head as an awful feeling cranked up the anxiety he already felt whispering like a tornado behind him. Stan headed up family law and worked for Clint at his family’s law firm. He couldn’t help but suspect his mother’s hand in this, but after the horrifying day 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 discovered them reported that they were both cold and the child appeared hungry. With the mandate of Child Protective Services, in cases where we see an imminent danger for a child, immediate apprehension is warranted. The sheriff acted, and the said child, Gabriel Parnell, is now in the care of the state. We’d also note to the court that there appears to be a neurological deficit with the said minor and would ask the court’s permission to have him assessed.”

Laura grabbed Diana’s arm and whispered angrily.

Diana jumped up. “I object, Your Honor. Neurological deficit? What is this? I think the mother here has the right to know what is going on.”

Andy nudged Jed. He shook his head.

“Ms. … what is your name?” the judge asked in way that sounded as if she were wasting everyone’s time.

“That’s Mrs. Friessen, sir.” It sounded as if she ground the words out.

The judge jerked off his glasses and squinted, sitting up straighter. It was obvious to this judge that the Friessen name meant something. The judge gestured toward Mr. Tate. “I have to agree with Mrs. Friessen. What is this neurological deficit? Come on. Details, please.” The judge gestured toward the counsel.

Mr. Tate glanced back at the social worker and whispered something. The social worker stood.

“Your Honor, I would ask that James Hill, the social worker who apprehended the minor, be allowed to speak, as he has details on the problem that’s been brought to light.”

“Of course. Mr. Hill, step forward,” responded the judge.

James Hill pushed the gate open. He was a man of average height and a large girth, wearing a ratty tweed jacket and a green, spotted tie. He swept back his brown hair, which was a little on the long side and drooped over his forehead. “Your Honor, Gabriel Parnell is unable to talk. He is a four-year-old boy. He has loud outbursts and screaming fits and doesn’t appear to understand when the foster parents he’s been placed with communicate with him. These parents have been in the foster system for twenty years, taking in hundreds of children who’ve needed a home. Child development comes naturally, and they’ve had more than their share of special needs children. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome tops the list. So the basic medical needs of this child, as well, have been overlooked. I mean, Judge, that there is something wrong with this child. He may need medication. It’s a serious problem, and the generous folks fostering this boy need to be granted the authority to have him assessed.” James glanced at Mr. Tate.

The judge cleared his throat. “Mr. Hill, thank you for clarifying this. I think I’m ready to rule.”

Diana jumped up again; Andy was ready to push through the gate.

“Your Honor, you have not allowed our petition to be heard, and we have witnesses to call. These so-called foster parents...”

The judge waved his pudgy hand. “Next outburst from you and I’ll hold you in contempt, and you’ll be spending the night as a guest of the county jail. Now sit down. I’m ready to rule.”

The judge cleared his throat and appeared to be reading something. “There is evidence of gross negligence on the part of the young mother, part of which I contribute to age, to being too young to have the wisdom to raise a child. With no father in the picture and the addition of the gross neglect of an obvious medical problem, maybe from the mother drinking while pregnant, she has added another FAS child to society.”

Laura gasped. Diana grabbed her arm and shook her head.

The judge glanced angrily at Laura. “Gabriel will stay a ward of the state, and I grant the state the right to assume and take care of all medical needs of the child, so yes, by all means, get this child assessed or whatever it is you need to do, Mr. Hill. And until such assessment takes place, the mother shall be limited to supervised visits, which she will arrange through Mr. Hill after the New Year. The visits will last no more than one hour and will be supervised by a state social worker.” The judge cracked his gavel and pushed his bulky frame from the chair, exiting the court room.

“What the hell was that?” Andy leaned across the rail and glanced first at Jed, who was shaking his head, and then to Diana, who stuffed papers in her briefcase. Laura didn’t move. She sat frozen in the chair, staring straight ahead.

“I’d say we were just ambushed,” Diana snapped, and then she dropped her briefcase and faced Jed and Andy, raising both hands as she shut her eyes tight for a second, as if she needed to compose herself. “I’ve never seen anything like this. This was a Mickey Mouse show. That wasn’t justice. That was something planned, rehearsed. Did you see that the judge only listened when I said my name was Mrs. Friessen? He paused and appeared startled. So what do you think is up with that?”

“Andy, what about that fancy lawyer of yours that was supposed to be here?” Jed uttered in a low growl.

But it was Diana who answered: “I’d say they planned to leave me high and dry. What are the chances your mother’s hand is in this, Andy?”

“I never drank when I was pregnant. Why would he say that?” Laura never turned around when she spoke, her voice barely a whisper.