Chapter 6
Cole let go of the chair.
His hands dropped into his lap.
Garrett stepped between him and the desk.
"He's your nephew."
Lorna looked away.
"I didn't mean him."
Nobody answered her.
Anne closed the green folder.
The deputy laid his pen across his notebook.
Through the open kitchen door, the cookstove gave a soft crack.
Cole looked at his father's shirt pocket.
"Do you still have it?"
Garrett brought out the broken locket.
He opened his palm.
The chain lay in two loose curves.
Cole touched the photograph.
"She wanted me."
Garrett sat on the floor beside his chair.
"Every day."
Cole kept one finger on his mother's face.
"What about you?"
Garrett's shoulders folded forward.
"Every day, buddy."
"Even when the letters said no?"
"Even then."
Cole slid off the chair.
He stood between Garrett's knees.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Cole caught the front of his father's jacket.
Garrett wrapped his arms around him.
He kept one hand open against the faded hoodie.
Cole pressed his forehead under his father's chin.
The office stayed quiet.
Lorna reached for a tissue.
"I didn't know it was that bad."
Del looked at the notebook she had mocked.
Then he looked at Cole.
"Not admitting it didn't make it love."
He turned back to Anne.
"He's not spending another night under her hand."
Anne nodded.
"That's why we're still here."
She didn't promise custody.
She called her supervisor again.
Garrett held Cole while they waited.
The deputy checked Del's statement against the earlier reports.
Rudy gave his own statement about the calls.
He admitted he had never asked Cole whether he wanted them.
He admitted he had believed Lorna.
Anne arranged for Cole to be examined that night.
She explained that the photographs showed injuries, not their full cause.
A doctor would document what could still be seen.
Cole wouldn't have to prove everything in the kitchen.
More than an hour passed.
The desk clock moved toward eleven.
Lorna stopped turning the ring on its cord.
The lawyer called with the judge's ruling.
Anne received the written order a few minutes later.
She read it before speaking.
Lorna's guardianship authority was temporarily suspended.
She could not remove Cole or contact him alone.
The court would review the emergency order promptly.
DCS would oversee the immediate safety plan.
The judge had not decided every allegation.
But Lorna could no longer decide where Cole slept.
Lorna reached for the blue binder.
The deputy rested the new order beside it.
"That one doesn't control tonight anymore."
Anne explained the next steps to Garrett.
He could stay with Cole at a local hotel after the medical visit.
They would remain in Indiana while the court addressed the return to Kentucky.
His lawyer would meet him the next morning.
Garrett nodded through each instruction.
He asked Anne to repeat the address.
Then he wrote it on the birthday envelope.
Lorna looked at Del.
"And you?"
He picked up his cap.
"I'll get my coat bag."
Garrett shook his head.
"There's room with us tonight."
Del looked toward Cole.
The boy loosened one hand from his father's jacket.
He held it out.
"Come on, Uncle Del."
Rudy lowered his head.
Anne stepped aside.
Del took the small hand without saying anything.
Garrett put the locket safely in his pocket.
Then the three of them crossed the mudroom together.
Three weeks later, they sat outside a courthouse hearing room.
The weather was still cold.
Cole wore jeans that reached his shoes.
His wrist had healed.
He sat between Garrett and Del.
Inside, the judge ended Lorna's guardianship.
Cole would return home with his father.
Lorna's contact would remain restricted under the court's orders.
The investigation into his injuries and the forged replies continued.
The farm stayed in Cole's trust.
An independent manager took over its daily business.
The trust's accountant reviewed the old expenses.
Nothing about the farm required Cole to live there with Lorna anymore.
Outside the courtroom, Garrett turned to Del.
Anne stood nearby with the case folder.
Garrett held out his hand.
"You kept the dates when nobody was listening."
Del shook his hand.
"I should've done more."
"You did the part that got us here."
Cole tugged Del's coat sleeve.
The boy had a small jeweler's envelope.
Garrett had picked it up that morning.
Inside lay the silver locket.
The original chain had a repaired link.
Cole handed it to his father.
"Can you?"
Garrett moved behind him.
Cole lifted his chin.
The clasp took two tries.
Garrett's fingers were still unsteady.
Del stood beside them holding the empty envelope.
Cole touched the locket through his shirt.
Then he turned toward the courthouse doors.
His father walked on one side.
Uncle Del walked on the other.
Nobody pulled him.
And when Cole reached up, his father's hand was there.