Kids on the Doorstep / Cop on Loan. Kimberly Van Meter

an answer though he didn’t have one. “Maybe if she’d taken us with her…Chloe wouldn’t have been hurt.” She rose and glanced away, seeming much older than she really was. When she spoke again, her voice was cold. “I hate her. No one can make me love her again. Not you. Not anybody. I’ll hate her forever and it doesn’t matter if she’s changed.”

      As John watched her stalk from the room to join her sisters, he didn’t doubt a single emotion flowing from that little girl’s strong heart. In a way he felt bad for the storm that was heading in the direction of Renee Dolling. That woman would have to dig deep to find the loving daughter she’d left behind. And, given what the girls had been through, Renee might find her way to China much easier than the way to her daughter’s closed-off heart.

      He didn’t envy her. Not one bit.

      Chapter Four

      “COURT RULING STANDS. Temporary guardianship will remain with Gladys Stemming until family court has had a chance to review the case further.” The rap of the gavel brought Renee out of her stunned stupor. What had just happened?

      She shot from her seat. “Excuse me? What the hell just happened?”

      The Honorable Judge Lawrence Prescott II gave her a sharp look just as the bailiff started to move forward to deter her from approaching the bench. “You’ll watch your language in my courtroom, miss,” he said with a soft drawl that betrayed southern roots somewhere in his lineage. He gestured for her to take her seat and once she reluctantly returned to her chair, he said to his court reporter, who in Renee’s opinion looked a lot like the receptionist at the sheriff’s department, “Please repeat the judgment for Mrs. Dolling, Nancy.”

      Renee stared, unable to believe what she was witnessing, as indeed dour-faced sheriff’s receptionist Nancy pulled the tape from the machine and repeated in a clipped voice the judgment that had just been rendered.

      Schooling her voice into something less screeching and more reasonable, she tried a different tactic. “I heard the judgment. What I don’t understand is how the court can appoint a virtual stranger as guardian for my children when I am their mother. They should be with me. Surely, you can understand that?”

      Judge Prescott gave her a wintry glare and Renee felt her hopes of putting this nightmare behind her anytime soon freezing to the point of death. “What I understand is that you’re a fickle woman prone to bad decisions when it comes to your children. That’s what I know about you. What I know about Gladys Stemming is that she’s solid and dependable.” The judge glanced at John Murphy sitting opposite to Renee. “And since Mr. Murphy has offered the use of the ranch while she recuperates from her surgery, it is the court’s determination that the children have a safe and stable environment while this whole situation is sorted out. In addition to that, the children themselves have expressed a desire to stay with their aunt…not you.”

      Renee sucked in a sharp breath at the rejection and blinked back tears. “Sir, if you gave me a chance to talk with my girls I would explain the circumstances and I’d get them to understand. In time, they might even forgive me for making a terrible mistake but if you keep them from me how can I hope to make everything right again? I love my girls and if I had the chance to do things over, I’d do it all much differently.”

      “Be that as it may, you didn’t do things differently and your children suffered. Particularly your youngest.”

      What did he mean by that? Renee frowned. “Chloe? I don’t understand how she suffered the most…”

      Judge Prescott peered over his glasses at Sheriff Casey and continued, “Your youngest daughter is suffering from bronchial pneumonia due to horrific abuse at the hands of your ex-husband. The doctor she was taken to discovered old bruises and a hairline fracture in her left arm that had been left to heal on its own.”

      Renee felt sick. “I wasn’t aware…”

      “Yes, well, the court isn’t interested in your excuses, Mrs. Dolling. The fact remains that you left your children in the hands of a dangerous and abusive man. It is the court’s belief that only through the vigilant actions of your other children that Chloe is still alive.”

      Renee caught the stare of John Murphy—the man who was essentially getting her children—and she expected to see the same condemnation she was getting from the rest of the room, but she saw a flicker of something close to sympathy that took her by surprise. She looked away abruptly. She didn’t want his pity—or anyone else’s. Not that it was coming her way in waves at the moment but the scraps of her pride demanded she hold her head high. “How long is this temporary arrangement in effect?” she asked.

      “As long as I deem necessary.”

      She took a risk as she said, “Forgive me, Your Honor, but I think it would be more appropriate for my children to go to a state-approved foster home rather than that of some man you happen to know from school. How do I know that this John Murphy isn’t some kind of pervert?”

      Nancy the court reporter-sheriff’s receptionist gasped and her eyes widened before she returned her attention to her typing. Yep. Nancy’s reaction pretty much clinched Renee’s sinking suspicion she just made things worse, but Renee wasn’t going down without a fight.

      “I’ve had just about enough of your mouth,” the judge warned. Renee caught Sheriff Casey shaking her head as if Renee was just about the dumbest person on the planet to question the judge in such a manner, but Renee felt desperation setting in and, well, desperate people do dumb things. The judge shuffled his papers from the case and handed them to the court secretary for filing. “Get a job. Get a place to stay and then, when you get your ducks in a row, we’ll talk about modification. In spite of your infernal mouth, I get the sense that you didn’t know what a monster you’d left your kids with but that doesn’t erase what happened to those girls. They need stability. They need someone they can trust. And they trust John and Gladys. I could order them into foster care but that would likely traumatize them more as I’d have to break them up because the system’s full. They’d probably even go to separate counties. You want that?”

      She couldn’t imagine separating the girls. “No,” she answered in a small voice.

      “Then stop your complaining about how unfair things are for you and start focusing on getting your life back together so that your girls would rather be with you than a stranger.”

      That hurt. Renee swallowed the sharp retort that flew to mind as her defenses went up, because she knew as whacked out and nuts as this whole court drama was, there was a certain kindness directed at her children. If the girls wanted to be with John Murphy for the time being, she’d go along with it. But as soon as she won their trust back, they were packing it out of this place—fast.

      GLADYS MET JOHN AT THE DOOR, her expression anxious. He allayed her fears quickly. “Court ruling stands but their mother, Renee, gets monitored visitation for the time being.”

      “Oh, thank goodness. Those poor babies have been tied up in knots since you left this morning. Alexis takes it the hardest. That poor lamb. I can only imagine what she’s been through trying to protect her sisters from that man. It boggles my mind why their mother left those babies in Jason’s care.”

      “In court she mentioned something about being in rehab when Jason split,” John said, chewing the side of his cheek as he mulled over the information himself. What kind of rehab she didn’t elaborate but drugs of any sort were bad news by his estimation. “But Judge Prescott didn’t seem to care much for her excuse. I don’t think he much cared for her, not that she helped matters at all. Her mouth sure does overload her ass a lot.”

      Gladys nodded. “I’m sure. I remember she had quite the smart mouth when I met her all those years ago. I’m just glad Larry was sitting on the bench today instead of a temporary judge that they sometimes bring in from the city to help with the backlog. Someone else less conservative might’ve given those babies back,” she said with a shudder. “Makes me sick to think of it.”

      He agreed. Judge Prescott