“Okay,” he sighed. “Then let’s do that.”
“Boys, breakfast is ready,” Mom called from the back door. “Bring your appetites—I made plenty.”
“She really didn’t need to say that. One thing you’ll find about Mom, she always cooks for an army.” He led the way inside.
“Lucas, sit here,” Jameson said, pointing to the one chair next to him. “And Daddy here. This is the boy side of the table.”
“Don’t go there. Remember that Grammy cooked breakfast, and she’s good to us.”
“But she’s a girl.”
Brendan leaned close. “But she’s Grammy, and that makes her the best kind of girl there is.” He winked at Jameson. “So be nice to her. Your Grammy loves you, and she cooked you bacon.”
“I love you, Grammy. Fank you for the bacons.” Jameson grinned as he popped some more in his mouth.
Sometimes he had no idea what was going to come out of his son’s mouth.
“So was that a goat rodeo I saw out in the yard?” Mom asked.
Brendan groaned and figured Jameson came by it honestly.
ChapterFour
“Thank youfor breakfast, Lucille. It was amazing, as always,” Greg said two days later as they all finished an amazing farm breakfast. Lucas couldn’t help patting his belly as he wondered just how much weight he was going to put on if he kept eating like this.
She glanced into the living room where Jameson was playing. “You helped Brendan get rid of that… woman. Only good thing she ever did was have Jameson. So you help him get rid of her again.” Her eyes blazed with what Lucas could only describe as hatred.
“I’ll do my best. I promise,” Greg said.
“What do you have for me?” Brendan asked.
“Without going into a lot of detail, Jenn has filed an appeal of the custody order with the Superior Court. It’s an appeals court, and from the application, it appears that she’s representing herself. So that means she realistically has a snowball’s chance in hell. She will have to submit a brief, and then once she does, we’ll have a chance to respond.” He sat back, sipped his coffee, and sighed. “We don’t even have to do that. The bar is very high for her, and the court is only going to look at this on the basis of mistakes the lower court might have made. So unless she finds something of a bombshell, this is pretty much closed. I will respond to her brief once it’s submitted. But this will take months.”
“Okay,” Brendan said. “Do we have to go to a hearing or anything?”
Greg shook his head. “This isn’t like television. It might be argued orally if she requests it, but it’s highly structured, and the case is not relitigated. It’s just a presentation to highlightthe case and answer the judge’s questions. So not really.” He set down his coffee mug. “What I’m more concerned with is what’s been happening here.”
Lucas cleared his throat. “We’ve had a couple of visits that we believe are Jenn. From what Brendan told me, I believe I saw her car when the goat pen was opened. But I can’t be sure.” He glanced at Brendan. “I did find something disturbing this morning. It hasn’t rained in a few days, and I think I might have discovered an attempt to start a fire in the field to the west. It’s just scrub, but it’s dry. I can’t be sure, and it started raining just after I came inside, so there isn’t going to be a lot to see now.” He leaned forward. “I need to get these cameras installed so we can get more eyes on the place.
“What’s the issue?” Greg asked.
“I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t invading anyone’s privacy,” Brendan said softly. “The people who ride here are important, and I hate the idea of looking over their shoulder.
Damn, Brendan was a good, honorable man. “I want to put them outside the barn, not inside. We need to watch the area that might be vulnerable.”
“It’s okay to put up cameras anywhere you wish. In part because this is your home, but also because it’s in the contract. Remember, I drew up the contract you use with each of your boarders, and it’s in the contract that they understand that video surveillance is either in place or can be installed anywhere on the property and at any time. When you asked me to write up the agreement, I tried to think about what you might need in the future. So from a client perspective, you’re covered.”
“Oh, okay,” Brendan said softly.
“I ordered the cameras, and they arrive today. We can go ahead and put those up?” Lucas verified.
“Yes,” Greg told him. “Now, how are things working out otherwise?”
Lucas shrugged. “I learned how to make cider. We got a bunch of apples and put them through a crusher before pressing them. I swear my arms felt like they were going to fall off after hauling wheelbarrow-loads of apples. Lucille cooked and spiced some of the juice for regular cider and apparently barreled some for the harder version.”
“I heard. Mom always loved her hard cider.”
Lucille joined them at the table after wiping down the counter. “As I recall, someone, when he was fifteen, got into the hard cider and got himself tipsy.” She rolled her eyes. “He could barely walk straight, and I put him to bed and added a lock to the pantry.”
