Page 10 of Harts & Hurts

“Why would he say their name before ours?” The question came from behind us from my family’s side of the courtroom. “I’m so sick of these people.”

“We’re sick of you too!”

“Order in my court before I clear this courtroom!” Judge Stanton’s eyes were narrowed and serious. “I mean it. This is the last warning. If you didn’t come to be supportive of this young couple, why are you here? To spread hate and dissention? Your family member”—he pointed as he spoke—“and your family member chose this young man and this young lady as guardians for their daughter. If they didn’t ask your opinion, that probably means they didn’t want it. Guess what? I don’t want it either. If you can’t keep from sharing your opinion, you need to stand up now and walk out of my courtroom, or you may very well find yourself taking up residence in a holding cell downstairs after I find you in contempt of court.” He rolled his eyes. “Now, shut up!”

“As I was saying.” Griffin continued. “I know both families love baby Melrose, but the constant . . . contention and bickering is too much to handle on a daily basis. To that end, Anistyn has agreed to relocate to Jackson Island, South Carolina, where I have a home.”

A gasp circulated through the gallery.

“Relocating?”

“They’re taking the baby across state lines?”

“There’s no way that Jacob’ll let them take that baby across state lines.”

The commentary from the relatives was loud and filled with disbelief.

Judge Stanton moved a strict glare around the courtroom, and the voices settled. He then turned his gaze to me. “Miss Hurt, where do you plan to live on Jackson Island?”

“Um, my first thought was that I would try to find a place close to Griffin’s place. But the more we talked about it, the more he convinced me that maybe you would prefer that we live together.”

The judge couldn’t get a word in edgewise before the gallery exploded.

“Live together?”

“What?”

“She must not have much going for herself if she can just pick up and move at a moment’s notice.”

“Where is the Melrose pride? Melrose women don’t just live with strange men out of wedlock.”

“Are they sleeping together? Nobody knew the other two were sleeping together⁠—”

“Or married,” somebody interrupted.

“Right.” The original commenter continued. “Nobody knew the first two were sleeping together or married until we got the pregnancy announcement.”

“Girl, Griff’s been in South Carolina, playing football for the Cyclones. He didn’t have time to be sneaking around, sleeping with no Melrose.”

“You’re right. He had his choice of women. No reason for him to reach down to pull up somebody from that family.”

“Reach down? I beg your pardon!”

I didn’t recognize the voice, but I knew that was a Melrose. I just wished they would all shut up. Didn’t they get that the entire situation was hard enough without their stupid commentary?

“Enough!” Judge Stanton’s hand slammed down on the desk. He turned toward the bailiff, his eyes burning with both frustration and anger. “Ev, you keep these people here. I’m going to meet with them in my chambers so we can get this thing decided.”

5

Griffin

A few days later

Once the judge gave us stipulations for him to approve the guardianship, Anistyn and I knew what we had to do. The first of Judge Stanton’s stipulations was that Anistyn and I live together. He didn’t want us co-parenting our niece as if we were divorced. He wanted us to be teammates. He didn’t believe that we could do that living apart. His second stipulation was that we hire a newborn care specialist but not a nanny. He was adamant that we should have help and guidance, but we shouldn’t outsource actually caring for Melrose.

Anistyn had her tablet up to her face. I figured she was going over her checklist or something. One thing I had learned about her in the few days we’d been spending time together was that she was all about lists and organization. I appreciated the hell out of that characteristic because I was the type who tended to fly by the seat of my pants.

“Okay,” she said finally and gave a small sigh. “You canceled your return flight home since we’ll be driving back together.” She glanced over at me. “Have you checked your account to make sure that the airline refunded you?”