Elisabeth Rees - The Seal's Secret Child

Josie glanced at Blade. He appeared to be listening carefully to her every word. Maybe Norman’s experience resonated with him. Perhaps he also suffered the same negative response from society because of his missing limb. Thankfully, she was sensitive to the needs of those with disabilities and always made sure she phrased her words carefully to avoid giving offense. But others were not so tactful.

“It takes a really long time to prepare for a trial,” she continued. “So for the last eighteen months, I’ve been building Norman’s defense case and overseeing all the trial preliminaries. I know a lot of people in Sedgwick think that Norman’s guilty, and I sometimes get yelled at on the street, but things really started to escalate about three weeks ago. That’s when I received the first anonymous letter. Then the phone calls started. It’s always a muffled man’s voice saying I’ll suffer for defending a monster like Norman. I used to ask who he was, but now I just hang up.”

“And how is Norman doing?” Detective Pullman asked. “I understand that he’s out on bail.”

“Norman’s required to wear an electronic tag as part of his bail conditions,” Josie replied. “So he’s housebound. He used his home as collateral to raise the bond, and I had to fight hard to get bail granted. Norman has precise physical needs, and his home is specially adapted to suit him, so the judge agreed to bail Norman on the condition that he never leaves his home. Norman was so distressed about news of his disability leaking out to the community that the judge allowed the hearing to be a closed one, and the media didn’t get to hear the details. It’s unusual for a judge to agree to something like this, but I successfully argued that revealing Norman’s medical history to an open court would have caused him psychological damage. Of course, now everybody assumes he has something sinister to hide.”

“What about the little girl?” Detective Sykes asked. “Surely her family doesn’t want to be living in proximity to their child’s alleged kidnapper.”

“The Brown family moved from the street within a few weeks of the incident, so there’s no chance of Norman running into them.” She shrugged. “But Norman never goes outside, anyway. He’s too terrified. The community doesn’t want him back in their neighborhood, and he knows it.”

“But how does he manage being housebound?” Blade asked. “He has to eat.”

“I take groceries to him once a week and make sure he’s okay.”

Detective Pullman raised an eyebrow. “It sounds like you’re dedicating a lot of your schedule to this client. How do you find the time to work on anything else?”

“Norman is my only client until the trial is over,” Josie said. “Since I became the target of threats, the public defender’s office decided to allocate my other cases to alternate attorneys. I simply can’t offer anybody else quality service while this situation continues, so Norman gets me all to himself. And it’s probably a good thing, as he has nobody else to take care of him right now.”

“But he’s not in danger, is he?” Blade asked. “He’s not getting bricks through his window or nasty phone calls?”

“No,” she replied. “That’s the odd thing. The letters and phone calls have been directed at me.” She stopped to steady her voice. “And now it’s gone way beyond that. Now somebody doesn’t just want to frighten me. They want to kill me.”

Detective Sykes closed her notepad. “This situation does appear to have intensified in these last few hours, and it’s now too serious for the Sedgwick Police Department to monitor. I recommend that you and your family move to a safe house for the duration of the trial. The public defender’s office has informed us that they will spare no expense in ensuring your protection.”

“Neither will I,” Blade said. He turned to Josie. “I’ll make some calls and put a temporary manager in charge of my business so I can stay here in Sedgwick for however long it takes.”

Josie found her mouth dropping in disbelief. “You want to come to a safe house with us.”

“Of course,” he replied as if the question was ridiculous. “I promised Archie that I’d take care of you, and I meant it.”

She began to panic, imagining being forced to spend each day with the man she had once loved but no longer knew. “But...but...my dad and I are perfectly capable of looking after my son by ourselves.”

“Our son,” Blade corrected her. “Archie is mine, too.”

“I know,” she said. “But I’ve been taking care of him by myself for such a long time. It would be difficult for him to adjust to his father’s sudden presence in his life every day.” She knew this was a lame excuse, designed to suit her delicate emotions rather than Archie’s. “We should wait until this is all over before making visitation arrangements.”

Blade’s expression looked genuinely hurt and, for a few moments, Josie deeply regretted her words. After all, she had dreamed of the day when her son would finally meet his father, fulfilling his longest-held wish. This should have been a day of joy for her. So why did she feel so tormented inside? Why did she feel that Archie might be slipping from her grasp?

“I don’t want to wait,” Blade said quietly. “I want to be around constantly to make sure that you’re both okay.”

The detectives clearly sensed the need to give the two parents time alone to discuss the matter, and they both rose in unison.

“We’ll give you a few minutes to talk it over,” Detective Pullman said. “We’ll go check on the progress of the cleanup.”

“Thank you,” Josie said. “I’ll be ready to leave soon, I promise.”

As soon as the detectives had left the room, Blade went to sit close to Josie.

“Why do I get the feeling you’d rather I wasn’t here?” he asked. “Are you sorry that Archie found me?”

“No, not at all.”

Blade’s blue eyes were wide and intense, a mirror image of Archie’s. “So why the reluctance to let me stay with you?”

“Because...” She struggled to find any words that wouldn’t make her sound like the most selfish, awful person in the world. “Because I never felt such primal and fierce love before Archie came along. I would literally kill anybody who tried to hurt my son.” She shook her head. “Our son. And I’ve been solely responsible for his welfare until now.”

Blade obviously knew exactly what she was trying to say. “And you don’t think you can share him twenty-four hours a day.”

She crossed her arms and sighed. He had hit the nail on the head. Yes, she most definitely was the most selfish, awful person in the world.

“No, it’s not that,” she protested weakly, before bowing her head in shame. “Actually, you’re right. I always wanted you in his life, but I never knew how hard it would be until this moment.”

Blade put a hand on her shoulder. His fingers applied a gentle pressure, and she felt their warmth through her thin cashmere cardigan.

“We’re only just learning how to do this,” he said. “Let’s take it one step at a time. I’ll try to be sensitive to your feelings and not tread on your toes, but I have a right to be with our son while he faces such a serious threat.”

Josie nodded. “Of course you do.” She silently admonished herself. “You’re very welcome to come with us to the safe house.”

“Thank you.”

She rose from the chair. “I’ll need to go pack some things.”

In truth, she was desperate to get away from Blade, to gather her thoughts and say a prayer to soothe all her anxieties and fears.

“Sure,” he said, standing with her.

She brushed past him and headed out the door, not knowing which aspect of today’s developments had scared her the most. Was it the man taking aim at her home with a gun, or the man taking aim at her son’s heart with a fatherly love that potentially would usurp her own?