A New Chapter

Reverse to Part One

Lincoln spent an uncomfortable night in the only hotel in town. The room itself was fine, but he wasn’t used to the lack of noise. Or not having the ninety-five-pound weight in bed with him. So, he was tired and cranky when he got in the car to locate social services. He’d attempted to get coffee at the hotel, but the pot smelled like it’d been burned and then reheated. He just hoped he could beg for some coffee when he got to the office.

Even though he’d arrived right on time, he ended up sitting in the lobby for a little while. He spent the time fiddling with his phone and trying to figure out a plot for the next book. He needed to get something started, but he had no ideas.

Finally, he looked up as a middle-aged woman entered. She was wearing dark slacks and a light shirt with a black blazer overtop. She paused, glancing around the room, before approaching him and asking, “Lincoln Stone?”

“I am,” he answered, standing and offering his hand.

“Janice Rogers,” she introduced herself. “Why don’t you come with me and we’ll talk about Brooklyn?”

“Can I see her?” Lincoln asked, even as he gathered his things to follow wherever the woman led.

“We’re working on setting it up. Right now, she’s in school and I didn’t think you’d want to disrupt her.”

He shook his head. “No. No, she should stay in school, but maybe afterwards?”

Janet nodded. “I’m sure that can be arranged. We have a small family visiting room and I can see if that’s available.”

“Would it be possible for us to meet outside? A park or something? I just… I’d like her to have room to decide to be in proximity with me. It’s… been a while since we’ve seen each other,” Lincoln explained.

“Of course.” Janet reached for a folder on her desk, taking a moment to shuffle through. “We’ll need to verify that you are her brother, but then we can make arrangements.”

“We don’t need to hurry them, do we?” Lincoln asked. When the woman looked at him in confusion, he sighed. “You have to understand that I didn’t expect any of this. My place in the city isn’t really set up for another person, much less a child. And I’ll be a stranger to her. I’d just like some time to get to know her and her to know me. And discuss with her where she’d like to stay.”

“Are you considering refusing custody?” Janet questioned.

“No. Of course not,” Lincoln said immediately, “but she’s already had an upheaval and I don’t want to just rip her away from everything she knows. You said she’s at school?”

“She is. We were able to keep her enrolled in the same school so that is one less change she had to make.”

“In that case, at the very least we should allow her to finish out the year… she can’t have much longer.”

“About four weeks, but that is…”

Lincoln clenched his hand where it lay against his leg. He wasn’t sure if the woman was deliberately talking around what he wanted to know or if she was just trying to make sure he was clear on every situation. “Shall we dispense with the identity check?” he asked, rather than arguing the issue. “And then we can make arrangements for me to meet Brooklyn?” He shifted in his seat. “I’d be happy to discuss all the issues or choices once I’ve seen her, but laying out a plan doesn’t make much sense if I’m not going to be able to assume guardianship.”

“We’d rather reunite a child with a family member, but I have an obligation to make sure she’s safe.”

“And I understand that, but this way I don’t waste your time or mine.”

He turned, digging in his bag and bringing forth the file of documentation. Lincoln had brought every piece of documentation he could think of and he turned it all over to social services, including his birth certificate and the DNA testing he’d done through the ancestry site a few years ago. He wasn’t expecting them to need all of it, but figured providing it couldn’t hurt. Once all of the documentation had been copied, Janet sent him across the street to the police station. He supposed it made sense that they wanted proof he wasn’t a child molester, but he chafed at the time of having to prove himself. He hadn’t seen Brooklyn in five years and he was worried that she would refuse to have any interaction with him.

When all of the paperwork was finally complete, he got directions from Janet to the park where he would meet them later. Leaving the social services office, he checked the time and realized he’d have a good three hours until he was supposed to meet Brooklyn and whoever her escort was. Deciding he still needed to eat, he ducked back into the office building and asked the woman at the desk where the nearest diner was. Armed with directions to hopefully decent food, he headed out.

The small diner, which had clearly been a caboose at some point in its history, wasn’t busy at this late hour. A busty blonde hailed him as he entered, directing him to sit wherever he wanted. The smell of grease hung in the air, thick and cloying. He sat, locating the menu written on a board above the counter. He’d barely gotten settled and begun looking over the menu when the blonde bustled over to him. “Hey, hon,” she greeted him. “What can I get you?”

“Coffee to start,” he decided. “Cream and sugar, please.”

“Sure, hon,” she replied. She headed away and Lincoln quickly scanned the menu, deciding on a hamburger with the works.

While he waited for the food to be cooked, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Sarah. If he was going to stay in the area while Brooklyn finished school, he’d need to make arrangements for the dogs and find somewhere to stay.

Sarah picked up on the third ring, voice cheerful as always. “Hey, Mr. Lincoln, the dogs are fine,” she said.

Lincoln chuckled. “Well, that’s fabulous, but not why I was calling. I think I’m going to be here for a bit longer than I planned. I’ll need to come back and get clothes and I’ll possibly pick up the dogs. That decision will have to wait until I see where I’m staying.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “If I end up not being able to take them, will you be able to continue watching them?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Just let me know what you need from me.”

“Great,” he said. “I’ll call you in a couple of days?”

“Sounds great,” she agreed before hanging up.

He set the phone on the table as the waitress returned with a platter overflowing with fries and a burger easily the size of both his fists. “This looks fantastic,” he said as she set it in front of him.

“You enjoy, sweetie,” she said, waiting as he picked up a golden, crispy fry. She patted him on the shoulder before walking away.

Lincoln dove into his food, finding himself famished as the greasy smell hit his nose. He almost inhaled half of both fries and the burger before he paused to take a breath. He was slowing down, picking at the fries and taking smaller bites of the burger. He was just thinking he needed to stop eating or be overfull when the waitress returned. “Good?” she asked with a smile as she topped off his coffee again.

“Fantastic,” he raved. “One of the best burgers I’ve ever had.”

Her smile widened. “Glad to hear it. Can I get you anything else?”

“No, just the…” Lincoln started before interrupting himself, “Actually. Maybe you could help. I may need somewhere to stay for a month or so. Is there a long-term rental like that? Or a hotel?”

“What kind of place are you looking for?” she asked, settling a hand on her hip and snapping her gum.

“Two bedrooms? Maybe three?” he attempted. “Preferably a house with a backyard and a fence, if that’s possible. I left my dogs at home and if I’m going to be here for a bit, I’d rather have them with me.”

The woman frowned as she clearly considered his request. “There aren’t many places to rent in town, but…” She flipped to a new page in the notebook she was using for an order pad and scribbled something down. “This is my cousin’s number. You can try giving him a call and see if he has something. He has a bunch of rental places.”

Lincoln accepted the paper and handed over his credit card to pay for his food. “Do you have some donuts or something that I could purchase?”

“We have muffins. Blueberry, cranberry orange, or chocolate chip.”

“Two blueberry and four chocolate chip,” he decided. “Thank you.”

Checking his watch, Lincoln saw that he had managed to while away almost two of his three hours so after paying and accepting the box of muffins, he settled himself in his car to try to find a place to stay for the moment. The waitress’s cousin proved to be a bonanza as the man had two different places available. Both of them sounded like they would fit Lincoln’s needs and he made arrangements to meet with the man after he’d had his appointment with Brooklyn.

Although he arrived a few minutes early to the park, Lincoln could see the social worker seated at a picnic table near the parking lot when he arrived. He wasn’t sure that he would recognize Brooklyn if he saw her, but there were a few children, both boys and girls, playing on the nearby playground.

Exiting the car, Lincoln stuffed one hand into his pocket as he strolled towards the table. With the other one, he held tightly to the box of muffins. “Did you have any trouble finding the park?” Janet asked when he got near enough that she wouldn’t have to yell for him to hear her.

“GPS is wonderful,” Lincoln said. “Please tell your front desk person that the diner was perfect. Just what I needed.” He set the box down, indicating it. “Would you like a muffin?”

“No. Thank you though.” She raised a hand, catching the attention of one of the young girls running around. The girl said something to the other girl she had been playing with before dashing over. “Brooklyn, do you remember your brother, Lincoln?” she asked when the girl joined them.

The girl had been staring at him but she shook her head when Janet finished speaking. “No. How are you my brother?”

“Well, your daddy was also my daddy,” Lincoln explained. “But we had different mommies. I knew yours though, long before you were born.”

“How come I’ve never seen you before?” she asked. “If we had the same daddy.”

“Well, you might have noticed I’m a little older…” Lincoln held his forefinger and thumb just a tiny bit apart, eliciting a giggle from Brooklyn. “And when you were five, our daddy and I had a disagreement.” He shook his head. “It was over something stupid, but I’m very stubborn like my mommy and I refused to talk to him. I sent you things, but I’m pretty sure he never gave them to you.” He indicated Janet. “And then this nice lady sent someone to see me and tell me that our daddy is gone.”

“He’s not coming back,” she informed him. “He died and they put him in the ground.”

“I know, Brooklyn,” he said. He wanted to call her by the nickname he’d used for the first five years of her life, but he wasn’t sure how she would react to it. “And I’m very sorry that I wasn’t able to be there for you.”

She crossed her arms and he tried not to grin at the suspicious look on her face. “Why are you here now?”

“You know how you’ve been staying with the…”

“Davis family,” Janet put in.

“Davis family for the last few weeks?” he questioned. When she nodded, he continued, “That was until they could find me. Now, if you’d like, we’ll get to know each other for a bit and then if you want, you can come live with me.”

“I can decide?” she asked.

“Well, not completely,” Janet broke in. “The courts are the ones who will actually decide, but we’ll take your opinion into consideration.”

“But if I don’t want to go with… my brother?” she asked.

“Brooklyn,” Lincoln said before the social worker could answer, “you don’t have to decide right now. I don’t want you to move at the end of your school year so I’m going to stick around here for a bit and by the time school ends, maybe you’ll feel better about it?” he suggested.

She eyed him uncertainly, but finally nodded. Turning to Janet, she asked, “Can I go play again?”

“Sure, honey,” Janet replied and Brooklyn ran off. She turned to Lincoln when the girl was out of earshot. “That didn’t go too badly.”

“So, what’s the next step?” he asked, nodding to acknowledge her comment.

“We set up a couple more supervised visits, then progress to unsupervised. When the school is over, we’ll appear before the courts and make a plan for custody of Brooklyn.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m staying at a hotel for now, but I’m working on finding a more permanent place.”

“Are you looking to remain in the area after custody is decided?”

“I think, depending on what Brooklyn decides, we might move. I don’t think where I am now is appropriate for her and I feel like we might need to get away from all the memories.” He rubbed a hand through his hair. “Unless Brooklyn wants to stay here. In that case, I’ll be looking for something even more permanent than a rental.”

“You can just pack up and move from your job?” she questioned.

“I’m a writer,” he admitted. “I can work from anywhere.” Standing up, he said, “I’ll notify you when I have somewhere set up and a more permanent address than a hotel.” He turned, waiting until he noticed Brooklyn watching him, and waved. After a moment, she waved back. “Let me know when the next meeting is, please,” he said before walking away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lincoln spent the next few days viewing rentals before finally deciding on a two bedroom with a fenced in backyard. With Sarah’s help, he had the dogs and some of his other belongings packed up. He hired a transport company to bring both the items and the dogs to him, happy to see them when they arrived.

The first unsupervised visit with Brooklyn was the day after the dogs arrived and he was unsure how she would react. He was thrilled to find that she loved them, talking frequently about how their father hadn’t wanted her to get a dog. Knowing that Raia and Ilyon were gentle unless he was threatened, he had no issues with allowing her to run around the yard with them.

As the days stretched into weeks, he was able to spend more time with her. They were even allowed a sleepover once his accommodations had been inspected and approved. Much sooner than he expected, the end of the school year was approaching and Brooklyn brought, on one of her visits, an invitation to her field day and awards’ ceremony. After checking with Janet, he happily attended, clapping enthusiastically when Brooklyn received multiple awards.

That evening he was allowed to take her out for a celebratory dinner and as they were eating, he broached the subject, “What would you think of coming to live with me permanently?”

Brooklyn toyed with her ice cream for a few minutes before asking, “Where would we live?”

“Well, we’d have to talk about that. You know my apartment is in New York City.” When she nodded, he continued, “But it’s not big enough for both of us. So, we’d have to find a new place and it’s expensive to live there. I thought, if you don’t want to stay here, maybe we could find a place we both like. If you could live anywhere, where would you want to live?”

“The ocean!” she exclaimed.

“You want to live in the ocean? I don’t think we can do that,” Lincoln said with a grin.

Brooklyn giggled before carefully choosing a fry from her plate. “No, silly,” she said once she’d eaten the fry. “I wanna live by the ocean. Could we do that?”

“How about a bay that leads to the ocean?” Lincoln suggested after a moment of thought.

“Could we go swimming there?” she asked.

“I bet we can find somewhere to live that will let us go swimming. I’ve visited the area I’m thinking of and there are lots of places to choose from.”

Brooklyn toyed with her fries again before asking, “Can we come back here to visit?”

“I think we could make that happen,” Lincoln agreed.

She nodded then. “Okay. Can we go tell the judge?”

He laughed. “Not tonight, Mini-Me. But I’ll call Janet tomorrow and let her know we need a court date.”

Brooklyn frowned. “Why did you call me that?”

“Mini-Me? It’s what I called you when you were little. When you were a baby, you looked just like I did as a baby. You were my Mini-Me.”

“I like it,” she decided.

“I’ll make sure to call you that then.” Lincoln raised a hand to call the waiter over and handed his credit card. “I think we need to get you home.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Although Lincoln wanted to go before the judge almost immediately, he had to wait until there was a free spot on the docket. It was almost three weeks before they appeared before the judge.

As soon as Brooklyn saw him, she darted away from Janet and headed right towards him. “Linc!” she cried as she ran into, burying her head in his stomach.

“Hey, Mini-Me,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m glad to see you, too.”

“Do I get to go with you today?” she asked, tipping her head up to look at him.

“We have to talk to the judge first,” he reminded her. She pouted but reached out and took his hand before they walked towards the courtroom.

Lincoln was surprised to find the group escorted into the judge’s chambers. He had assumed that they would meet in the courtroom. Four people awaited them; a man he assumed was the judge plus the two lawyers involved and Brooklyn’s guardian ad litem. Lincoln had gotten to know the guardian over the last month and a half as she met with Brooklyn to get her feelings on the matter.

Janet guided Brooklyn towards the guardian, Allison Weaver, who greeted the little girl enthusiastically. Lincoln moved towards the lawyer, Ben Evans, that had been assigned to him, shaking the man’s hand. “This should be quick and easy,” Ben assured him as they all took seats when the judge indicated.

“Good morning, everyone,” the judge greeted them once they were all seated. “I’m Judge Samuel Jackson. We’re here today to decide who the minor, Brooklyn Stone, will be living with. We have one petitioner, Lincoln Stone, who is…” he flipped through the file in front of him. “The minor’s brother?”

“He is, Your Honor,” Ben immediately answered. “He’s willing to take guardianship of the minor. He has submitted to every check the state has required and passed them all.”

The judge nodded, turning his attention back to the folder. “Does the state have any objections?”

“We don’t, Your Honor,” the lawyer spoke up. “Mr. Stone has been having visitations for the past month and a half. Supervised at first, then unsupervised. The minor has been allowed to have limited overnights and has exhibited no distress, other than not wanting to return to the foster home.”

The judge hmmed, but didn’t say anything else for a minute, simply flipping pages. Finally, he looked up and directly at Brooklyn. “Miss Stone,” he said. “You have a guardian to speak for you, but I’d like to hear from you. Who do you want to live with?”

“Can I live with Linc?” she asked. “I want to stay with Linc.”

The judge finally shut the folder he’d been pursuing and steepled his hands in front of his face. “Mr. Stone, where would you live? I know you’ve been renting a house here.”

“I talked with Brook,” Lincoln answered. “She doesn’t want to stay here. My apartment in New York isn’t set up for a child, but I offered to find a place where we could both live. She wants to live by the ocean so we’re going to look for a place in Maryland. A small town most likely so that she can grow up in a place where she gets to be a child.”

The judge nodded, seeming to agree with his plan. “I see no evidence that Brooklyn Stone would be in any danger if she were to reside with her brother. It’s my decision that custody of the minor, Brooklyn Stone, be awarded to her brother. Once they are settled in Maryland, there will be check-ins for the first month to be sure that Brooklyn wants to remain with her brother.” He tapped the top of his desk with his gavel before smiling at them. “Congratulations.”

Brooklyn turned to Lincoln. “That’s it? I can stay with you?”

Lincoln nodded as he opened his arms and gathered her up. “You can stay with me.” He hugged her tightly as the others in the room patted his shoulders and congratulated him. All he could focus on was Brooklyn in his arms. He wasn’t going to lose his baby sister.