by Alyssa Kress
~~~
For a moment Brennan couldn't move. Unbelievable. The judge had rejected Erica as guardian for her brother—and after all Erica'd done for Liam.
From his seat behind the family, he could see Erica's determinedly neutral expression and Liam's frankly terrified face. Clint stared forward in apparent disbelief.
"Come on," Clint spoke, his voice carefully calm. "Let's get out of here." He rose from his seat.
Erica and Liam followed his lead.
Brennan trailed the three of them out the big double doors at the back of the courtroom.
He wondered frantically what they could do now. They'd all assumed Liam's guardianship had been taken care of when Erica had agreed to move to Palmwood. Now it was back in a state of uncertainty.
Anger swelled inside him as he followed the rest of them down the echoing corridors of the courthouse. The judge had had no call to put Liam's situation back in flux. Neither had she had any right to treat Erica like an opportunist. But anger was rarely useful. He did his best to suppress the emotion as they walked past the checkpoint and toward the main door. What he needed was something constructive he could do.
That he needed to do something was not up for debate. He'd promised Richard Carmichael to make sure Liam would be okay. Having his money cut off was not okay. Meanwhile, Brennan had encouraged Erica to close her business in LA and move to Palmwood. It appeared that idea was a disaster as well.
He had to fix this.
Clint led the way through the paved plaza in front of the courthouse. By the flagpole in the center of the plaza, he came to a halt, blowing out a gusty breath.
Liam, Erica, and Brennan gathered around him.
"Okay, I'll admit it," Clint stated. "This is insane. That judge is insane."
Erica, her face still carefully masked, lifted a shoulder. "I can see her point of view."
Clint looked offended. "The hell you can."
"So..." Liam's voice wobbled. "What's going to happen now?"
"First of all, we're not going to worry," Clint advised. It was clear his words were intended to reassure Liam rather than indicate his own state of mind. His hand shook as he set it on Liam's shoulder. "Judge Devon just wants to see Erica make some gains toward having a job or a going business. It's all—symbolic."
Was it? Brennan supposed it was possible, but he had a feeling even Clint wasn't sure this was true.
"Oh, symbolic," Liam said. "Well, Erica's obviously going to make gains."
Erica made no claim one way or the other.
How many clients had she acquired? Brennan wondered. Surely by now she had at least a few. He knew from her treatment of his pulled muscle that she was excellent at her craft. Given time, she could build herself a healthy little business, possibly even branch out...
But they didn't have time.
"You betcha," Clint assured Liam. "Your sister's going to pull this off. She's never quit anything."
Brennan detected concern, however, beneath Clint's apparent confidence. While Brennan agreed that Erica wasn't a quitter, four weeks wasn't very long to go from zero to full financial stability. They needed something more certain, something that would convince the judge Erica had no designs whatsoever on her minor brother's money...
Brennan's heart began beating heavier as an idea occurred to him. There was indeed a surer way, one that would not involve the risk of time. Oh, it would involve some personal risk, true, but not all that much, not if he kept this a business deal.
He regarded Erica, whose thoughts appeared to be inward. She was probably wondering how in the world she could build an entire, viable business in four lousy weeks.
Whatever anger and distress Brennan had been feeling was transforming quickly to a happy excitement. There was an incredibly silver lining here. His idea could work. It could work out well for everybody.
Okay, himself included.
