A Place Called Home Read Free Page A

see a band of white light rimming the horizon of the table, rising from her lap like a winter sunrise. He glanced at Thea, but if she was aware of it, she gave no indication. Her head was turned from him in three-quarter profile and she appeared to be listening intently to Wayne. Mitch couldn’t imagine that Wayne was all that interesting.
    “Both of our clients agreed to this shared guardianship arrangement,” Wayne was saying. “It is for us to determine the actual physical custody. Mr. Baker has been taking care of the Reasoner children since the death of their parents. As Ms. Wyndham could not be reached, this only made sense. Now that she is available, Mr. Baker is requesting that a shared custody arrangement be drawn up and presented to the family court judge for approval. I have several proposals for you to discuss with your client. Each of them has their own advantages and drawbacks. I’m afraid there is no perfect solution. Judge Carmody is no Solomon, either. I don’t expect that we’ll be saved by a particularly thoughtful or wise decision if we approach her without a solution ourselves. She’ll appoint a guardian ad litem and order a home study. She may still do that, in any event. I’m sure your client does not want to make the children the subject of a custody battle or pin our hopes for a reasonable outcome on being able to get another judge to review the matter.”
    Avery let silence settle as if giving careful consideration to this last statement. Then he pounced. Timing was everything. “Then you’ll be pleased to hear that Ms. Wyndham is willing to give full custody to Mr. Baker.”
    Mitch’s head snapped up and his internal threat level went from blue to orange, skipping yellow entirely.
    “Moreover,” Avery went on, “my client does not want to disrupt the children’s lives further by devising a visitation schedule in which no one is served. Rather, she is proposing that while the children remain with Mr. Baker, she will visit them as she has always done when the children were with their parents.”
    Mitch felt Wayne’s restraining hand on his forearm. Did Wayne really think he was going to jump up and slug somebody? Wayne’s hand should have clapped itself over his mouth . “This is a joke, right? Thea? What the hell is he talking about?”
    “Address me,” Childers reminded Mitch. “Or better yet, leave it to your attorney.”
    Mitch’s nostril flared slightly and a succinct profanity hovered on the tip of his tongue. He held it back, but he saw Thea Wyndham flinch as if he had shouted it at her.
    Wayne removed his hand from Mitch. He took a gold Mont Blanc from his jacket and made a few notations on his pad. The scrawl was perfectly illegible to everyone but him. After a moment he looked up at Avery. “This is Ms. Wyndham’s idea?”
    “Whose else would it be?”
    “Her fiancé’s.”
    Mitch had a vision of his head doing a three-sixty. “You knew? ” he asked accusingly.
    Wayne shrugged. “If you had gotten my message ...”
    “Is Wayne right?” Mitch asked Thea. “Is this your fiancé’s idea?”
    Avery said, “You don’t have to answer that.”
    “For God’s sake,” Mitch said. “It’s a simple enough question.”
    “You wouldn’t think that if you were sitting in her chair. For the full effect you need only add a naked white bulb over her head.”
    Mitch had the grace to look abashed. His voice gentled. “Thea?”
    She answered before her lawyer could cut her off again. “Joel and I discussed it, Mitch. It was a mutual decision.”
    “Joel?”
    “Strahern.”
    “Strahern Investments? That Strahern?”
    “Yes.”
    As a financial force to be courted and respected, the Strahern banking family was second only to Mellon. “I see,” Mitch said softly. He turned back to Wayne. “I suppose there is no sense in not sharing my own news.”
    Wayne was surprised and wary but neither of these expressions showed on his face. “Perhaps now is not the time,”