Moore Than Forever by Julie A. Richman Page B

Walking across the small bathroom to close the space between her and Schooner, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, “I know he’s turning eighteen soon, but you need to seek full custody now. This happened under her watch along with that overdose. We need full custody, Schooner. He can’t be left with her and Beau.” Mia looked up at him, her own eyes filled with tears brought on by anger and frustration.
    We need full custody, Schooner. We. She had said ‘we’ . In this dark moment, Schooner’s heart soared. This woman was bringing so many firsts into his life. Having a partner to share the good, endure the bad and fight the ugly was new and amazing and Schooner could feel the brimming in his heart - the same brimming he’d felt right from the start with Mia, so many years before.
    “Under that tough New York girl exterior is the biggest heart ever. For you to even accept Zac into our world after everything that happened,” he just shook his head with disbelief. “You can’t even imagine the burden you relieve from me, Mia.”
    Reaching up, Mia put a hand on his cheek, letting her thumb stroke gently, “We’re in this together, Pretty Boy. He’s your son. He’s Nathaniel’s brother. That means it’s my family. She hasn’t protected him, Schooner, and that makes me mad. Really, really mad.”
    He nodded, kissing her hand, “Me too, Baby Girl. It took everything I had not to choke that bitch. Instead I threatened to expose and ruin her if she so much as says hello to him.” He ran a hand through his hair, eyebrows drawn together as he thought through his course of action, “I need to call Aaron. I want full custody until his eighteenth birthday and I want this divorce done yesterday. If she balks at all, the judge will be advised of everything.”
    “I’m so sorry, Schooner. I really am.”
    “We’re going to fix this,” his statement was absolute.
    Pulling Mia close for a hug, as he kissed the top of her head, he realized that they shared a fundamental similarity in ensuring that they would do whatever was in their power to protect the ones that they loved, even if it meant putting their own prejudices aside for the greater good.
    Schooner didn’t think that he could love Mia anymore than he already did; but in that moment, his love for this woman, his partner, his lover, the mother of his son, his one true love, reached a depth that he never even dreamed existed. And the thought crossed his mind that maybe they were one soul in two separate bodies.

Chapter Eighteen
    The drive to Linda Isle was shrouded in a heavy silence. As they pulled through the gates, Schooner looked over at his son. “I’m not happy about your part in this, Zac. Did your mother and I not raise you with any understanding of right or wrong?”
    Zac didn’t answer, the muscles in his jaw twitching.
    Turning into the white and gray paver driveway of his former residence, Schooner could feel his stomach knot and the bile begin to rise again from his gut, but overwhelming the physical sensations, was anger. Just being at the house set off a whole host of negative visceral reactions.
    In the passenger seat, the tension continued to radiate off of Zac like solar waves rippling through the highly charged air. “He’s here,” was all he said.
    Beau’s silver BMW sat in the driveway.
    “I want you to go straight upstairs to your bedroom, pack your things and just bring them out to the car. No conversations with anyone. Is that understood?”
    Zac nodded.
    “Is. That. Understood?” Schooner was seething.
    “Yes, sir,” Zac’s response was slightly more than a whisper.
    Pulling out his keys at the front door, Zac looked at his father and knew they were entering a battlefield. Silently, he prayed he wouldn’t have to face his mother.
    Walking into the main foyer, Schooner noticed how sterile it all seemed compared to the loft in SoHo with Nathaniel’s colorful toys and accessories strewn about. All was still, the air