Look Again - Lisa Scottoline [118]
“Honey, what the hell?” her father asked, stepping inside, his hazel eyes round with disbelief. He stamped snow from his loafers. “This is crazy!”
“I know, it’s awful.” Ellen introduced herself and extended her hand to his wife. “Barbara, right?”
“Hello, Ellen.” Barbara smiled with genuine warmth, her lipstick fresh and her teeth white and even. She was petite with smallish features, tasteful makeup, and highlighted hair coiffed to her chin. “Sorry we have to meet in these circumstances.”
“Why didn’t you call?” her father interrupted. “Thank God for the Internet, or we wouldn’t have known a damn thing.”
“It just got so crazy, all of it.”
“We’re in the hotel, and I went online to check the scores, and there’s my daughter’s picture and my grandson’s gone! We got on the next plane.”
“Why don’t you go sit down, and I’ll explain everything.” Ellen gestured them toward the couch, but her father waved her off, agitated and acting oddly like a much older man.
“We came straight from the airport. I’ve been calling your cell.”
“Sorry, I left it in a car.” Ellen had to catch them up but she wasn’t going to begin with Marcelo. “It’s been difficult, Dad.”
“I can imagine,” Barbara said with obvious concern, but her father was distracted to the point of disorientation.
“So where’s Will?” He looked around the living room, his head wobbling slightly. “Is he really not here?”
“He’s really not here.” Ellen stayed calm, only because he was so upset. She’d never seen him so shaken, so out of control.
“That can’t be. Do the cops have him or what?”
“He’s with his father, and they’re already talking to shrinks and pediatricians, so I’m praying he’ll be okay.”
“Where is he? Where’d they take him?”
“He’s in a hotel in town.”
“I want to see him.” Her father set his jaw, the soft jowls bracketing his mouth like a bulldog’s.
“We can’t, Dad.”
“What do you mean, we can’t?” Her father’s eyes flared. “He’s my only grandchild. He’s my grandson.”
“If we try to see him, they’ll get a restraining order. I’m hoping that if we work with them, then we can—”
“That can’t be legal! Grandparents have rights!” Her father’s face reddened with emotion. “I’m calling a lawyer. I won’t put up with this. Nobody takes my grandchild away from me!”
“I have a lawyer, Dad. He says what they’re doing is legal.”
“Then you didn’t get yourself a good enough mouthpiece.” Her father jabbed his finger toward her chest, but Barbara put her hand on his jacket sleeve.
“Don, don’t yell at her. We talked about this. You know what she’s been through.”
“But they can’t take him away!” Her father threw up his hands, his expression caught between bewilderment and pain. “I go away for one minute and when I come home, my grandson is gone? How can this be legal?”
“Dad, relax.” Ellen stepped forward. “Sit down, have a cup of coffee, and I’ll tell you the story. You’ll understand the situation better.”
“I understand the situation just fine!” Her father whirled around, his finger pointing again. “I remember when you came to see me, you thought that kid in the picture was Will. So I got it wrong. Ya happy, now?”
“What?” Ellen asked, stricken.
“Don!” Barbara shouted, so loudly that he stood stunned for a moment. “Shut up. Right now.” She faced him head-on, despite her tiny frame. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I can’t believe this is the man I just married. I know you’re a better man than this.”
“Wha?” her father said, but accusation had left his tone.
“This isn’t about you, or even Will.” Barbara raised a manicured hand. “This is about your daughter, your only daughter. Start focusing on the child you have, instead of the one you don’t.”
“But she shouldn’ta said anything. She shoulda just shut up!”
Ellen felt slapped, and Barbara’s mouth dropped open.
“Don, she did what any good mother would do. She did what was right for her child, even though it cost her.”
Ellen recovered, listening. Barbara had given the clearest and best statement of why she’d followed up on that damn white