Chapter 7: Welfare Check

The knock came at 2:10 on Thursday morning, hard enough to rattle the kitchen window.

I was already awake, sitting up with Poppy in the dark of the spare room.

I heard Byron's feet on the floor and then the porch light clicking on.

When I came down the hall, he was at the door with his hand on the knob.

"Stay behind me," he said.

"I won't."

"Lacey."

"It's my daughter," I said. "I'm not hiding."

He looked at me for a second, and he moved his shoulder over so that I could stand beside him.

He opened the door.

It was the young deputy again, with a second deputy beside him, an older woman with a flashlight.

The young one looked miserable.

"Ma'am. Mr. Angell. I'm sorry about the hour. We got a call for a welfare check on an infant."

"From who?" I asked.

"The caller said she was concerned about the child's safety with an unstable parent."

"Which caller?"

"She asked not to be named."

"It was Eleanor," said Byron.

"I can't confirm that, sir."

"You don't have to."

The older deputy shone her light past us into the hall.

"We're required to see the child," she said, "and where she sleeps."

I felt the old fury come up, hot and fast.

I opened my mouth to tell them exactly where to put their flashlight, and Byron touched two fingers to my elbow.

It was the smallest touch.

"Let them look," he said, low. "Every minute they spend in here, they write down what a clean house it is."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Married My Best Friend While I Gave Birth, So I Left from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.