Ties That Bind Read Online Free Page A

I hate this stupid condo and that jerk you date. You ruined my life.
    “Do you understand that if I accept this petition, your surrender will be effective immediately and will be irrevocable? By that I mean, never able to be changed. You will never be her mother again.”
    For one brief moment, Mrs. Leahy faltered. She looked longingly at the girl. The daughter was swallowing hard. That was all Kate needed.
    She often postponed these kinds of cases. Sometimes the reason was one party’s confusion over what was happening, sometimes it was signs of hesitation. Sometimes, it was just a gut feeling. But surrender of parental rights was serious business and no judge did it capriciously. She almost always adjourned the first time to give everybody a chance to think over such an unalterable move. The hesitation she saw in the two women prodded her to do just that.
    “I am not fully convinced this is what either of you wants. I’d like to see you both back here in six weeks. If you’re here, and fully convinced surrender is what you want, then I’ll terminate rights.”
    And, as always happened, Kate couldn’t help the impromptu lecture that came from her mouth. Some people said her tendency to give advice made her a great judge and some people warned that it made her look like a sap. She wondered what Reese would think. “Ms. Leahy—Monica. I urge you to try to make peace with your mother.” Easier said than done, Kate knew. “The bond between a mother and child should never be severed.”
    Please, Sofie, don’t insist on this. I can’t bear for you to be living away from me.
    She turned to the other woman. “Ms. Leahy, try to reconcile with your daughter. The court can provide counseling for you both to see what’s best for you. You’re breaking the natural order of things if you give her up.”
    The mother nodded. The girl looked down.
    When she pounded the gavel, Kate was drained.
    “I’m calling for a fifteen-minute recess.”
    As the burly, uniformed court officer, Carlos Rayes, left to notify those in the waiting area, Kate headed to her chambers. Once inside she closed the door and let her own, private domain calm her. The room was elegant and classy. Enclosed in frosted glass and rich oak, it had a secure yet professional feel to it. She crossed to the small fridge she kept in the corner and removed a bottle of water. She retrieved her cell phone from her desk, sank onto the soft leather, chestnut colored couch, and checked her voice mail. Two messages from Tyler. One from Sofie’s school. Three from Reese. One from Jillian asking her to have a drink after work.
    She dialed Sofie’s school, only to be told her daughter had missed classes again today. She tried Sofie’s cell, but there was no answer. She closed her eyes, breathed slowly and let in the thoughts of that fateful day when her only child had demanded to go away to school…
    Reese had tried to convince his daughter otherwise. “Sofie, honey, your mother and I love you. You need to be with us.”
    Still, Sofie remained stone faced. “That’s the last thing I need. I don’t want to be with her.”
    Ah, the awful truth. Her, Kate, not them.
    So Kate had swallowed her pride and squelched the horror of Sofie’s statement. “All right then, you can live with your dad full time. At least you’ll be with one of us.”
    But Sofie surprised her. “I don’t wanna live with his bimbo.” Dray and Reese had just moved in together. “Anyway, I wanna be away. From both of you.”
    And so, the child of her heart had been enrolled in a private school a hundred miles away. Kate had not only lost the man she’d loved more than God, but also the daughter she cherished more than her own life. Looking around at her chambers, she thought about the Leahys and wondered, starkly, how different her own family was from them.
    With that depressing thought, she headed back to the courtroom.
    o0o
    “DRAY? IT’S REESE.” Sitting back in his office, he propped