Raising Bethany

Chapter fourteen

ETHAN'S POV

"Nice to finally have you home." My dad smirks as I enter the front door. "Weren't you suppose to get in last night?"

"I- yeah but a, a friend needed help."

My dad eyes me for a moment. He didn't believe me for a second but dropped the conversation. Now it was my turn to question him.

I walk over to the kitchen island and take a seat on the stool. My dad was currently loading the dishwasher but this time his eyes wouldn't meet mine.

"Dad." I speak softly.

"I'm thinking chicken for dinner." He starts.

"Dad." I speak again.

He stays quiet but looks at me with soft eyes. He knew where I was going with this.

"What's Melanie doing back here?" I ask hesitantly.

My dad sighs and closes the dishwasher.

"You can tell me."

He shakes his head. "It's nothing good."

That I already knew. There was no way she randomly came back after all these years and it ended up being for a good reason.

"She's finally ready to sign the divorce papers." My dad starts.

"Well that's great." I say enthusiastically.

When my mom left, my dad gave her some time to figure things out. He knew she was going through a lot and hoped she'd eventually come back. He gave her more time than she deserved and finally after four years he mailed her the divorce papers. She returned them unsigned. She knew she wasn't ever going to come back to her marriage but refused to sign the papers for who knows why. My dad decided to drop it instead of getting lawyers involved and that was the last time he mentioned it.

"She's agreeing to sign the papers and she wants half custody of Mckayla." My dad finally speaks.

I look over at him confused. "What do you mean half custody?"

He rubs his face with his hands and sighs. "I don't know. Six months here six months there. Something like that."

"She can't do that. She's never once expressed interest in her kids. Mckayla doesn't even know her. Tell her no way and to go back home."

"I wish it was that easy but in the laws eyes, we are married and she is McKayla's mom."

"There's no jury in the world who would think she's fit enough to get her kid back." I defend.

He nods. "And that's probably true but I don't want to put Mckayla through a big custody hearing and what if Melanie plays some kind of "she had a mental break" card? I mean isn't that what she had. She lost your grandpa and she left. It seems like the law is on my side but that may not end up being the case and I could lose a lot more than I'm wanting."

Anger boils through me. What is wrong with her? Why after all this time is she only now deciding to come back and she's demanding half custody? The entitlement! She doesn't deserve a second chance.

"I haven't told your sister yet and I'm gonna keep it that way for awhile. At least until I can try to make a different deal with your mom." My dad says.

"She's not my mom." I say, irritated.

He walks over towards me and pulls me into a hug. "I know Ethan."

I wrap my arms around him and hug him back. As much as I knew he wanted to comfort me, I also knew he was the one who was going through the most right now.