The next day

“What’s going on, Catherine?” her mother asked as she and her father were seated. Catherine took a deep breath then let it out, decided to get straight to the point. No point in dragging this out. “I know about Belle.” Her parents visibly paled. “W...what do you mean you ‘know about Belle’?” her father asked. “I know you guys gave her to her father when she was born, without my permission.” “Dear, we-” “Don’t you dare ‘dear’ me! You gave my child away without my say so, and didn’t tell me afterwards! What kind of parents are you?!” “We did what was best for you.” “What was best?! What was best?! Are you kidding? Do you know how much I wanted children?! And to think, I’ve had one of my own all this time and didn’t even know!” “What would people think of you if you were a single mother?” “Fuck what people think! This is my child, my life, we’re talking about.” “...” “Anyway, I met her last month.” “You met her?! How?! When?! Where?!” “It doesn’t really matter now does it? I’ve decided to sue her father for part custody.” “What?! But we gave him full custody already!” “You did, not me. You can either help me or I will get my own lawyer.” Her parents looked at her for a moment, probably trying to tell how serious she was, then looked at each other. Finally, her father nodded with a sigh, “We’ll help you. At least you’re engaged so it won’t look so bad.” Her mother nodded. Catherine resisted the urge to spit some smart comment about how they cared more about their image than her life and the life of their granddaughter.

A week later

Jackson sat a plate with a grilled cheese sandwich and some chips and tangerine slices in front of Belle for lunch. It made him think about Catherine. He’d made grilled cheese for lunch once and she’d loved it. Ever since New Year's Eve, she hadn’t been around. Belle kept asking for her but he said she was busy. In all honesty, he didn’t know what happened. Had their little ‘mistake’ sent her packing and out of Belle’s life. She hadn’t called, texted, or anything. He’d forever hate himself if his lack of control ruined Belle’s life. There was a knock at the door. He went and opened it. There stood Catherine. But it wasn’t the Catherine he knew. She seemed distant. She had on a pants suit and her hair was pulled back into a slick ponytail. Belle, however, didn’t see anything but the regular Catherine. “Catherine!” she said, running over and hugging her leg. Catherine seemed to relax a little and hugged her, “Hi Belle.” “Where have you been?!” Belle wailed. Catherine gave her a soft smile, “Don’t worry sweetie, hopefully, I’ll be seeing a lot more of you in the future.” Jackson stiffened. Why did that sound like it was meant for him? What did she have up her sleeve. Then two men stepped into view behind her, and his heart lurched. One was her fiance, Alexander. And the other was a man Jackson hoped he’d never see again: the Belford family lawyer. It took all he had not to drag his daughter back and slam the door in their faces. It was clear why they were here. They wanted Belle back. Like hell was he giving her back. As far as he was concerned, Catherine was a surrogate mother to Belle. She hadn’t been around for any of her firsts; so what if that wasn’t her own fault. She had her nerve waltzing back here to try to take his pride and joy away from him. He pulled Belle off of Catherine’s leg, “Go finish your lunch.” “Okay! Then Catherine, you can paint your nails with me.” Like hell, Jackson thought, but he didn’t say it. Once Belle was gone, he glared at Catherine. She winced, “Jackson…” “No.” He didn’t know exactly what he was saying no to. Was it her use of his name, because every time she used it, he wanted to let her do whatever she wanted. Was it to giving them his daughter back? Yes. “Mr.Forester, can we come in and talk?” Alexander asked. He hated that he was being so professional, because if he said no, it’d just look so petty. He stepped aside and let them in. They sat in the living room, out of earshot to Belle humming as she ate her food, blissfully unaware that she might not be living here very soon. He knew the power that the Belfords had; he wasn’t about to deceive himself into thinking that he could stop them. He stood facing them with his arms crossed, because it made him feel like he had some control over this situation. “I want to get partial custody of Belle,” Catherine said. He knew that’s why they were here, but to hear her say it just set him on edge. He just stared at her instead of responding. He knew that if he opened his mouth, he would do either of two things. He’d either curse them out and tell them what he thought of their snooty, rich asses, or, he’d beg them not to take her away from him and make himself look like a fool. So he kept his mouth shut. “We have a court date set already and everything. All you have to do is show up,” she added, like that was a good thing. He glared at her, to make it very clear that he was this close to blowing a gasket. “We don’t want to take her from you completely, and during the time she’d be with Catherine and I, you’ll be able to see her,” Alexander said. And that made Jackson hate him even more. He was trying to be nice. If he was so nice, he wouldn’t be here in the first place. And the way he said ‘Catherine and I’ just got under his skin. He clenched his jaw. “Here is all the information, Mr.Forester. We hope you’ll cooperate so that we don’t have to do this the hard way,” the lawyer said, sitting some papers on his coffee table. He glanced at the papers then back at Catherine. She almost looked remorseful. He almost scoffed at that. Then Belle came running in with her greasy fingers and jumped into Catherine’s lap. “I’m all done now! We can paint our nails.” Then she looked at Alexander, “Do you want to paint your nails too? Daddy doesn’t like his painted, so it’s fine if you don’t either.” Alexander looked momentarily speechless but then he smiled, “I’ll paint mine, if it’s fine with your dad that we stay a little.” Everyone looked at Jackson. He felt like he’d be the villain if he said no when all he wanted to do was throw them out on their asses, tell them where they can shove their custody crap, and slam the door. But Belle was giving him those pleading eyes she knew he couldn’t resist. “Fine,” he ground out, spun on his heels, and walked out.

Catherine felt her heart ache. She’d hurt him. Underneath that angry exterior, she could see the pain she’d inflicted. She barely knew Belle a couple of weeks, and here she was, taking her from him already. But it had to be done. Belle brought out her nail polish basket, which now included the ones she’d gotten her for Christmas. She chose a pink for herself, a blue for her, then looked at Alexander. “What color?” “Black?” he asked. She shook her head, “I don’t have black.” Catherine pointed to a sparkly gray, “What about that one?” He playfully glared at her. Belle found a dark blue and gave it to him. They painted their toes for the next hour. Belle seemed to take to Alexander quite quickly, and he seemed to genuinely like her. Catherine found herself looking for Jackson every now and then; he was nowhere to be seen. She felt tears prick the back of her eyes. Maybe this had been a stupid idea. But it was too late to turn back now. She sucked the tears back and went on painting her toes, laughing at Alexander’s jokes, and helping Belle like she was perfectly fine, when inside, she had a sinking feeling that she’d made a terrible mistake.