Dark Legacy by Jen Talty (reading books for 4 year olds .txt) 📗

most of their work was little things: divorce cases, runaway teens. Every once in a while, they got a case from Saratoga—like this one. Or from Albany. But for the most part, his life was quiet and calm.

Just the way he wanted it.

Chapter Two

Shannon pulled open her office door and gasped. The last person she ever expected to see sitting in her waiting room was her mother.

Melinda Cartwright had once said she’d never be caught dead in a therapist’s office, even if that office belonged to her daughter. Psychologists and psychiatrists were for the weak and mentally unstable—the truly sick and unsavory people of the world. Those twisted minds that even God’s salvation couldn’t mend.

“Hello, Mother.”

“I hate it when you call me that.” Her mom stood with all the style and grace expected of the queen. “I need to—”

“I’ll be with you in about fifteen minutes.” Shannon held out her hand.

Her mother didn’t like to wait for anyone, and given how she drew her lips into a tight line, she wasn’t happy to have been dismissed. Too bad. Shannon wasn’t about to interrupt a client’s session because her mother thought the world centered around her.

“It will only take—”

“Excuse me.” Shannon turned her back and faced her client’s father. “Please, come inside,” she said to Greg Mallory, who had been sitting quietly in the corner.

His gaze darted between the two women before he rushed through the doorway.

“Fifteen minutes, Mother.” Shannon didn’t wait for a response, but she did take in a deep, calming breath. If someone had died or had been injured, her mom would have barged right through her office door with no regard for the patient’s privacy. Whatever her mother needed, it could wait.

“Please. Make yourself comfortable.” Shannon sat in her gray-blue wingback chair, making sure she had her pen and pad. She needed something to fiddle with, while her mother probably paced a hole in her waiting room carpet. “Lilly and I thought it would be good for you to join us for a few minutes.”

“Is something wrong?” Greg asked. He’d taken the spot next to his daughter, but when he got too close, she curled up into a ball, hugging her knees.

Greg let out a long sigh, his shoulders hunched in defeat.

“Lilly and I were talking about how things have been going since she moved into your house.”

“It’s been a major adjustment for all of us,” he admitted.

“I can only imagine.” Shannon diverted her gaze to the clock on the wall. “I suggested to Lilly that perhaps we could schedule some family sessions. If you are agreeable.”

“I am,” Greg said, rubbing his hands up and down his legs. “I was going to ask if maybe I could come and talk with you, as well. I’m trying. I really am. I want to make this work.”

“Trying too hard,” Lilly muttered. “So hard, I can tell you don’t want me there.”

“That’s not true.” Greg inched closer, but he didn’t touch her.

Shannon suspected that Lilly would probably react negatively to the intimacy, and Greg seemed to be smart enough not to force his need to hold and comfort his daughter. They barely knew each other since Lilly’s mother had kept Lilly from her father for most of her life. He hadn’t even known she existed until she was seven years old.

“You look at me like I’ve ruined your life.” Lilly pulled her hoodie over her head.

“You haven’t ruined anything. None of this is your fault.”

Shannon stole a second glance at the time. Thankfully, this wasn’t the first time Lilly and her father had had this conversation. But so far, they never got past the blame game.

Shannon jotted a few squiggly lines on her pad. No words. Just getting out her anxiety over who sat in the waiting room. She needed to focus on her client. “Lilly. Can you ask your father what you mentioned to me?”

The girl nodded, swiping at her cheeks and setting her feet on the floor.

“What is it, Lilly?” Greg closed the gap. This time, he rested his hand on her shoulder. It wasn’t an intimate gesture, but it was physical contact.

“Are you afraid of me? Do you think I’ll hurt my little brother or sister?”

Greg shook his head. “God, sweetie. No. What makes you think that?”

“You never leave me alone with them, and Julie won’t let me babysit.”

“We’ve told you why. Until you stop”—Greg tapped her forearm—“hurting yourself, and I know you’re not still cutting. I worry that something will trigger that need when you are with them. And you’re still smoking, something I won’t have in my house. I hate that you hurt yourself, and I wish I knew what to do to help you, but we need rules. Most of which, you laid out for yourself before moving in.”

“I know. But you’re not going to trust me no matter what I do.” Lilly pulled her sleeves down over her hands.

“I trust that you love your siblings. What I don’t trust is that you’re ready for the responsibility.”

“This will all take time. It’s only been a couple of weeks since we left the courtroom, and you left the facility,” Shannon said. “But if you stick with our plan, I think things will change.”

“What plan?” Greg asked.

“I told the doc I’d start writing in a journal when I felt the urge. Or I’d talk to you—which is what she prefers.” Lilly pointed toward Shannon.

“I prefer it, too,” Greg said. “I don’t judge you, sweetie. I just want it to stop.”

“That’s why I asked you here. I think it’s a good idea for your wife to come in, as well,” Shannon interjected.

Greg nodded. “I know Julie would be happy to. All we want is for Lilly to get better. For all of us to heal.” He wiped his face, his eyes filled with tears. “I should have known what was going on at her mother’s.”

“Greg. Don’t go down the should-have road. It won’t help you or your family. We need to focus on the positive