“Luther kept pictures.”
Frank touched the edge of the page.
“That fool kept everything.”
Sky smiled.
“So do I.”
The hearing approached.
Not the final guardianship hearing.
An emergency placement review.
Martha prepared everyone.
“You do not wear club colors to court.”
Gregory frowned.
“It’s who we are.”
“It is also exactly what the prior evaluator focused on.”
Terry said:
“She’s right.”
Gregory looked betrayed.
Martha continued.
“You can be yourselves without turning the courtroom into a symbolic confrontation.”
Jimmy raised a hand.
“Can I wear black?”
Martha stared.
“You’re forty-seven.”
“Just checking.”
Sky had appointed youth counsel by then, attorney Danielle Reeves.
Danielle met her twice before the hearing.
She asked Sky what she wanted independently of Gregory, Lucy, and the club.
Sky said:
“I want Gregory to be my guardian.”
“Why?”
“He knew Luther.”
“That’s not enough.”
Sky frowned.
Danielle waited.
Sky thought longer.
“He doesn’t make promises fast.”
“Explain.”
“When I asked if I could stay, he didn’t say forever.”
“What did he say?”
“He said we would figure it out.”
Danielle wrote that down.
“Anything else?”
“He listens when Lucy tells him he’s wrong.”
Danielle smiled.
“That may be the strongest evidence so far.”
Sky continued.
“He doesn’t touch my stuff without asking.”
“He takes me to school meetings.”
“He made Jimmy lock the paint solvents.”
“He says I can paint but I have to pass algebra.”
Danielle looked up.
“Do you?”
“Pass algebra?”
“Yes.”
“Currently?”
Sky looked offended.
“That feels unrelated.”
Danielle smiled.
“It is very related to whether Gregory provides structure.”
Sky sighed.
“C-plus.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Passing.”
“I hate this process.”
“Reasonable.”
The hearing took place in a small county courtroom on a rainy Monday morning.
No dramatic crowd.
No news cameras.
No lines of motorcycles surrounding the courthouse.
Martha had specifically forbidden that.
“If fifty motorcycles arrive, I will resign in the parking lot.”
Only Gregory, Lucy, Terry, Dana Ruiz, Sky, Danielle Reeves, and agency counsel attended.
Jimmy wanted to come.
Sky asked him to stay at the garage and work on the mural.
“Why?”
“Because I want something finished when I come back.”
He understood.
The state’s position was cautious.
Sky had absconded from placement.
The agency had obligations.
Briar County House remained a licensed facility.
Allegations against Mark Deller were under review.
No finding yet established systemic abuse.
The agency did not want to simply transfer custody to an older man associated with a motorcycle club because of sentiment and a deceased brother.
That was not villainy.
That was responsibility.
Martha acknowledged it.
Then she presented the other side.
Luther’s prior custody petition showed a longstanding family bond.
Gregory had known Sky since infancy, though contact became limited after Luther’s death.
Lucy was documented as part of Luther’s proposed support network.
Gregory’s home had passed preliminary inspection.
Background screening showed no disqualifying history.
The club itself would have no guardianship authority.
Gregory would.
Lucy would be designated as support and respite caregiver subject to agency approval.
School enrollment had already been arranged.
Medical records had been requested.
Counsel was in place.
A safety plan existed.
Most importantly, Sky’s preference was clear.
The judge, Margaret Hale, listened more than she spoke.
She asked Gregory:
“Mr. Moss, why do you want guardianship?”
Gregory had rehearsed answers.
Martha told him not to.
So he answered honestly.