Page 29 of Queenslander
“Definitely not you. Stay out of it,” Reg said. “She wants to be more independent. I can’t always swoop in and rescue her.”
Nev stood up and put her hat back on. No one had ever swooped in and rescued Ron. That was the problem.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “And don’t do something stupid. This isn’t time for heroics.”
She frowned. It never was, was it? She glared at him. “I thought you changed.”
“What does that mean?”
He knew bloody well. She tipped the brim of her Akubra. “Enjoy the rest of your arvo.”
When she was out the door and halfway down the hallway, Reg called her back. He leaned forward on his elbows at his desk. “Shut the door.”
She did.
He held his forearms. “How do you think custody is split?”
Nev raised her eyebrows. “Maude majority, Ron partial?”
Reg shook his head. “Did she tell you she has partial?”
“I know she does.”
Reg sighed. “She gave Rainbow up for a closed adoption. She doesn’t even have visitation rights. No contact. Maude was a caregiver when Rainbow was with her nan, then became foster parent and later adopted her. There’s no way to undo an adoption unless they file a joint petition together. We’ve all researched it. Maude would have to consent to share custody with her. Maude lets her have every other weekend because Brum pays pretend child support and she’s a free babysitter, but there’s no paper trail. Maude doesn’t have to let her see Rainbow. She could cut us off at any time and move away, not tell us where she went.”
Nev swallowed. “Right.” The idea of the Madonnas losing Gumball turned her stomach. “Why didn’t you and Blaise take the baby?”
“We tried. I’m not on Brum’s birth certificate and Matilda-Jane never married me?—”
Nev couldn’t help but roll her eyes.Does this man think he’s Ron’s biological father? If so, god bless…
“So I couldn’t talk to her for two years when she was in that place, you know. I waved to her from the car park. You don’tknow how much you love someone until you can’t see them. They arrested me for trespassing, it was a whole deal—that place is a bloody nightmare. I’m shocked no one’s burnt it down yet. After she got out, I adopted her, but it was too late. Rainbow was in the system. I did what I could. You know, she’s not the brightest bulb in the box, and without someone advocating for her…” He popped his knuckles.
The nuclear family was a scam. “We need to get Maude to sign papers.”
“Brum does. She should have asked Maude to let her have some parental rights back years ago.”
Ron must be terrified to lose every other weekend with Gumball. Nev would be in a constant state of anxiety if she was her. The situation was worse than she thought. How had Ron been functioning all these years?
“I wish she had told me.”
“What could you have done?”
Nothing.
Reg made her a cup of tea in the firehouse kitchen. He should have gone into politics. He handed her a chipped mug with a fire department logo on the side. Nev cleared her throat. “Who moved her truck this morning?”
He shook his head. “Not me. I assumed you did.”
“You know what they say about assumptions.” Nev blew on the Earl Grey.
Reg also drank his tea without milk, but his was basic black tea that came in a big box. “Are you two dating yet?”
Nev snorted. “No.”
Reg opened a bag of biscuits, offered her one which she refused, then dipped it in his tea and ate it. “What has she told you about the bloke who knocked her up when she was fifteen?”
Caught off guard, Nev uncrossed her legs. “Nothing. Why?”
