Conviction of the Heart by Alana Lorens Page B

go,” Suzanne said, feeling like she was leading the first assault at Normandy.
    The wait for the ex-parte order seemed endless. Suzanne wasn't worried about getting the order—Maddie's face alone showed the damage had been done. The hard part would be having the sheriff serve Mr. Civic-Minded Morgan and force him out of his house until a full hearing could take place sometime in the following ten days.
    The courthouse hall echoed with the sound of voices and footsteps, the coming and going of court personnel carrying files and running errands. Examining the papers one more time, Suzanne didn’t notice the man who stopped in front of them until he spoke.
    “Maddie? Is everything all right?”
    Suzanne glanced up at the gray-suited man, then at Maddie, who was frozen in her seat.
    “Can I help you?” Suzanne asked, annoyed by his casual stare at Maddie’s bruised face, even more dramatic under the unforgiving fluorescent lights.
    He turned to study Suzanne a moment, then dismissed her without a word. “Maddie, tell those kids I love them,” he said. “I'll be over to see them this weekend. I'll see all of you then.”
    As he walked away, Maddie's hand found Suzanne's and squeezed so tightly Suzanne gasped. “W—We should g—go,” Maddie said through chattering teeth. She stood up and Suzanne pulled her back down.
    “You need to stay here. You need this order. Don't let him scare you.” She watched the guy vanish into the crowded hallway. “Who is that?”
    “One of the guys who does Greg’s dirty work. He'll call Greg.”
    Suzanne forced her voice to be light, to downplay the blow this dealt to their case. How powerful was Morgan really? Could he manage a phone call to the judge before they could even see him? Would it matter? “Greg would have found out within a couple of hours anyway.” She patted Maddie’s hand and pried it gently off hers. Danger brewed on the horizon like a summer thunderstorm. “You’ll be okay, Maddie. I promise.”
    Judge Franken's secretary came out. “The judge will see you now.”
    Five minutes earlier , Suzanne thought. Three, maybe. And Maddie's secret would have been safe for a little while longer. Long enough to get her out of the courthouse and into a safe place. Damn it.
    Maddie told Judge Franken her story and, as expected, the judge signed a restraining order removing Gregory Morgan from the house, giving Maddie temporary custody of the children. Due to the broken arm, Greg was only allowed supervised visitation. Maddie was granted temporary support of fifteen hundred dollars per month.
    Suzanne took a copy of the order from the judge's chambers, along with the divorce complaint, already filed, and walked it to the sheriff's office for service of process. Under these circumstances, they agreed to put it in their day’s workload, but there was no guarantee they’d have them served by the end of the day.
    “Not good enough,” Suzanne snapped.
    The deputy behind the counter eyed her with patronizing ennui. “That’s the best you’ll get, ma’am. We don’t have guaranteed service for anyone here, I don’t care who they are.”
    “Particularly not when a city councilman’s involved, I expect.”
    Indignation made her voice louder than she’d intended, or else everyone simply stopped talking at the same moment. The words echoed for several seconds before the usual hubbub of the sheriff’s office resumed.
    “You want to speak to the supervisor, lady, I’ll call her.”
    “Never mind!”
    Suzanne snatched the papers from his hand and marched out, Maddie on her heels. Granted, the order was only a piece of paper. It wouldn’t deflect a fist—or a bullet. But it was what they had. Furious that the deputy couldn’t see the inherent menace in the situation, she scoured her mind for other options.
    One came to mind. Nick Sansone wanted to play white knight, didn’t he? So he could do his part in the rescue of Maddie Morgan.
    She pulled Maddie into a nearby