Ashes and Embers

Eloise

The email came at 7:03 a.m.

I was at the kitchen counter, the kettle just starting to boil, Max was still asleep down the hall, everywhere quiet, the way I liked it before the day began. 

But that email shattered the peace.

Subject: Custody Petition, Lucian True.

My hands went cold. The mug slipped from my fingers, clattering to the floor, but I didn’t even hear it. My pulse roared in my ears as I read the first lines, then again, as if the words might change.

Lucian was filing for shared custody.

Shared custody!

The man who hadn’t done the least like send a birthday...