The smile on his face was relieved and genuine.

Caitlin began to feel better about the case.

"You don't know how glad I am that you decided to move up your wedding date."

Opening the judge's outer door, he ushered them all in before the

secretary.

"This puts an entire new spin on the case. It gives us a fighting chance."

As he closed the door behind him, Zach nodded at the judge's secretary.

The woman left the room to inform the judge that they had arrived. Jake had gotten lost in the shuffle of bodies, and pushed his way forward.

He looked up at his father, interpreting the strange man's words the only way he knew how.

"Fighting? Are you and Mom going to fight?"

If he tried hard, Jake could remember angry words and doors being slammed around him.

He wasn't sure who had done the slamming, only that he remembered feeling afraid.

He didn't want to feel that way again.

"It's just a phrase, honey," Caitlin assured the boy quickly, exchanging glances with the lawyer.

Zach gave Caitlin a flustered look.

He wasn't accustomed to talking around children or screening his words.

He addressed himself to Graham.

"We've drawn Judge Harrison," he began again.

"He's a traditionalist, so we may have our work cut out for us.

There's always appeal, of course.

I can have the ease tied up forCaitlin hadn't paid attention t -o the

nameplate when they'd walked into the room.

She made a point of looking at it now.

"William Henry Harrison," she read aloud.

Small world.

"Yes."

Zach looked at her.

"Do you know him!" he asked guardedly.

Depending on what capacity Graham's wife knew the judge in, the news

could be either good or bad.

Unless something terrible happened in the judge's chambers, they were

home free.

Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief as she grinned at Graham.

He raised a quizzical brow, waiting for an explanation.

"Yes, I know him."

She ruffled Jake's hair.

Everything was going to be fine.

"He and my father went to law school together. They initially clerked

at the same firm."

Zach reserved his enthusiasm.

"And did they get along?"

Her grin grew larger.

"My father got along with everyone."

Even my mother, she added silently.

"Wonderful!"

Zach clapped both hands over Caitlin's.

"See if you can nudge his memory a little," he urged.

"Maybe mention your father..."

That wasn't going to be necessary.

"I won't. have to. The judge has a photographic memory."

"Yes, I know."

He said it in the voice of someone who'd had firsthand experience with

the judge's powers of recall.

She gathered by Zach's expression that he didn't much care for the judge.

For once she was grateful for her family connections.

Caitlin looked at Graham and wondered why he looked so solemn.

But then, he'd never been one to count on things going well.

The secretary returned and left the door behind her standing open.

"The judge will see you now."

She gestured toward Harrison's chambers.

Zach led the way in.

As Jake followed next to his father, the judge's secretary placed a

gentle hand on his shoulder, restraining him.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to stay out here with me for a while."

Jake pulled away from her and hid behind his father.

"Dad?"

It broke his heart to see Jake like this, afraid, the object of a

tug-of war every time he turned around.

Graham gave his son a reassuring look and made no move to return him to the secretary. "I thought the judge wanted to see all of us-as a family," Graham emphasized.

The secretary looked at a loss for a reply.

"It's the boy's future. Shouldn't he be included in the discussion?"

Without waiting for an answer, Graham took Jake's hand and ushered him

into the judge's chambers.