“You don’t get to demand anything here,” I said, my voice echoing off the snowbanks.

Robert stepped forward, puffing out his chest. “Listen to me, you little punk. We have a lawyer ready to draft a grandparents’-rights petition by tomorrow morning.

You’re isolating Margaret. You’re unstable. We can make your life a living hell.”

I didn’t look at Rob. I looked directly at my mother, shivering in her expensive coat.

“Mom,” I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous calm. “Did you really come here to see Lily? Or did Vanessa tell you that if you brought Rob along to threaten me, I’d panic and write a check to save his clinic?”

Vanessa flinched. The color drained from her perfectly contoured face.