My 6-year-old granddaughter phoned me in panic just after midnight. “Mommy says the baby is coming! Help!” I asked, “Where’s daddy?” She answered, “He k!cked mommy’s tummy and left.”…..

Papa, what did mommy mean when she said she wants daddy gone? Harry considered his words carefully. Sometimes people do things so bad that they can’t be around the family anymore. Your daddy hurt your mommy and the baby, so he can’t live with you anymore. Good, Lydia said with six-year-old certainty. I don’t want him to hurt mommy again. He won’t. Harry promised.

I’m going to make sure of that. The Montana Sunrise painted the hospital parking lot in shades of gold and orange as Harry strapped Lydia into his truck. He had phone calls to make, people to see, and plans to set in motion. But first, he needed to get Lydia somewhere safe and figure out exactly how deep Trent Huxley’s connections ran because Harry Kane didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep, and he just promised his granddaughter that her father would never hurt her mother again.

Harry dropped Lydia off at his neighbor’s house 3 hours after leaving the hospital. Martha Kellerman was 72, widowed, and had raised six children of her own. She took one look at Harry’s face and asked no questions, just wrapped Lydia in a fierce hug, and promised to spoil her with pancakes and cartoons until he got back.