Chapter 2: The Years Between
The years between the day their mother left and the custody hearing had been a relentless grind for Matthew.
He worked three jobs at once while finishing his GED. The warehouse job started at 4 a.m., the car wash during the day, and a night shift stocking shelves at a grocery store. He slept four hours a night on a thin mattress on the floor of a studio apartment he could barely afford. Every paycheck went into the coffee tin under his bed, labeled with Sammy’s name in black marker.
He visited Sammy at every allowed supervised meeting, bringing small gifts he couldn’t afford— a new pair of shoes, a book Sammy had mentioned, a stuffed dinosaur that reminded him of the one Sammy had lost in one of the foster moves. The caseworkers liked Matthew. They saw the exhaustion in his eyes and the determination in his voice when he promised to bring Sammy home.
But the system was slow and skeptical. A teenage boy with no family support, no college degree, and no stable income was not considered a suitable guardian. Each denial felt like another door slammed in their faces.
Matthew never told Sammy about the rejections. He always smiled and said, “Soon, buddy. I promise.”
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The promise kept him going through the coldest winters when the heat in his apartment didn’t work and through the loneliest nights when he wondered if he was fooling himself.
Now, in the courtroom, that promise was about to be tested one last time.
