He didn’t care. Not anymore! His only goal was to keep Chloe away from her. He had to protect his daughter!
Mark Stenson stepped into the judge’s office and looked around. The judge’s assistant wasn’t at her desk and the door to the judge’s chambers was open. So instead of waiting for permission, he simply walked into the office.
“Your Honor?” he asked.
The judge was pulling on his black robes and spun around at Mark’s query. “I’m sorry, but I have court. I can’t talk right now.”
Mark smiled and bowed his head slightly, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I know, Your Honor. I just...would you look at this picture?” and he showed one where he and Chloe were laughing while making cookies one afternoon. “This little girl…” Mark began. “She’s happy now, Your Honor. When I first met her, she was silent, sitting as still as possible.” The judge looked stunned by the adorable face. Chloe was pretty, but more than that, she was sweet and innocent, her exuberance glowing from the photo. “She used to count carbohydrate and calories.” At the judge’s shocked expression, Mark nodded. “That’s right. She’s five years old and her mother had already taught her to count calories and carbs, telling her that women can’t get fat or they are useless to the world.”
The judge pulled back, horrified. Then he shook his head. “This is inappropriate,” he told Mark. “You can’t be in here. This all needs to be…”
Mark ignored the judge’s comment and continued, showing the judge a different picture, this one of Chloe peeking out from behind a hand of cards, looking mischievous. “She giggles now. Her father is so good to her. And my Deni, that’s her stepmother, loves her like she were her own child. Chloe calls me ‘Gramps’. She smiles and laughs, I’ve taught her to dance and her father teaches her numbers by playing dominoes and Go Fish with her. The child didn’t even know how to play games before she lived with her father. Please, don’t send her back to that evil woman!”
The judge sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I can’t discuss this further,” he insisted and turned, buttoning the black robe. He rested his hand on the door to the courtroom. “I’m truly sorry. But the law…I have to follow the law.”
Mark’s shoulders sagged and he looked at the man, defeated. “I had to try, Your Honor.”
The judge paused, then pushed through, disappearing.
“All rise!” the bailiff called out.
Everyone in the courtroom stood up as the judge swept into the room. “Be seated,” the judge said, not bothering to look up. He seated himself, and sorted through the papers in front of him while the bailiff read the issue in front of the court.
Deni sat in the back of the courtroom, trembling as she watched. Her father had discovered that the hearing was today and she should have stayed away, but this was Chloe’s future. It was her life! Okay, not literally. But Chloe’s personality would die a slow, painful death if she was forced back into Meredith’s home.
The judge sighed and looked briefly out at the courtroom. “So we’re back again in court to determine which parent should have custody of Chloe Hughes,” the judge commented, then straightened his glasses as he looked up, surveying the crowd. “Seems we’ve been here before, haven’t we?”
Deni watched as Meredith preened, trying to get the judge’s attention. Thankfully, this judge was a bit more discerning and he kept his focus on the lawyers as both stood.
“Your Honor,” Meredith’s lawyer began, “the court awarded custody to Mr. Sebastian Hughes during the last court appearance simply because the court decided that his recent marriage would provide a more stable environment for the child. But…”
The judge interrupted, “I thought the court awarded custody because the mother couldn’t be bothered to show up to fight for custody of her daughter. Wasn’t she in Paris shopping?”
The lawyer hesitated. “Ms. Hughes was in Paris bringing back the French culture, Your Honor. Since the court stipulated that Chloe Hughes was not allowed to leave the country.”
“Culture?” the judge snorted. “Is that what she’s calling it these days?”
Deni almost laughed, but that wouldn’t be appropriate. Her father stepped through the doors of the courtroom, startling her. He slipped into the row and sat down next to her, looking grim and frustrated.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered, glancing at her father, then up at Sebastian, worried that he would see her here and order her to get out.
“My granddaughter is in jeopardy,” he whispered right back. “I had to do something!”
Deni’s heart swelled with love. “That’s so sweet of you, Dad,” she hugged him briefly.
“I’m not giving up.”
She took his hand, squeezing his fingers. “Neither am I,” she whispered back.
The judge listened for several moments. “Your Honor, Mr. Hughes married under false pretenses,” her attorney argued. “It was a sham marriage. I have an affidavit here that certifies that the couple wasn’t even sleeping in the same bedroom.”
The judge rolled his eyes and lifted a dismissive hand. “You understand that I’m not overly impressed with that argument, right?”
“But, Your Honor…!”
“Shut up, Joe,” the judge snapped. “About half of the married couples in this country sleep in separate bedrooms. Even my own wife sleeps in a different room because I snore like a hibernating bear. Are you going to tell me that the woman I’ve been married to for the past thirty years isn’t a true wife to me?”
The attorney stopped, stumped until Meredith hissed something at him.
The judge was having none of it. He lifted his hand, stopping the next argument. “Right. So, the issue here is who is the better parent. Who is going to give the child a better, more stable, and healthy home life, right?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” Meredith’s attorney agreed. “And my client…”
“Stop, Joe.” He looked at Meredith. There was a long pause and Deni watched with confusion as the judge looked at Deni’s father, then down at his papers. The silence in the courtroom was intense. When the judge finally looked up, he stared straight at Meredith. “Ms. Hughes, do you have pictures of your daughter on your phone?”
Deni was startled by the question, not sure where the judge was going with it, but she felt her father’s fingers tighten around her hand.
The room turned to the beautiful woman who looked shocked and confused. But she rallied quickly, pulling up a smile. “Of course, Your Honor. My daughter is beautiful. I have many pictures of her on my phone.”
The judge didn’t look impressed. “Show them to me.”
Meredith blinked, but then leaned down and pulled her phone out of her purse. She flipped to the gallery of her pictures and pulled up an image, then handed the phone to the bailiff. “You see? She’s a perfect angel,” Meredith preened.
The judge looked down at the picture, lifting his glasses to see better. He flipped through the other pictures. “There are only these posed pictures, and you only have three of them.” He handed the phone back to the bailiff who brought the phone back to Meredith.
“Well, when you have a perfect daughter, one doesn’t need a slew of pictures, Your Honor,” she replied, laughing as if she’d said something hilarious. No one joined in.
The judge turned to Sebastian and Deni sat forward, understanding where this was going. “Mr. Hughes, do you have any pictures of your daughter on your phone?”
Sebastian already had his phone out and pictures of Chloe’s laughing image could be seen even back here in the gallery.
The bailiff brought the phone to the judge who flipped through several pictures, smiling at some of the images. “Where did you go camping?” he asked.
Sebastian stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. “A small campsite in the Shenandoah Park, Your Honor.”
He chuckled at something else. “How long did it take you to get the marshmallow goo off her face? S’mores?”
Sebastian smiled slightly and nod
ded. “Longer than I’d expected.”
The judge laughed and nodded. Then his eyebrows shot up. “How many dog ear filters did you apply to these?” he asked.
Deni watched, fascinated as Sebastian nodded again, cringing slightly. “Uh, Chloe did that one night when we were playing Go Fish. Every time she got the numbers right, she got to take another picture and play with the filters. She uh…she likes the dog filter the best.”
The judge nodded. “My granddaughters prefer the tiara filter,” he commented and handed the phone back to the bailiff who brought it to Sebastian.
“Is your current wife here in the courtroom?” he asked, looking out at the others.
Sebastian was about to shake his head when Deni interrupted, standing up. “I’m here, Your Honor!”
The judge pulled his glasses down, looking at her from a distance. “Ms. Hughes, do you have pictures of Chloe on your phone as well?”
Deni ignored Sebastian’s startled glance, pulling her phone out of her purse and moving forward, unlocking the device and pulling up the pictures. “Pictures and videos, Your Honor.” The bailiff brought the phone to the judge and Deni resisted looking at Sebastian. This was all for Chloe, she reminded herself. Sebastian could…well, she had no idea what he could do, but she had to save Chloe.
The judge chuckled as he flipped through the pictures on Deni’s phone. “Looks like she beats you at the hardwood floor sliding contest every time,” he said.
Deni smiled, brightening at the memories of their silly game. “She’s lower to the floor, Your Honor. And fearless. But I have some fuzzy socks that might give me an advantage for the next challenge.”
The judge handed her phone back, then sighed. “Meredith Hughes, it appears that you prefer the pristine images of your daughter taken by a professional photographer rather than the reality of a small child.”
Meredith’s mouth opened and closed. She looked at Deni, then at the judge. “Your Honor,” she rallied. “I don’t believe that children should be indulged in such an atrocious manner. Discipline is what is needed in this day and age.”
The judge nodded. “I agree.”
Sebastian’s attorney stood up. “Your Honor…”
“Never mind,” the judge interrupted. “I’ve read the reports from the social workers, the psychologists and the nannies who have been hired to care for the child. Meredith Hughes, I’d like to point out that three nannies for one child should not be necessary. I’m awarding custody once again to Mr. Hughes. He seems to have the child’s best interests in mind. And the child is smiling and laughing in his pictures.” He glared at Meredith who was glaring back at him. “Seems that your idea of parenting is abandoning your child to the mercies of servants.” And with that, he slammed the gavel down, ending the judgment.
Deni was only vaguely aware of Meredith standing up and hissing something furiously at her attorney. Most of her attention was focused on Sebastian. As soon as the gavel had slammed down on the case, Sebastian stood up and turned to look at her.
But Sebastian had kicked her out of his house. Out of his life.
So instead of waiting for him to speak to her, Deni turned and walked out, heading to her car.
“Deni!” he called, but Deni didn’t stop. Pushing her way through the exit doors, she hitched her purse higher onto her shoulder and kept walking, sliding her sunglasses onto her nose as the bright sunshine hit her.
“Deni!” he called again, this time running down the stairs of the courthouse and stepping in front of her. “Didn’t you hear me?”
Deni stopped and looked up at him. For a long moment, she didn’t speak. But finally, she stepped around him. “I heard you, Sebastian.”
“Why didn’t you stop?”
She started walking towards her car again. “I heard you tell me to get out of your house, Sebastian. I heard you accuse me of giving information to your ex-wife.” She hurried her steps. “I heard you accuse me of selling information to your competitors.” She pulled her keys out of her purse and clicked the button that would unlock the car. Her fingers rested on the door handle. “I heard you, Sebastian. And I listened. Goodbye.”
“But…why?” he asked, bewildered.
Deni knew what he was asking and blinked rapidly so he wouldn’t see her tears. “Because that woman is horrible. I wasn’t here for you, Sebastian. I was here for Chloe.” And with that, she pulled open her car door and slipped inside. With relief, the engine turned over and she backed out of the parking spot. Driving out of the courthouse parking lot was difficult, but she made it. As soon as she could though, she pulled over and wiped angrily at the tears.
“No more!” she snapped at herself. “He doesn’t deserve me!” But no matter how many time she told herself that, it didn’t feel true.
She drove back to work that afternoon but she’d lost all concentration. Her relief that Chloe wouldn’t be going back to Meredith’s home was huge, but Sebastian…he looked haggard. Was he eating well? He clearly wasn’t sleeping, she thought. And the rumors around the office were that he was snapping at everyone. The staff were afraid to go up to the executive floor, for fear of running into him and getting yelled at.
Rubbing her forehead, she tried to concentrate, but it was pointless. At five o’clock, she gave up and shut down her computer. Grabbing her purse, she walked out of her office and headed back to her apartment.
But as soon as she stepped off the elevator, she groaned. Because Carly, Jessa, and Charlotte were standing in front of her apartment door, waiting for her.
Carly was the first to notice her. “You look awful and you’ve been avoiding us for several weeks now.” She lifted her hands, showing she held a bottle of tequila in one hand and a bottle of margarita mix in the other. “We’re going to get you drunk and find out what’s going on.”
Deni laughed, shaking her head at her friends. “You know, I think that getting drunk is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time,” she replied, then moved over to her door and unlocked it. The four of them crowded into her apartment and she laughed. It was big enough for her needs, but fill it with more than two people and Deni realized just how small her apartment really was.
“I’m ordering pizza,” Charlotte declared, already pressing the buttons on the pizza website and adding ingredients to their order. “You’ve lost too much weight.” She looked up at Carly and Jessa. “I told you we should have come over sooner.”
Jessa was grabbing glasses from the cabinet while Carly filled the blender with ice, adding in some margarita mix and an equal amount of tequila.
“Yeah, I’m with you now,” Carly replied. “But she kept e-mailing us, telling us that she was fine.”
Charlotte nodded at the order. “Three extra-large pizzas with extra cheese, pepperoni, and sausage will be here in about twenty minutes.” She then turned to Deni. “So what’s his name and what did he do?” she asked, taking one of the drinks that Carly was pouring and handing it to Deni.
Deni smiled, but the tears still threatened. “Why do you think something is wrong?” she asked, hiding her face as much as possible by taking a long sip of her drink.
“Because you’re usually an annoyingly vibrant, positive, happy person,” Carly announced.
Jessa nodded. “And now you’re…not.”
Deni cringed. “Jeez. Thanks.”
Jessa smiled gently. “You know what we mean.”
Charlotte leaned forward. “Tell us what we need to know,” she growled threateningly, “so we can get Oz to castrate the man.”
Deni had just taken another sip of her margarita and almost choked on the drink. “Charlotte!” she gasped, laughing because she knew that the beautiful, blond therapist was just kidding.
“Yeah, I know. But it’s a nice thought, isn’t it?”
Deni pictured Sebastian like…that…then shuddered. “No! That sounds horrible!”
All three women looked at Deni with curiosity. “So, what’s his name?” Carly asked again.
“Se
bastian Hughes,” she announced, then looked at the stunned expressions of her friends and nodded. “I know. I fell in love with the owner of my company. How stupid was that?” she sighed, leaning back against the cushions of her sofa and closed her eyes, balancing her margarita on her stomach.
Her friends stared, their expressions showing various stages of shock and horror.
Charlotte, who was used to being shocked because of what her patients told her during their therapy sessions, was the first to recover. “The Sebastian Hughes?” she choked.
Deni opened one eye. “Is there another Sebastian Hughes that works for my company?”
Carly shook her head, stunned. “Tall guy? Dark hair? Icy demeanor?”
Jessa laughed, covering her mouth with her hand quickly. “Talk about opposites attracting,” she muttered.
“Really!” Charlotte agreed.
Carly shook her head. “Sebastian Hughes? You had an affair with Sebastian Hughes?” she demanded. But before Deni could answer, she continued, “I thought he married some…!”
There was a long silence as the puzzle pieces fell into place. Deni waited, watching with an almost amused expression as her friends slowly put it together.
“You’re married to Sebastian?” Carly finally whispered.
Deni nodded.
“But…?” Jessa stammered.
Carly filled in the blanks. “How? Why? Why didn’t you tell us?”
Deni leaned forward, taking another sip of her margarita before setting the glass onto the coffee table. It was time to tell them everything. “I suspect that you ladies all know Sebastian?”
“He’s a good friend,” Carly clarified. “He’s part of the group of guys that plays poker every month or two.”
Deni knew about the poker nights. She and her friends were teaching themselves to play poker as well, not wanting to be left out of the fun.
“Right,” she sighed. “Okay, so you all know Sebastian and I…” she closed her eyes for a moment. “Let me back up a bit. You know that my mother passed away, right?”
Wanted: Wife for Hire (The Diamond Club Book 8) Page 21