by Untamed
Before I entered the building, I called Aldris one last time and again got his voicemail.
“This is Aldris. Leave me a message,” his recorded voice said.
“Aldris, I really hope Jessica is feeling better and that nothing has happened to her. At any rate, it’s three fifty, and the case starts at four o’clock. I’m at the courthouse, and I hope you’re either here or on your way. I really needed for you to be here with me today. I won’t be able to hear your return call because I have to turn my cell phone off, but if you’re on your way, I’ll see you in a bit. I love you,” I said and hung up.
“Hello, Lucinda,” Attorney Cheatham greeted me as I came through the door.
“Hello, Attorney Cheatham,” I said as we shook hands.
“I thought Aldris was coming as well.”
“Umm, his daughter is sick—”
“His daughter?” he asked in shock as he cut me off.
I’d forgotten this was news for everyone. Nodding, I answered, “Yes, he just found out he has a daughter with his ex-girlfriend. It’s a long story.”
He fanned in the air. “No need to explain to me. I just wasn’t aware that he also had a child. Oh, well. We will be fine. This is just a formality. I’m sure your support will not be reduced that much. From what I hear, the young lady who was with Mr. Garcia the last time received a minimal amount of support. Judge Cutliff wasn’t as understanding for her story, since she was lying under oath the last time around,” he joked.
I let out a nervous laugh.
“So, tell me, nothing has changed with you, correct?” he asked.
“With me, nothing has changed that we haven’t already discussed. I’m still making the same pay, and so is Aldris. We’re not married yet. Oh, but Aldris does have to pay child support and has to take out life insurance for his daughter, so his pay has been reduced,” I told my attorney.
“Wow, I really wish Aldris were here. I could’ve used that proof, since you reside together. It would’ve truly been beneficial.”
I sighed in frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I were,” he said. “But no worries. We still have the judge on our side with this one,” he reassured me as we prepared to go into the courtroom.
Right at that moment, I could’ve choked Aldris. He knew I needed him today. Now, to hear that his information could have been beneficial to my case ensured that I was pissed all over again.
“Where’s Mr. Fantastic?” Raul said to me when I sat down on my side. Maria and he looked at each other as they laughed at his dumb-ass attempt to be funny.
“You know what? You just sit there and figure out how you’re going to take care of all these daggone babies you keep making. You’re so pathetic,” I said angrily.
“Oooouch. There must be trouble in Paradise.” Raul chuckled. “What happened? Did the great black Adonis turn out to be nothing but Captain Save-a-Ho?”
“No, Captain Save-a-Ho is your ass. Sitting up there looking like a broke-down Ricky Martin. You may as well fuck men. You’ve fucked over enough women,” I fumed as I stood up, ready to plow into his ass before my attorney sat me down.
“Don’t feed into that. And you, sir, please refrain from speaking to my client,” Attorney Cheatham said, standing in front of me.
The bailiff walked over. “Is there a problem?”
“No. I’ve got it under control,” Attorney Cheatham said. “Just tell the plaintiff to refrain from addressing my client.”
The bailiff looked over at Raul. “Sir—”
Raul put up his hand. “I won’t say another word. I promise.”
The bailiff nodded and walked off.
Once the judge walked in and everybody was sworn in, he looked up and laughed. “So, Mr. Garcia, we’re back again. Son, how many baby mamas do you have?”
“Four, Your Honor,” Raul answered as if that were something to be proud of. He was so ignorant. Let me rephrase that—ig’nit.
The judge shook his head. “That wasn’t a question I really needed answered, but I’m curious about something else. You’re working at Jiffy Lube with no intent to further your education—from your last testimony at your previous child support case—so how do you plan on taking care of the five children you have on that salary?”
“I’ll make it work, Your Honor.”
“You’ll make it work,” the judge repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. “So, I presume this reduction is in light of the new findings of established paternity for Emilio—”
“Excuse me, Your Honor. His new name is Raul Jr,” Maria cut in.
“Wait a minute. You named your son after another man and now have changed his name after Mr. Garcia?”
Maria nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Yes, Judge Cutliff, the man who was presumably the father is actually Ms. Roja’s father,” Attorney Cheatham said.
The judge shook his head. “Wait a second,” he said, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. “Let me get this straight. Ms. Rojas’ father was married to Ms.—”
“It’s Mrs. Rojas until my divorce is complete, and then it will be Ms. Cunningham, and soon after that, Mrs. Garcia,” Maria gloated, smiling at Raul.
“Oh dear God,” the judge said. “I’ll say Ms. Cunningham to keep me less confused. So, Ms. Cunningham was married to Ms. Rojas’ father. However, Mr. Garcia and Ms. Cunningham have a relationship that produced minors, Rosemary Rojas and Emilio Rojas Jr., whose names are now Rosemary Garcia and Raul Garcia Jr., and Mr. Garcia and Ms. Rojas also were once in a relationship, which produced minor child, Nadia Garcia.”
“Yes,” everyone said in unison.
“Trust me, Your Honor, Ms. Rojas knew nothing of this relationship and subsequent affair that her daughter’s father and her ex-stepmother were having,” my attorney said.
“Apparently, neither did Mr. Rojas,” the judge quipped smartly. “Let’s get this over with. I’m getting a headache.”
“Judge, may I speak?” Raul asked.
“Go ahead,” the judge allowed.
“Ms. Rojas makes significantly more than I do. I don’t even make twenty grand a year compared to her nearly forty,” Raul said. “Yes, I know she’s enrolled in technical college, but she’s also engaged, and my daughter and her live with her fiancé, who also makes about twice as much as she does,” Raul said. “I can prove that she lives with him. I’ve submitted her attorney’s letter about the change of address, notifying me formally where she was staying and with whom,” he said as the bailiff retrieved his letter and took it to the judge.
The judge read it and smiled at me. I knew what the smile was for. Aldris was his cousin. “Ms. Rojas, are you still residing with Mr. Aldris Sharper?”
“Yes, Your Honor. He’s my fiancé,” I said, even though Judge Cutliff already knew this information.
My attorney stood. “Your Honor, but we have no proof of Mr. Sharper’s income. Also, Mr. Sharper has a daughter for whom he must provide support and life insurance.”
“I hope I’m not in court with you again, Mr. Garcia, claiming that her fiancé’s child is also your daughter,” the judge quipped.
“No, Your Honor, I knew nothing of this mystery child,” Raul said tensely, then blurted, “Ms. Rojas took her out of daycare, Your Honor.”
“Yes, Your Honor, she has. Ms. Rojas’ current work hours make her available to take and pick up her daughter from school without the use of daycare services,” my attorney added.
“Counsel, approach the bench, please.”
I looked over at Raul and Maria, who were gloating at me. I could’ve knocked that smirk right off his face. I felt it. I knew this was not going the way my first case was.
With the judge finding out all these new positive things, it was sure to hurt my case significantly, and now I didn’t even have Aldris there to help out my defense by providing proof of his child support order. I knew this day was not going to go well, and it had all started with Aldris’ absence.
; My attorney walked over to me and leaned toward me. “The judge is concerned. He doesn’t want to reduce Raul’s payments, but he also has to abide by the law. He just chewed my ass for not having Aldris’ pay stubs and child support records. He’s going to do what he can, but I’m afraid Raul has the upper hand this time, Lucinda. I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to review this for a moment. Let’s take a ten-minute recess,” the judge said, banging the gavel and walked to his chambers.
We walked out of the courtroom, and then I went outside to call Aldris.
“Hey, Lucinda,” Aldris answered.
“Where the fuck are you?” I said as soon as he answered.
“Just leaving the ER. Jessica’s temperature wouldn’t break, so I took her. I forgot to call you before we left, and you know I can’t use my cell phone in the hospital,” he explained. “What’s going on?”
“I’m about to get my payments reduced because of your absence.”
“I’m sorry, but what do I have to do with your child support?”
“We live together, Aldris. Raul brought the letter about the change of address to court. I had to admit that we live together and are engaged, and I had to submit our bills, which all have your name and not mine. The only good thing is I don’t have proof of your income, but in a way, that hurts me because I also can’t bring up the fact that you have child support of your own. With Nadia not being in daycare and me not having proof of bills that I have to pay, Raul could walk away from here paying little to nothing,” I explained.
“Damn. I’m sorry, baby. I would’ve just left Jennifer at the hospital with Jessica if I’d known all of this.”
“Wait a minute. Jennifer was at the hospital?”
He got quiet before he spoke again. “Yes, when I called her, she got off her job and came right over.”
“So, you stood me up when you could’ve left, and you still didn’t go outside to give me a courtesy call?” I asked, getting mad as hell.
“Don’t say it like that. It wasn’t like that. I was concerned for my daughter.”
“Yeah, and not concerned about me.”
“Are you asking me to choose sides, Lucinda?” he asked defensively. “Are you really telling me to choose between my sick daughter and your court hearing?”
“No, what I’m saying to you is that common courtesy, support, and respect for my feelings obviously comes second to your daughter.”
“No, it doesn’t. I’ve told you—”
“Jennifer was there to help watch her. You had another adult there with you. Nothing stopped you from calling me or being concerned except you.”
“Lucinda, in hindsight—”
“You know, I’m so sick of your fucking hindsight. I need you to use your damn foresight. I don’t have time for this. They’re calling me back into the court.” I hung up in his face.
Once inside, the judge took a deep breath and looked at me. “Ms. Rojas, let me first say that I am so proud to see you making something of yourself. Of all of Mr. Garcia’s baby mamas, you are by far the only one with a good, sensible background who is trying to contribute to society instead adding to its diminishment. I feel sorry for your father and you for getting trapped in the web that Mr. Garcia has spun. I want you to continue to better yourself and to continue being the upstanding parent that Nadia needs in her life. It both sickens me and saddens me to have to do this, but unfortunately, by state law, I must reduce your payments.”
“Yes,” Raul and Maria cheered.
The sudden outburst caused the judge to bang his gavel. “That is enough out of you two. Shut up before I throw you both in jail for contempt,” he yelled, pointing at Raul. “You know I can’t do anything about this foolishness you have going on, and that absolutely sickens me. I despise you, Mr. Garcia. You are making a mockery of every good father who is honestly being taken through the wringer because of pure vengeance. Here, Ms. Rojas is only trying to better herself to take care of a child that you care absolutely nothing about, and you are excited because you’re getting child support reduced for a child you helped create. I can’t make you go out and find another job, but I swear I wish I could work you until your fingers bled to make you pull your weight for these children.
“Despite my personal feelings, the law is the law, in which we all must abide, even me,” he concluded, taking a deep breath. “In light of the findings, I’m ordering Mr. Garcia’s payments be reduced from three hundred fifty dollars a month to one hundred dollars a month.”
“What?” I asked in shock.
“Your Honor—” my attorney protested.
“Attorney Cheatham, this is the best I could do. However, I will do this—I am putting this case up for review in six months. I expect to see Mr. Sharper here with all of your combined expenses.”
“Yes, Your Honor.” I nodded.
“That’s not fair,” Raul blurted.
“Did you say something, Mr. Garcia? Please say you did because my contempt order will be signed faster than these reduction papers.”
“No, Your Honor.” Raul sulked.
The judge shook his head at Raul and then looked at me. “Good luck to you, Ms. Rojas, and please return in six months with all of your information,” he stated, and then he looked at Raul. “Mr. Garcia, you’ve got your payments reduced, but I challenge you to stand up as a real man and do what’s best for all of your children. I want you to know this is not grounds to try to pull your little unemployment stunt again. You must maintain employment, and I suggest finding another job to contribute properly to the well-being of all your kids. If there is nothing else, this case stands adjourned.” The judge banged his gavel. “Oh, and Ms. Rojas, congratulations on your pending nuptials.”
“Thank you,” I said, then we all exited the courtroom.
“Where’s my mother at now?” Raul said smartly to me as we left the courtroom.
“If you’d call her sometimes you might know.”
“Fuck you and her,” he barked, grabbing Maria’s hand as they left.
A dog and a bitch going to lay down and make some more fleas, I thought. I bid my attorney goodbye and headed over to my mom’s house. I explained what happened to my mom and dad. I even told my dad that Maria planned on marrying Raul. Then, we listened to him rant and rave for a good fifteen minutes before he decided to go get himself a beer and watch television. I hoped my mom took in what she had witnessed. Emilio Rojas was no better than Raul Garcia. He just wanted to get in where he could fit in, or whoever’s legs in could fit in between. I certainly hoped my mother hadn’t fallen victim.
I didn’t have time for their issues that day. I needed to run to the grocery store and head home to give Aldris a piece of my mind.
“Where are we going, Mami?” Nadia asked as we headed down the road.
“To the grocery store.”
“Is my daddy really going to marry Ms. Maria?” she asked.
“I don’t know, and how many times do I have to tell you to stay out of grown-ups’ conversations?” I asked in frustration.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping. I swear it. Papa was just yelling so loud we all heard it,” she confessed.
I rolled my eyes. “Go figure.”
“Where’s my papi?” she asked.
“Raul is—”
“No, not him. Mr. Aldris.”
“Ay, chica. I’m not sure. Home, I guess.”
“Oh, okay. Can I have some Starbursts?” she asked me.
I smiled. “Yes, of course.”
I knew she shouldn’t have the candy, but it felt so good not have to worry about having only $35 in my bank account on Wednesday and still need gas money, milk, bread, and juice until Friday’s paycheck, so every time she asked for the candy, I got her some. It was moments like this that made me proud of myself, not only as a woman, but as a mama. I really wasn’t dependent on Raul’s support, but it helped out. Now, with it being reduced, I was going to have to go over our finances, especially with Aldris having to shell out chi
ld support as well.
The reduction had me thinking over everything now, such as my new car. I knew I should’ve waited to get my Maxima, but Aldris insisted that I get another car after he found out my Honda was going to need $2,000 worth of work. I could’ve gotten my homeboy, Pedro, to do all the work for me and get the parts for about $800, but Aldris didn’t want any “back yard mechanics” working on our vehicles. Shit, call Pedro back yard or front yard, I knew that dude could fix some damn cars, and he did it for dirt cheap. Aldris felt I should be riding in high style like him, but I just wanted a ride. Hell, my Honda Accord was ride enough for me, but since Aldris insisted I get something new with a warranty, I had opted for the Maxima. The only problem was that my old 2004 Honda Accord was paid for, and this brand-new Maxima came with a $300 car note attached every month. Aside from all of this, we had our wedding coming up, and we had expenses we still had to take care of with that. So, we had a lot on us right now that we had to pay out, and Raul’s reduction couldn’t have come at a worse time.
I pushed all of that to the back of mind and focused on my grocery shopping. I just needed a few odds and ends to carry us over until the weekend. On the bread aisle, I bumped into this guy.
“I’m so sorry.” I turned to apologize.
“It’s my fault really,” Mike, Aldris’ ex-best friend, said.
“Mike?”
“Lucinda?”
“Fancy seeing you in here. I didn’t know Spanish Fly grocery shopped.”
My blood boiled instantly as my eyes narrowed and I seethed, “Go to hell.”
“Mami, who is he?” Nadia asked. “And who is Spanish Fly?”
I looked down at her. “He’s no one, and that is none of your concern.” I looked back at him. “This is my daughter. Don’t do this in front of her,” I said sternly.
A sorrowful look glazed his eyes “I apologize. I was wrong.”
“In more ways than one,” I mumbled.
Hearing my jab, he chuckled softly. “That’s well deserved. Honestly, I was joking. I’ve heard some good things about you. My boy Rod hooked up with Alize after Pooch went down, and she kinda gave us the info on you.”