“The day he died,” Hailey answers, but she doesn’t stop. “The police handed me a brown paper bag with all his things in it.”
“How did you find out?” Henry asks her. Hailey leans forward and takes a drink of water from the glass sitting in front of her.
“There were two phones in the bag,” she says, a tear leaking out that she wipes away with her thumb. “I thought it was a mistake, so we plugged it in to return it to the rightful owner.”
“And then what happened?”
“And then I found out that my life was a lie. I found out he wasn’t my husband but someone else’s husband. That the family and life he promised me was all a lie. Everything was a lie.”
She grabs a tissue now, wiping her eyes.
“That must have been a shock to you,” Henry continues, and I almost want to tell him to stop. I look over at the judge who is waiting for her to answer.
“It was, considering he told me he was an orphan.”
“Your honor, hearsay,” Mr. Feldman objects.
“I’ll rephrase,” Henry says. “Who was at your wedding?”
“No one,” she says. “Just him and me and the judge.”
“Your honor, I would like to offer exhibit A.” He takes a picture from his stack. “Is this you and Eric?” He shows it to Hailey, who nods her head.
“Yes, that was before my family came in,” she says, and Henry hands the picture to the judge.
“Where was Eric’s family?” he asks her. Oh, he’s good.
“He told me he was an orphan, so he had no family there,” she tells him.
“Ms. Williams, would you say that Eric wasn’t interested in his children?”
“Objection, your honor.”
“I withdraw the question. Ms. Williams, would you say that Eric was close to his parents?”
“I can’t say since he never mentioned them, and when he did, he said they were dead.”
“Oh my God.” I hear my mother-in-law gasp out.
“No further questions, your honor,” he says, and he comes back to sit down next to me. “If he fucks with her, I’m going to eat him alive.”
Mr. Feldman looks over at us and sneers. “Ms. Williams, would you consider yourself a scorned woman?”
I see a different side to Hailey. Gone is the soft girl and in its place, she looks like she is ready to fight. She smiles at him and then looks at my in-laws. “Scorned? No. Lied to? Yes.”
“So you’re here out of revenge?” he asks her.
“No,” she says. “I’m here because I figured if Eric didn’t even acknowledge his parents, he wouldn’t want his kids living with them.” Direct hit.
“So you have no reason to be here,” he starts and then doesn’t give her a chance to answer. “Isn’t it true that your brother is dating Ms. Schneider now?”
“I have no idea who my brother is dating.”
“Your honor, what does that have to do with anything? My client is allowed to date.” Henry stands up.
The judge looks at Mr. Feldman. “I’m watching you, Mr. Feldman.”
He puts his hands up. “Ms. Williams, is it true you tried to cash in Eric’s life insurance policy?”
“Yes,” she answers.
“And is it correct it was denied because of fraud?”
“That would be correct. He used his middle name for all our legal documents, which is why it was approved.”
“So it’s safe to say that you were angry.”
“No, I was too busy trying to piece together my life to be angry.”
“Ms. Williams, were you not angry when the plaintiffs had you served with a cease and desist letter blocking you from attending the funeral?”
“No, but I was sad and broken,” she tells him. “I had just lost my husband, or who I thought was my husband, and the plaintiffs blocked me from attending the funeral or talking about him.”
“So you didn’t attend the funeral?”
“Mr. Feldman, if I did, I would be arrested.” She looks at the judge. “There was also a restraining order filed against me.”
“By the Plantiffs?”
“I don’t know who sent it to me. I didn’t bother to sit around memorizing it,” she snaps back. “Mr. Feldman, I married a man who was already married. I had no idea, so when he died, and I was blocked from attending the funeral and saying goodbye to him, I wasn’t angry; I was sad. I was sad that my husband lied to me; I was sad that our life was a lie, but I was most sad that I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. I wasn’t given that chance because the parents who he told me were dead were very much alive.”
She shakes her head. “But I get it now why he lied about them. He wasn’t vindictive; he wouldn’t want this.” She raises her hands. “The Eric I knew wouldn’t want to drag their kids away from their mother. The Eric who lived with me and married me would not want this dragged out because we are moving on,” she says. “The only one vindictive in all this and seeking revenge in all this is Mr. and Mrs. Schneider.”
“No further questions, your honor,” Mr. Feldman says.
“The court is in recess. We will reconvene in one hour,” she says, banging the gavel and stepping off the bench as we all stand.
Hailey walks by us, and the man holds his hands out for her. She goes in them and kisses his lips. “You did amazing,” he tells her as she looks back at me. I’m about to say something to her when my in-laws walk past them.
“Adrian?” Nanny says as we all look at her and then back at him as his face goes white. “What are you doing here? Where is Lucille?” she asks him, and his mouth opens and closes.
“Who is Lucille?” Judy asks him, and Nanny finally answers.
“His wife!” she says. “They just moved into the condo next to me.”
And the madness breaks out.
Chapter Thirty
Blake
“His wife?” I stand here, not sure I understand what is going on, so Nanny continues, “They moved into the condo next door.”
“Adrian,” Judy says, looking at him. “What is she talking about?”
Nanny throws up her hands. “You have got to be kidding me,” she says. “Well, I guess like father, like son.” She shakes her head. “Adrian and his wife, Lucille, who is a lovely lady …” She turns to look at us, then back to Judy and Adrian, who looks down. Ethan and Elliot stand beside him. “They moved into the condo. They downsized because they are now empty nesters.”
“Empty nesters?” Judy asks.
“Yes, their daughter is eighteen,” Nanny starts. “Oh, I think she is eighteen; I might be wrong. What is her name again?” She looks at Adrian, and he doesn’t answer. “Anyway, she just went off to college; she got accepted into University of Houston. Their son, who is named Evan,” she says, “he just got married. They have a beautiful little boy.”
“Oh my God,” Judy says, looking at Adrian. “This isn’t true, right?”
Adrian looks down at the floor, and we don’t even see Elliot move or hit his father in the face. “You fucking asshole.” I spring into action, grabbing him and holding him back. “You motherfucker,” he sneers at him.
Judy cries silently by herself, Ethan holding her now. “I can’t …”
Everyone looks at Samantha, who slowly walks to her. “I want to be sad for you and hurt for you,” she says, and my mother goes to stand beside her, “but I can’t. When he sat at that table and told me that if I took care of my wifely duties, Eric wouldn’t have left me …”
Jensen now hisses. “Motherfucker,” he sneers.
“When you came into my house and spat your shit in my face, gutting me and making me feel like I did something wrong. Telling me that maybe if I stopped harassing him when he was home and had been more understanding, it wouldn’t have led to that, or maybe if I had been there for him and caring to his needs, he wouldn’t have gone elsewhere.” She uses her finger to wipe away a tear. “I guess I should be a bit more compassionate and feel bad for you, but I don’t. I feel nothing f
or you.”
“Samantha,” Elliot says to her and walks to her, and my father and I both go on alert. “You can’t say that.”
“I can’t?” She turns to him and laughs. “Why not?”
“She’s family,” he says.
“NO!” she yells out, “she isn’t my family. Family holds each other up; family supports each other. Families don’t shit on each other to better themselves; they don’t fucking cut each other down at the knees. They don’t leave them to cry by themselves in the bathroom.” I walk to her now, standing beside her.
“SO what?” he says. “You’re going to choose him over us?” He points at me.
“Any fucking day of the week,” she says proudly. “I just hope I’m good enough for him. He deserves the best there is, so hopefully, that is me.” I put my hands over her shoulders, pulling her to me. “You guys keep this shit up, and I’ll make sure you never see the girls.”
“You can’t take my babies away from me,” Judy finally says.
“Wake up,” she tells them. “It already happened. We’re moving. Far away from here, where they don’t have the fear that someone will take them away from their mother,” she says but doesn’t stop. “Where they won’t have to worry if they will end up homeless.”
“Samantha,” Judy says, and Ethan and Elliot both stop her.
“Mom, let’s go,” they both say. “It’s enough.”
Adrian is now standing by their side. “I can explain,” he says, walking behind them.
My father stops Mr. Feldman. “You don’t pull this case, I’m going to get a subpoena for Lucille.” He doesn’t say anything, just nods his head and walks off.
I look down at Samantha. “I think I just got my girls,” she says, laughing. I lean down and kiss her lips in public.
“Holy shit.” I hear Nanny say. “I need a drink.”
Samantha looks over at Hailey and leaves my side. She walks up to my sister. “There are no words that I can say to thank you,” she finally says, and the tears stream down her cheeks. “Nothing I can say will make what they did to you okay,” she continues, and Jensen kisses Hailey’s forehead. “I swear I had no idea, none …”
“I know,” Hailey says softly, and I see that Crystal is now running into the courtroom.
“What the fuck did I miss?” she says, huffing while Gabe follows her.
“Woman, you didn’t even wait for me to stop the fucking car. Are you out of your mind?” he says with his hands on his hips as she rolls her eyes, and he takes in the scene. “Oh, fuck.” He walks to Crystal and holds her shoulders as she looks at him. “Just in case you get ahead of yourself.”
She shrugs him off. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Nanny throws her head back and laughs. “I like him.”
“Good. You’re the only one,” Crystal says as Jensen looks down, chuckling.
No one says another word because the bailiff calls the court back. Samantha nods to Hailey and walks back to the table with my father. My family now all sits on her side, so for a woman who started with just me and my mom, she now has her own cheering section.
“It’s come to my attention that the plaintiffs have pulled their petition. So with that, I award the children to their mother,” she says, and we cheer. But then she holds up her hands. “Off the record, I have to say, Ms. Schneider, from the reports from the social worker, you are doing a wonderful job. My ruling would have been in your favor anyway,” she says. Samantha sobs, and my father takes her in his arms. “Court is adjourned,” she says and crashes the gavel.
“Thank you,” Samantha says to my father. “Thank you so much.”
She turns to look at me. “Can we go get the girls?”
I just nod my head. “Yeah, baby, we can.”
“We need to celebrate,” Nanny says loudly.
“Everyone is invited over to my house,” Samantha says and then looks at Hailey. “It’s Eric free, but I understand if you don’t feel comfortable.”
My sister smiles at her. “That would be lovely.” She turns to me and smiles. “I can’t wait to meet these girls who captured my brother’s heart.”
She hands her house keys to my mother as we get in the car and go get the girls. Both of them appear with a worried look on their faces. “Mommy,” Lizzie says, holding Daisy’s hand.
“Hey, girls,” I tell them. “We thought you might want to come have a celebration lunch with us.”
“Okay,” Daisy says, “is there ice cream?”
“That can be arranged,” I tell them as we walk to the car.
“So we went to court today,” Samantha starts, and Lizzie stops walking.
“Do we have to go live with Grandma and Grandpa?” she asks while her lower lip trembles.
“No, baby.” Samantha shakes her head, and Lizzie runs to her and wraps her arms around her waist while she sobs. Samantha leans down, kissing her head. “It’s okay, baby.”
We finally manage to get the girls in the car and back to the house. The girls don’t notice all the cars, but I do. When they open the door, they both step back. The room is filled with balloons in different shapes from hearts to stars. There are a whole bunch of zoo animals, and I look down and smile when Nanny comes out, shouting, “Surprise,” with her hands in the air.
The kids jump up and down and then run to her. “How are my beautiful girls?” she asks them as I look around. My mother and father come out from the kitchen, followed by Crystal, Gabe, Jensen, and Hailey.
“Oh my God,” Samantha says next to me. “This is amazing.” She looks at me. “So, so amazing.”
“It’s only starting,” I tell her, bending and kissing her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Samantha
I look around the room at all the balloons. “I think they outdid themselves,” I tell Blake, who’s holding my hand. I walk in and thank everyone for coming. I make eye contact with Hailey and motion to the back door. I see her nod her head, and I follow her out.
She walks down the stairs, taking in the playground structure that Eric built. “We can go swing on the swings?” I tell her, taking off my heels and walking to the structure. She does the same and follows me. I sit on one swing while she sits on the other.
“I really don’t know how to start.” I laugh and look down. “I’ve never met my husband’s fake wife before.” The nerves set in, and she looks down and laughs also.
“I thought it would hurt more,” she says, looking down at her feet in the grass and then up at me. “I thought I would break.”
“I know. I think I did break,” I tell her. “I mean, after the shock came in, and then I felt the hate.”
“I did that too,” she says. “I would sit on the beach and think about everything we went through.”
“I did that too,” I tell her. “I would go through these things and then call Blake to find out if he did them for you.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, looking at me with the biggest tears in her eyes. “I would have never, ever done anything with him had I known.”
“I know,” I tell her, swinging slowly. “I’m sorry that they stopped you from coming to the funeral.”
“Yeah,” she says, “but I think it was for the best. Can you imagine?”
“I had them close the casket because I couldn’t stand to look at his face.” I look down, and the tears fall. “I stood there the whole time watching the casket, trying to ask him why,” I say, sniffling. “People would come up to me and tell me what a great guy he was, and I wanted to laugh in their face and say yeah, you should ask his other wife how great he was.”
Hailey laughs. “I haven’t even read the letter he left me.” She looks over. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“Well, I can tell you it’s probably better than the shit he left me,” I tell her. “I mean, after I cried over it and questioned my whole am I good enough.”
“It was never you.” She smiles at me. “It was him.”
“I love your brother,” I tell he
r, “which is weird since I haven’t told him yet.” I look down at my fingers and then back up again. “I mean, I know the whole Frankie thing, and he told me he would never be able to love again. I know this, but I can’t help it. I love him. With all my broken pieces and all his broken pieces, maybe we’re whole together.” The tears fall down my face.
“I think you’re the best thing to happen to him. He is the one who came to me,” she says. “He drove seven hours to see me and plead your case.” She looks down with her own tears falling. “At first, I told him no.”
“I understand,” I tell her.
“But then I thought of Jensen and his daughter, Mila, and pictured him losing her, and I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t do it.”
“So you and Jensen?” I smile at her, and she nods.
“Hands down the best thing that ever happened to me. I loved Eric, but what I feel for Jensen is more. I can’t even explain it to anyone. But you …” She looks at me. “You get it.”
“I do.”
“I wanted kids with Eric.” She smiles. “But I was like whatever. With Jensen, I would die to have his child. To give him that. For there to be a part of me and a part of him.” She smiles so big. “It would be worth everything. It would be worth all the hurt I’ve gone through if I could have that one thing.”
I look at the door, seeing Lizzie come out toward us. “Hey there, princess, did you meet Hailey?” I tell her, and she looks at Hailey.
“Do you hate us?” she asks her, and Hailey just looks at her. “I know who you are. I heard Uncle Elliot and Uncle Ethan talk about you.”
“Honey,” I say to her, and Hailey holds her hand up to me, letting Lizzie finish.
“I know Daddy did the wrong thing. I know he lied to you. But …” She looks down with tears brimming her eyes. “But we didn’t do that, and if you hate us, so will Blake.”
“Oh, baby,” Hailey says, getting up, going to her, and stooping down to see her.
“Mommy likes Blake and so do Daisy and me. And with Blake, Mommy doesn’t cry anymore. Like ever, not even in secret.” I put my hand to my mouth. “So please don’t hate us.”
Broken Love Story Page 17