“What?”
“Your lawyer’s here. Let’s go.”
Jaicyn smirked as she was led to a private room to talk with her lawyer. From the first time she looked at the thin white man, she knew that he wasn’t a court appointed attorney or child advocate. Autumn had come through.
The attorney didn’t speak until Jaicyn was uncuffed and they were alone in the small room. He introduced himself as Collin Woods from Woods, Franklin, and Smith, the most prominent law firm in Cleveland where King paid a hefty monthly retainer.
“Looks like you’re in a bad situation,” Collin said.
Jaicyn nodded. “Looks that way,” she said with an unusual quietness.
Collin looked over his notes. He’d been given limited information, only what Jaicyn had told Autumn. It was his job to make sure that Jaicyn was comfortable knowing that King was helping her so she wouldn’t be tempted to say anything to anyone about the drugs.
“So, Mr. Carter tells me that you’ve never been to jail before.”
Again Jaicyn nodded. “Yeah, I’ve never been locked up.”
Collin was relieved. That took a lot of the pressure off of him to put together a winning case.
“Good. We can use that to your advantage. With these charges and the fact that you’re a minor, I’m absolutely positive that I can get you out of here.” Collin smiled and Jaicyn liked him even more
She even smiled a little. She didn’t want to stay in jail. She wasn’t scared but it was creepy and uncomfortable. She’d only been there for a few hours and she knew that she wouldn’t want to be there until she was eighteen. There were too many angry females there who would try her patience and see if she was really the bad ass that she acted like. She knew a lot of girls who’d been to the Juvenile Justice Center, JJC as it was called and from their stories, it wasn’t the place for her.
“So when can I leave?”
“Well, this is how it works,” Collin explained. “You’ll be formally charged tomorrow morning. It’s called an arraignment. Your bail will be set. Mr. Carter will give the money to your grandmother to pay the bail and you’ll go home under her supervision until your court date. I think we’ll have a quick hearing before the judge. You’ll plead guilty to possession and he’ll give you probation. You’ll be fine.”
“So, you think I just have to spend the night? That’s it?”
Collin nodded. “Yep. That’s all. I guarantee you won’t see a minute inside of a real jail.”
Collin’s confidence spiked Jaicyn’s to another level. She wouldn’t have to worry about spending months or even years in the juvenile justice center. She even managed to get a decent night’s sleep on the uncomfortable cot she was assigned to. She wouldn’t be going to jail. In a few days she’d have her sisters back and all would be right again.
Chapter 14
Handcuffed and linked by chain to five other teenage girls, Jaicyn walked into the nearly empty juvenile courtroom with a quiet smirk on her face. She spotted Collin sitting next to her grandmother. Juanita stared at Jaicyn like she wanted to kill her. Jaicyn lowered her eyes in shame and took a seat on a wooden bench with the other girls.
The arraignment didn’t last long; just long enough for Collin convinced the judge that Jaicyn was not a threat to society. Once in her grandmother’s care, she’d be okay. Jaicyn didn’t know if it was Collin’s persuasiveness or if the judge could really care less but either way he sent Jaicyn on her way.
Jaicyn’s joy at being let out on bail didn’t last long, especially when Juanita became adamant that she wasn’t taking her granddaughter anywhere near the apartment on the south side. Jaicyn fumed in the backseat while Juanita ripped her a new one.
“I cannot believe you! You lied to me, Jaicyn! You said that boy was not living with you!”
“What was I supposed to say?” Jaicyn argued. “You don’t even like Rayshawn. If his grandparents didn’t call DFCS, you sure would have if I told the truth.”
“Your father is mad, Jay-Jay,” Juanita warned. “He’s coming up here tomorrow. You are in a world of trouble, young lady.”
Jaicyn groaned and wished for a second that she was back in the cell with the other girls. Jason coming to Washington Heights for an unplanned visit wasn’t good. He didn’t like leaving his auto shop unless he had planned vacation. He was dropping everything to come to Washington Heights for his daughter. Juanita had understated how much trouble Jaicyn was really in.
Juanita didn’t have any information about the whereabouts of Rickie and Bobbie, which bothered Jaicyn. She needed to know where her sisters were and how she was going to get them out of foster care. But Juanita only had bad news and she delivered it after Jaicyn was settled in for the day, virtually on lockdown at her grandmother’s house.
“That DFCS lady said the girls were put in a foster home but she wouldn’t tell me where.”
“So what’s going to happen?” Jaicyn asked.
“They’ll be a hearing in family court. If your mother is out of jail and able to prove that she can take care of your sisters, they can go back home. You, my dear, are here until you go to court.”
“Forget that!” Jaicyn yelled, careful to refrain from cussing in front of her grandmother. “You know Mommy won’t be able to prove she can take care of Rickie and Bobbie! Why can’t they come stay here with us?”
Juanita sighed. Of course Jaicyn wanted them all to come live with her. She’d asked a million times. Juanita spent the night agonizing on what she’d tell her only grandchild. She wanted nothing more for Jaicyn to be happy and safe but she didn’t want the responsibility of raising her. Between Jaicyn’s temper and her stubbornness, Juanita wouldn’t be able to keep her in line for long. Besides, Jaicyn’s parents needed to finally step up and take care of them. If Angelina couldn’t take care of her own children, there were always the fathers. That’s why Juanita had called Jason and told him to get his ass to Washington Heights.
“No, you can’t stay here, Jaicyn,” Juanita said. “You have a father who will be up here to deal with this. You are on a bad path, little girl. I hope your father can set you straight.
****
“Where is she?” Jason barked as soon as he walked into his mother’s house the very next day.
Jaicyn had been sitting on the sofa watching BET until she saw the yellow taxi cab pull in front of the house. She fled to her room before the taxi came to a complete stop. Of course her grandmother sold her out.
“She’s upstairs. She ran up there when you pulled up. Go talk some sense into your child.”
Jaicyn heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs and felt more fear than she ever felt before. When he barged into her room, Jaicyn wanted to hide in the closet. In all of her sixteen years, she’d never seen her father so upset with her. The look on his face was not the same one he had when he walked into the hospital room four months ago. He didn’t feel bad for her at all. He was pissed.
“Hi Daddy.”
Jason’s handsome face darkened. “Don’t give me that ‘Hi Daddy’ shit,” he scolded his only child. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Drugs, Jaicyn! You’re taking drug charges for your boyfriend! What the hell is going on with you?”
Jaicyn picked at the handmade quilt because she couldn’t meet her father’s eyes. He wouldn’t understand why she was doing this. He didn’t understand the streets. He’d gotten out of Washington Heights before the city took a violent turn for the worse.
And he’d left his daughter with her crackhead mother. If he really cared so much, he would have figured out a way to take Jaicyn with him…or stayed.
“You’re not going to understand,” Jaicyn said softly. “There’s no point in trying to explain myself.”
“Is this because he took care of the people who hurt you?” Jason asked.
“You know about that?” Jaicyn finally looked up at her father, surprised that he would so casually bring up a murder.
“Of course I do,” Jason nodded. “Why wouldn’t I? And I k
now how girls like you think. I’ve seen shit like this all of my life, Jaicyn. I don’t want you to be that kind of girl. You are too smart to take a charge for your boyfriend when you can actually make something out of your life.”
Jaicyn looked away. He didn’t get it. He’d never get it. Rayshawn was her way out of Washington Heights and a better life. There was no way she could do it without him. She didn’t even want to try.
“You can’t talk me out of this,” she finally spoke up. “Rayshawn was there for me, helping me when you and my mother weren’t. Rayshawn is the one who believes in me, who loves me, who wants the best for me while you live your life in Miami and Mommy does whatever the hell she wants to do. Don’t tell me what I cannot do for him.”
“I appreciate you coming up here but if you can’t help me with my sisters, then you should just go back to your life and let me live mine.”
Jaicyn walked past her father and locked herself in the bathroom. Jason watched his sixteen year old daughter walk down the hallway. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed in himself. He tried to be as good as a father as he could with her, despite Angelina doing everything in her power to keep that from happening. He needed to do more. If he didn’t, his child was going to continue down a path that would end with her in prison or dead on one of these dirty Washington Heights streets. He couldn’t have that.
****
A week later, with her father and Collin beside her, Jaicyn was escorted into the same courthouse. Jaicyn eyed the female prosecutor. She looked different than when Jaicyn and Collin had met with her earlier in the week. Then she was dressed in a boring pair of khaki slacks, a conservative summer sweater, and her long brown hair was pulled back into a severe ponytail. Today, Jaicyn admired her black pantsuit with subtle pink pinstripes. Although her hair was down, it was straight and professional. The woman was on stage, where all her work actually meant something…in the courtroom. As much as she wanted to, Jaicyn couldn’t hate the woman. She respected her. Prosecutor Monroe had been straight up with Jaicyn and Collin, open to negotiations, and she was from Cleveland where she grew up hard like Jaicyn. She’d gotten out and made something of her life.
Jaicyn respected that.
Jaicyn stood silently with her hands by her side, like her father told her to. Every time she tried to cross them, as was her usual stance, her father pinched her, making her drop her arms. Collin made his statement to the judge. He explained that Jaicyn had never been in trouble before and introduced her father. He touched on Jaicyn’s home life and promised that it would get better.
The plea deal that Jaicyn was offered was simple; eighteen months of probations and eighty hours of community service. Prosecutor Monroe just wasn’t that eager to send another teenager to prison over a few ounces of cocaine and a gun that didn’t belong to her and hadn’t been used to kill anyone.
After she was sentenced, Collin and Jason escorted her out of the courtroom into Juanita’s Ford Taurus. Jaicyn frowned, hating the idea of driving through Washington Heights in the same type of car used by Washington Height’s police. She wanted to ride with Collin in his Acura. It was a better look for her. Or King should have sent a car for her so she and Rayshawn could celebrate her freedom. But neither one of them had made an appearance at the courthouse. In fact, she hadn’t heard from either since her arrest. Collin was her only link to King and his crew and he didn’t tell her anything. She couldn’t wait until her father went back to Miami and she was off lockdown. She desperately wanted to get back to her apartment and find out what was going on with Rayshawn.
“You know you got lucky in there, don’t you,” Jason said to his daughter as they started to drive through Washington Heights.
“Yeah, I know.”
“So what you’re going to do now? We have to meet with the Family Court judge on Thursday.”
“I know Daddy,” Jaicyn said irritated. She didn’t want to go back to Juanita’s house. She didn’t want her father to go to the Family Court hearing with her. She just wanted to go home.
“So what are you going to do? You know your options.”
Yes, Jaicyn knew her options and they sucked. They’d been spelled out to her by Jason, Juanita, and DFCS. She could move to Miami with her father. If she stayed in Ohio she could go to a group home until she turned eighteen or she could go to Job Corps.
Job Corps was supposed to be a place where she could finish school and get job training and help finding a job. Jaicyn knew a lot of girls who went away to Job Corps and when they came back, they hadn’t changed. She wasn’t so sure that Job Corps was the best option.
Neither was moving to Miami. A move like that meant that she’d probably never see her sisters again. It definitely meant that she wouldn’t see her boyfriend again. No matter what choice she made, the chance of going back to the life that she was used to, no matter how hard it could be, was slim to none.
“Why are you all so worried about what I’m going to do?” Jaicyn demanded sharply. “What about Rickie and Bobbie? What’s going to happen to them?”
With all the commotion of Jaicyn getting arrested, it seemed that her little sisters had fallen to the wayside. No one except Jaicyn seemed to care about what happened to the two little girls, especially if she went to Miami or Job Corps.
“You already know the deal with that. DFCS hasn’t been able to find their fathers so they’re going to stay where they are until Angelina can get her shit together. There’s nothing we can do about Bobbie and Rickie.”
Supposedly, Angelina was back in rehab, which was all Kim had told Jaicyn. Kim had spoken with Angelina on a couple of occasions and felt positive that she was really going to try hard to get her girls back. Even though she wanted it to happen, for Rickie and Bobbie’s sake, Jaicyn was doubtful and it wasn’t fair. Rickie and Bobbie didn’t deserve to be staying with strangers waiting on their sorry ass mother to get her act together.
“Daddy, why can’t we all just come to Miami with you?”
“We’ve been through this before. I don’t have any rights to your sisters. They aren’t my kids. Angie will have to sign over custody to me and she won’t do that.”
Jaicyn sucked her teeth. “Can’t you talk to her? She’s a crackhead. Offer her some dope if she signs the papers.” Jaicyn laughed but she was serious. She was the kid in the situation so one of the adults involved needed to step up.
What Jaicyn didn’t know was that her father had already considered her request. He had tried reasoning with Angelina and make her see that he was willing to take all three girls to Miami with him until she could get clean and take care of them. Angelina flat out refused…three times. Jason didn’t want to tell his daughter about the conversations he’d had with her mother. Jaicyn already hated Angelina. The revelation that she’d had the opportunity to give her daughters a better life than be in the system and she refused just because she didn’t like Jason would be enough to send their mother/daughter relationship into a downward spiral and it would never recover.
It took days of pressure for Jaicyn to finally decide what she was going to do with the rest of her life. She was confident in her decision, even though it was going to hurt her father. She had to look out for her sisters. Jason was already doing fine.
She revealed her plan as they were driving downtown to Family Court.
“Daddy, can we talk?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I’m not coming to Miami. I need to stay as close to Rickie and Bobbie as possible. If that means spending a year and a half in a group home, then that’s what I'll have to do.”
“If that’s what you want to do, I’m not going to force you to come to Miami.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” she replied sadly.
Miami would have been fun. Warm weather, beaches, parties, everything that she’d seen on television about Miami made the city seem so glamorous. She’d fit in perfectly down there. Too bad she couldn’t go.
Jaicyn imagined that she’d walk into
the courtroom, hug and kiss her sisters and then tell the judge what her decision was. Things didn’t happen like that, as she soon learned. The Family Court judge didn’t want to hear anything that Jaicyn had to say. He only wanted to hear what Kim Hill thought. Jaicyn was beyond disappointed to know that the judge was going to do what Kim recommended. Up until that very moment, Jaicyn had never given Mrs. Hill an ounce of respect. She was the woman who ruined her family. She didn’t deserve Jaicyn’s respect.
After numerous conversations with Jaicyn and her father, Miss Hill didn’t think that a group home would be the best option for Jaicyn. She cited Jaicyn’s stubbornness and short temper as a major reason for her not to be housed in facility with up to ten other females just like her or worse. Kim recommended that Jaicyn be sent to Job Corps. The judge agreed.
The only thing that kept Jaicyn from screaming obscenities in protest was her father’s firm grip on her arm. Jaicyn squeezed her eyes closed as Kim handed her father the paperwork that would send Jaicyn to Monroe, West Virginia for the next two years. She had exactly one week to report to her probation officer down there.
Jaicyn held back her tears until she was safely inside her grandmother’s house behind her locked bedroom door. The tears streamed endlessly down her face. What would she do without Rayshawn? What would her sisters think if she just went away and never told them where she was going?
She’d made a promise to Rickie and Bobbie that she wasn’t going to be able to keep. That caused an unbearable pain in her heart. She’d be gone for two years. That was a lifetime for a kid. Would the two girls still love her when she got back to Washington Heights or would they hate her for not keeping her promise?
What about Rayshawn? Would he forget about her and move on to one of the many chicks who wanted him?
As she sat in the middle of her bed, Jaicyn prayed to a God who never seemed to answer her prayers. She prayed anyway, hoping that this one He would hear and answer. She prayed that these next couple of years would be good for her and her sisters. She prayed that they never forgot her and whatever the outcome of this ordeal, she, Rickie, and Bobbie would benefit from it. When she finished her prayer she wiped her eyes. Those would be the last tears she’d shed. She had a job to do. Unlike Angelina, she’d stick with her program. She’d finish Job Corps and come back to get her sisters. As she fingered her ring, she hoped that Rayshawn didn’t forget his promise.
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