Sealing the Deal

by Sandy James

  Alexis picked up a pen and dutifully noted it on the notebook that always rested to her right.

  “Now wait a minute,” Robert protested. “It was only a few times. They’ll never even know about it anyway. Shit, I was just a kid.”

  “You’d be amazed what a good investigator can uncover.” Alexis’s gaze shifted to Beth. “Any drug use in your history?”

  “Not me,” Beth replied. “But Darren used drugs. A lot, if I remember right.”

  Alexis nodded as she set her pen aside and fished around in the green folder again. “His juvenile arrest record shows that clearly, but I’m not sure whether it will help us.”

  “Why the hell not?” Robert asked. “Shows he’s a user.”

  “It all depends on how you look at it. A judge could see that his adult record’s clean and see Darren as a man who has matured and learned from his juvenile mistakes. He turned his life around to become a success. Rags to riches.”

  He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This should’ve been a slam dunk. He and Beth had made a great home for Emma, and Tiffany wanted Beth to raise her daughter. The girl was thriving. Why did a stupid DNA test have to change everything?

  Robert couldn’t help but point out another of Darren’s sins. “He knocked up Kelly. Just like he did Tiffany. He’s reckless.”

  Once again, Alexis countered. “He and Kelly are going to marry. His lawyer will argue that he would’ve married Tiffany if she hadn’t concealed the pregnancy from him.”

  “What is Kelly anyway?” Beth asked. “Nineteen?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  Beth’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously?”

  This smile was the first Alexis had offered that day. “Seriously. That voice, right?”

  “Yeah,” Beth said, the corners of her mouth hesitantly forming a grin. “That voice.”

  The lawyer’s features sobered. “Now, here’s where I’m brutally honest with you. I’ll move heaven and earth to help you keep Emma home, but you need to understand that our chances are fifty-fifty at best.”

  “Why so bad?” Robert reached for Beth’s hand. It was cold as ice.

  “I was hoping we could make a good argument that Tiffany wanted Emma with Beth and that the two of you have given her an excellent home. But Darren is turning out to be a decent human being, not the type of father judges would refuse rights to his own daughter. He’s got biology on his side. You’re going to have to resign yourself to one big truth.”

  Robert’s gut tightened. “And that truth is?”

  “Whether you like it or not, Darren Brown is going to be a part of Emma’s life.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The courtroom was much smaller than the one she and Robert had been married in. Beth hoped the cozier atmosphere, one less austere and foreboding, might mean good things for today’s outcome.

  Heck with it. Now she was grasping at straws.

  Today, they faced the family court judge, the woman who would decide for now where Emma would live. The best she and Robert could hope was that Emma would remain in their custody while the judge considered Darren’s suit for paternal custody and the adoption petition she and Robert had filed.

  Only a couple of weeks had passed since the depositions. Darren’s lawyer had been able to get a fast hearing, too fast for Beth to prepare herself. Alexis told them not to worry. The judge was most likely going to keep things status quo. Emma would remain with them, but Darren would get some kind of visitation.

  Beth had resigned herself to Emma spending time with Darren. Alexis had prepared them well, and the day she’d told them to accept him in Emma’s life, Beth had done just that. Emma was his biological daughter. He deserved to get to know her, to be there as she grew up, and to learn to love her. Beth’s only anguish over the scenario was that she wanted him to do all that only once a month. Unfair, she supposed. Her heart didn’t care. Emma belonged in her home, with her Matka and Bobber.

  Darren, dressed in an impeccable suit, came into the courtroom. Following right behind was a heavyset man in a well-tailored charcoal suit. The man guided Darren to the table on the right side of the judge’s bench.

  Robert took her hand, but Beth found little comfort from his touch. His frown told her he knew she’d been pulling away. The problem was that she didn’t know how to stop herself. Ever since they’d sat in Alexis’s office, hearing how their shot at keeping Emma was fifty-fifty, Beth had felt as if she were a tiny rowboat tossed into a roiling sea. There was nothing to ground her, and all she could see for miles and miles ahead were rough waters.

  Her husband should’ve been her anchor in the storm. Instead of leaning on him, holding tight, and letting his strength help her, she’d taken a step back. And then another. They hadn’t made love in days, and she’d started snapping at him whenever he left things around the house.

  This morning, she’d been so sad about the court hearing, she’d barely been able to force herself out of bed to take a shower and get dressed. If she hadn’t been concerned the judge would be assessing her appearance, she wouldn’t even have bothered with makeup.

  As if putting on mascara would keep the judge from yanking Emma right out of her arms…

  Alexis strode into the courtroom, a gray leather bag slung over her shoulder. Instead of her normally flamboyant shirts and skirts, she wore a dark blue business jacket with a pencil skirt. Only the silver jewelry, especially the geometric earrings, displayed her outgoing personality.

  She set her bag on the left table and signaled Beth and Robert to join her.

  Beth’s joints locked. Even with Robert tugging at her, she couldn’t make herself stand up and go to the table. If she did, that meant the hearing would begin. As long as she sat on her butt, nothing would change.

  She needed to hold Emma, but her daughter was playing with Jules’s twins today. This wasn’t the place for her, and as sensitive as she was, no doubt she would pick up on all the tension.

  “B?” Robert stared down at her with gathered brows. “Alexis wants us. The hearing’s gonna start soon.”

  Letting her gaze shift to Darren, Beth wondered why he’d come without Kelly. As though he knew he was being watched, his eyes found hers. For a few seconds, she saw the young man she’d known, the one who’d been out to have a good time and just enjoy life. Then he scowled, and what she saw was the determined man, the one who’d scraped together every dime he had to buy himself a restaurant in hopes of impressing Tiffany—the woman who’d lied to him and kept him from his daughter.

  Beth glanced away, willing herself to stand.

  Robert led her to the table, pulled out a chair for her, then took a seat beside her.

  Alexis busied herself with fishing things out of her bag, but the grim look on her face said it all. After she took a seat, she finally turned to Beth. “Are you ready?”

  No. “Yeah.”

  “Robert? Are you ready?”

  He tossed her a terse nod.

  “All rise,” the bailiff barked as the door to the judge’s office opened.

  Although Alexis had told them the judge was a woman, Beth had erroneously pictured a Judge Judy clone. Instead, she got Jessica Lange. Tall and svelte, she’d swept her blond/gray hair into a severe bun. Her wise blue eyes were framed in laugh lines, but the beauty was still there. She carried a stack of manila folders under her arm, and the tortoise-shell glasses hanging from a gold chain around her neck bounced against her chest.

  The judge sat behind the bench, prompting the bailiff to announce, “Please be seated.”

  After what Beth assumed were perfunctory parts of any hearing, such as swearing everyone in, they all sat at their tables, waiting to hear from Judge Alicia Ramsey.

  Judge Ramsey put her glasses on and read from the file for a moment. “I see both the adoption and custody petitions have been joined for this proceeding. I’ll hear from the minor’s aunt and uncle first.”

  Alexis rose, smoothing her hands down the front of her skirt. �
�Thank you, Your Honor.”

  Beth lost herself in listening to the story of how Emma came to be with her and Robert. What great parents they were. The home they’d given her. Their plans for the money left by Tiffany’s insurance policies. How much they both loved her.

  “And so, Your Honor, I submit that the Ashfords have given the minor a stable home, the first one she’s ever known. While we acknowledge that Mr. Brown is the minor’s biological father, and will be happy to grant liberal visitation rights, the court should consider what’s in the best interests of this child and grant the petition for adoption. No child should be taken from her loving home and dropped into a world of strangers. Imagine the damage to her happiness and sense of trust. Please leave her where she belongs, with the woman the minor’s biological mother chose, and with the couple committed to making a good life for her.” With an incline of her head, she finished with, “We thank Your Honor for her time.”

  The judge nodded and took several notes. A leftie, she scribbled on an old-fashioned yellow legal pad. “I have a few questions for the petitioners before we proceed. Mrs. Ashford?”

  Alexis tugged on Beth’s elbow until she stood at her side. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “Mrs. Ashford, I see you’re a teacher.”

  Not sure if that was a question or a statement, Beth replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Who cares for the minor during the school year while you’re working?”

  “My husband is with her a great deal of the time, and his sister runs a limited day care. She watches Emma, um, the minor when we’re not with her.”

  “You married Mr. Ashford only this April?”

  Beth nodded.

  A woman in a blue cardigan who sat at the judge’s right whispered something to the judge. She gave a nod in reply. “Please state your answer for the record, Mrs. Ashford.”

  “Yes, ma’am. We married in April.”

  “To strengthen the adoption petition or did you have plans to marry before the minor became your ward?” The judge looked over the rims of her glasses.

  Beth had a flashback to her fourth-grade teacher, a somber woman who used to try to intimidate the students by glaring at them over reading glasses much like the judge’s. Since she was under oath, Beth replied, “We only married to strengthen the petition.”

  * * *

  Robert winced. His fear from the beginning of the relationship had always been that Beth didn’t need him the way he needed her. It shouldn’t hurt to hear her state the truth. But it did. She hadn’t married him for love or desire. Just for Emma.

  Perhaps the same had been true for him in the beginning, but it wasn’t any longer. Beth was his wife, so much a part of him that even the thought of losing her felt like a knife to the gut. Now that they faced losing Emma, he couldn’t tamp down his fear that if his daughter left, so would his wife.

  Sure, she said she loved him. He just couldn’t make himself stop thinking that a woman as special as Beth could do so much better than a middle-aged guy who stuttered.

  The judge’s voice pierced his thoughts. “Mr. Ashford?”

  Robert rose as Beth took her seat. “Yes, Your Honor?”

  “Did you marry Mrs. Ashford merely to strengthen the petition for adoption?”

  Beth’s gaze captured his, but he looked away. If he was going to say this, he needed to shield himself from her stare. “I w-wanted to be Emma’s d-dad.” He swallowed hard, trying to slow down so his stutter would be under better control, but before he could tell the judge how he’d wanted to be with Beth for the longest time, Judge Ramsey shifted her attention to Darren Brown.

  Fearing she’d think he was rude if he interrupted, Robert sat back down. He’d have a chance later, maybe in someplace more private, to let Beth know everything that was in his heart. She had to understand that Emma or no Emma, he needed her. He loved her. He intended to spend the rest of his life with her.

  “Mr. Brown, I understand you’re engaged to be married?”

  Darren rose. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I’ll admit I’m curious as to the reason your fiancée isn’t also petitioning.”

  Darren’s lawyer rose. A man in his late fifties, he looked very relaxed and in control. “Your Honor, Mr. Brown would like to keep his petition as uncomplicated as possible for the court. Since he and Ms. Dalton will marry shortly, there was no need for her to be added. She will become the minor’s mother upon marriage.”

  Beth fumbled for Robert’s hand, and he laced his fingers with hers. She trembled, but it would probably be against decorum for him to drape his arm over her shoulders while they were in court. He tried to will some strength her way, knowing it had to hurt her to hear Kelly being called Emma’s “mother.” Beth already filled that role quite well, and Robert wished he could tell the court so.

  Alexis had sat when Robert did, but she jumped to her feet again. “Your Honor, we have some information about Ms. Dalton we’d like to share with the court.”

  “I object,” Darren’s lawyer said. “Ms. Dalton isn’t a part of this proceeding, and any information about her is irrelevant.”

  “I beg to differ with Mr. Lindstrom, Your Honor,” Alexis said. “Ms. Dalton might not be a part of the petition, but she will have an impact on the minor’s well-being.”

  Judge Ramsey frowned before nodding. “I’d like to hear what Ms. Comer has to say.”

  “Your Honor, I—”

  “Mr. Lindstrom, I’ve made my ruling quite clear. Ms. Comer?”

  Alexis’s smug smile came as a surprise. What did she know that she hadn’t told him or Beth?

  “While we understand that Mr. Brown has a biological tie to the minor,” Alexis said, “we have some concerns about him marrying Ms. Dalton, considering her employment.”

  The judge flipped her hand as though impatient for the other shoe to drop.

  “Ms. Dalton works at the Black Stiletto, a gentleman’s club. I believe she was employed as a stripper—”

  “Exotic dancer,” Mr. Lindstrom interjected.

  Alexis gave him a chilling smile. “My sincere apologies. She was an exotic dancer and now that she’s expecting Mr. Brown’s child, she waits tables. As far as I’ve been able to determine, she has plans to go back to her, um, dancing career after the birth.”

  No wonder Darren hadn’t wanted Kelly to be part of the petition.

  Lindstrom swept his jacket aside and set his hands against his hips. “If we’re lowering ourselves to slinging mud, then what about Mr. Ashford’s history of drug use?”

  Beth gasped and snatched her hand back. She faced him, wide-eyed, as her cheeks reddened.

  “Your Honor,” Alexi said, sounding disgusted, “Mr. Ashford doesn’t have, as Mr. Lindstrom so tactlessly phrased it, a history of drug use. We freely admitted in deposition that Mr. Ashford made the mistake of socially using marijuana when he was a member of his fraternity in college. To compare that with Ms. Comer’s stripping naked for men to ogle and stuff bills down her crotch—”

  Lindstrom interrupted. “And what about CPS being called in when Mr. Ashford injured the minor? She had to be rushed to the ER and—”

  The judge grabbed her gavel and banged it hard against a wooden block. “That’s enough hyperbole from both of you. This is only a preliminary hearing, and to see you sink to the level of slander…” She shook her head. “I won’t have it my courtroom.”

  Both lawyers uttered apologies that didn’t sound at all sincere.

  After several moments of the judge shifting through and reading papers from the file, she finally folded her hands and rested them on top of the paperwork. “I’m ready to make my decision on temporary custody of the minor.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Beth shoved a few more of Emma’s clean outfits into the duffel. At the rate she kept adding things, she’d never be able to zip the bag closed. How much did a one-year-old need to spend a week with her biological father and his stripper girlfriend?

  An unkind thought, but Beth
honestly didn’t care. She glanced over to where Emma slept in her playpen, wondering if the baby would awaken if she picked her up and rocked her. Right now, she wanted to hold tight and never let go.

  “Beth?” Dani’s voice echoed from the foyer. “We’re here.”

  “In the family room,” Beth replied, not even softening her voice. If Emma woke up, so be it. Then she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about picking her up.

  Dani and Mallory strolled into the room, dressed in their comfortable and rather skintight yoga clothes. Beth had blown off yoga today. Hard to relax and stretch when her life had just been turned upside down.

  Mallory flopped into Robert’s recliner. “We missed you at class.”

  “Derrick led us,” Dani added, sitting on the sofa and giving a quizzical look at the small piles of clothes. “I swear all I want to do is watch him instead of participating in class.”

  “That ass is sublime,” Mallory drawled. “It’s just begging to be squeezed.”

  Beth just snorted at their banter, wishing all she had to worry about was how cute their yoga instructor’s butt was in tight pants.

  Dani’s eyes wandered the room. “What’s with all the baby clothes? Did you hit some yard sales?” She gave the air a delicate sniff. “The whole house smells like Downy, so I assume you just did laundry.”

  What was obviously Dani’s attempt to get Beth to laugh fell flat. There was nothing in the whole world that could make her happy at that moment.

  “We heard from the judge,” Beth replied, her tone flat despite her roiling emotions.

  Mallory gasped and scrambled to her feet. “You didn’t tell us!”

  “Yeah, well… you were both at yoga and Jules was with clients. Figured your phones were off.” She shrugged. “You were all coming for lunch anyway.”

  Lunch. Since she’d been so busy packing, she wouldn’t be able to offer them anything more than cold-cut sandwiches and salad. As frazzled as she was, if she tried to cook something she’d probably burn the house to the ground.

  “Beth? Mal? Dani?” Jules had arrived.

  “In here,” Beth called. Part of her wanted the Ladies to leave her alone to mourn in peace; another wanted them to hold her hand and tell her everything would be all right.