Chloe
Anthony’s results had come in. He didn’t need a transplant. It had been caught early enough. He would just need to take medicine and I would need to change his diet. I was relieved that he wouldn’t have to go into surgery at such a young age.
I ran straight from the doctor’s office and into Tony’s room, hopping onto his bed. When I told him that he would get to go home soon, he was just as happy as I was. During our eighth round of paper, rock, scissors, Leo arrived. I formally introduced Leo and Tony.
"Would you like for Leo to stay and play with you for a little bit?" Anthony looked nervous. I reassured him that I would be right back. Leo nodded curtly at me as I left the room.
Leo was good on his word. It only took a week for the papers to be delivered to my house.
"That fucker is petitioning for full custody," I shouted to Roni who was sitting with me at the hospital. "I know that I messed up, that I was selfish and inconsiderate, but, Roni, I was going to tell him…before I found out about Tony being sick. I swear."
Roni looked at me with wide eyes. "You were?"
I nodded.
"The day I finally pulled my zombie ass out of that bed, I sat in Dom’s office and made a list of things that I wanted to do. That was one of them. I know that it still doesn’t excuse anything…I just, I mean…fuck, Roni! Dom said that if he knew who the father was that he would kill the guy. I was scared. I don’t think he wouldn’t have actually killed him, but I don’t know for sure what he would have done. He was angry and hated the thought of there being another man. He scared me when we talked about it. What if Dom would have messed with Leo’s production company or something?"
"Well, Chloe, even though you made a big mess of things, it doesn’t mean you will lose Anthony. You can counter his petition." She sighed heavily.
"You’re right. And that is exactly what I'm going to do!" I pulled out my cell phone.
"Whoa, Chloe, put the fucking cell in your purse and walk away." I looked up to her quickly. "Now." I closed my phone.
"You need to think on this a bit before you engage yourself into a nasty custody battle. Think of Tony." I sighed and sat down. Damn her for being right. I knew I really screwed everything up, but don’t mess with my kid.
I took Roni’s advice. After Mrs. Jones arrived the next morning, I slipped out of the hospital while Tony was still sleeping. I had made an appointment with Angelo to go over the papers that I had received.
After I explained everything to Angelo, he didn’t blink twice. That’s when I realized that he had already known that Tony wasn’t Domenico’s son.
"Domenico told you?"
Angelo nodded.
"He had made adjustments to the will after Tony was born, wanting to make sure that his wishes were legally sound with Tony not being biologically his."
I nodded in understanding.
I knew Dom’s parents were aware that Tony was not his biological child. Dom had told them we used a donor since he was not able to have children. Just another lie in the whole façade that was my fault and that I wish I never would’ve started.
"He will be lucky to get visitation by the time I am done with him, Chloe." I nodded and he set forth in preparing my counter.
I got back to the hospital, finding Leo in Tony’s room. They hadn’t seen me outside of the doorway, so I stood back and watched for a moment. Seeing them side by side on the bed, Leo reading him a book. I felt my heart ache. There was such a strong resemblance and Leo was so good with him. Heading back to the waiting area, I pulled out my cell phone and made a call to Angelo.
I took Anthony home a week later. The court date was three weeks after I received the papers from Leo’s attorney.
We sat on opposite sides of the court room without one glance in each other’s direction. The judge arrived and the proceedings began. Leo’s petition for full custody was read aloud. Angelo then stood to go over my counter petition.
"Your honor, my client agrees to the paternity test requested by the plaintiff. However, she does not agree to his full custodial request. She proposes that Anthony remain in her custody until he is more familiar with Mr. Mackey." I heard grumbling and looked to see Leo leaning into his attorney. Before they could object, Angelo continued.
"After Anthony has become familiar with Mr. Mackey, Mrs. Fiorello proposes a joint custody arrangement. Mrs. Fiorello is also in the process of moving into a new home and will agree to remain close to the area of Mr. Mackey’s residence."
I felt Leo’s eyes on me as Angelo continued to go over my counter. Angelo had asked me at least ten times if I was sure about all of this, ensuring me that he could arrange for Leo to only get weekends with Tony. I knew I couldn’t do that, not to Leo and not to Tony.
As I was wiping tears off of my face, Angelo sat down, looked at me and patted my arm. Then he whispered.
"You are being more than generous with all of this, Chloe. Your willingness to cooperate and provide arrangements like this will be in your favor." He settled back into his seat.
The judge listened to Angelo and Leo’s lawyer goes back and forth for another twenty minutes before he had heard enough, calling a twenty minute recess to review all the information. We stood as the judge left the court room.
"Coffee?" Angelo looked to me as he sighed.
"Most definitely," I half smiled.
I followed Angelo out of the courtroom. When the doors closed behind us, I took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Chloe," I tensed up at the sound of his voice, turning around slowly.
"Leo," I responded. He was in a dark gray suit and looked as gorgeous as ever. I nodded to him briskly and started to walk around him.
"Is it true?" I spun around quickly.
"Is what true?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"That you were going to tell me about Anthony…before all of this." His face was as expressionless as his tone.
"Who….It doesn’t matter now." He started to interrupt me, but I talked over him. "What’s done is done." I turned quickly and left him to stand there.
Roni is a dead woman when I got a hold of her! Damn her!
Angelo and I chatted over coffee about Tony’s medical condition along with the custody case. After what felt like only ten minutes, we were requested back into the courtroom. I looked at my watch.
"That wasn’t twenty minutes." I looked at Angelo with worry.
"Calm down, I think that it’s a good thing." He took my arm and walked me back.
After the judge entered, we all sat, waiting for him to speak.
He cleared his throat.
"I have been going over this whole situation, over and over. While I am not here to pass personal judgment, I do feel as if you," he looked directly at me, "made a very large mistake in keeping a child and father separated." I felt the guilt that I have been carrying overwhelm me. Then he turned to Leo
"And you, Mr. Mackey, I feel are acting out of revenge against the child’s mother." I watched Leo’s head drop, his brow furrowed.
"Now, having said that, I have made my decision in the matter of Anthony Kenneth Fiorello." He cleared his throat again. "I am granting in favor of Mrs. Fiorello’s petition. I feel that she is making a reasonable offer in this matter. Mrs. Fiorello is to assist Anthony and Mr. Mackey in establishing a father and son relationship. Once the child is mentally and emotionally acceptable to Mr. Mackey, the joint custody arrangement will go into effect. My suggestion is that Anthony will spend six months with Mr. Mackey and six months with Mrs. Fiorello each year. How you choose to set up those time frames is at your discretion and scheduling. However, if there is a conflict, the court will step in." He looked between the both of us and I wiped away the tears that I could no longer keep in.
"Now, during the month or months that Anthony is with the other parent there will be arrangements made for visitations from the non-custodial parent; weekends, weekdays, holidays, school breaks." He took a deep breath. "On a final note, I want to make sure you both understand tha
t the child is not property. This little person needs to feel secure and loved. I trust that you both will carry forth in a civil manner for the child’s sake." We both nodded our heads in agreement. "One last thing, the child has a medical condition, correct?" He looked directly at me.
"Yes, your honor," I answered in a monotone voice.
"Hmmm…while the custodianship has been arranged, I am going to give Mrs. Fiorello sole guardianship of the child." He looked up when there was a shuffle from Leo’s desk. "Before you get worked up, Mr. Mackey, understand that this is merely an allocation in medical situations. You are his father and have rights. However, this allows his mother to make necessary medical decisions without having to seek your input. She has raised the child up until now in a caring and loving home, as well as sought out medical assistance properly for the child in the past, including exposing herself in this situation. I think that you can trust that she will make the proper choices."
The judge looked back and forth between us before he slammed the gavel on his bench "Adjourned.”
After he left the courtroom, I followed Angelo out to our waiting car. As I was climbing in, I heard him yell for me again.
"Chloe, wait."
My body twitched to throw myself into him, to plead for forgiveness that I knew I would never get, that I didn’t deserve. I stopped at the open door and turned to him as he approached.
"Please, don’t," I said to him and he stopped a few feet from me. "We’ll talk about the arrangements soon. I can have my lawyer contact yours tomorrow to make arrangements, but I can’t do this right now." I slid into the car and we pulled away.
"Are you okay?" Angelo looked at me sympathetically.
I simply nodded, praying that we would get back to my house quickly. I needed to just hold Tony in my arms.
Leo
I had promised my parents that I would go directly to their house after the hearing was over since I didn’t want them to come to the courthouse with me. However, after everything that had just happened, I couldn’t. Instead, I walked past my car, deciding that a walk through Seattle was the best way for me to absorb and process everything that had just happened.
Chloe wouldn’t talk to me at all. Max told me that Chloe had every intention of telling me about Tony. When I tried to talk to her about it, she shut me down. In fact, she shut me down every time I approached her. By no means does that excuse what she had done, but, somehow, knowing that she wanted me to know, made my anger sway a little. I understood that she was upset and it probably wasn’t the best time for confrontations, but I was still drawn to her and hated for her to be sad. Even if she was the cause.
Before I knew it, the sun had moved drastically across the sky above and I looked at my watch. I had been walking around for almost four hours.
Where the hell was I?
I looked around, having no idea where I was. I found a taxi and got back to my car.
I pulled out my cell phone, remembering I had turned it off for the hearing. After it powered up, I had fifteen text messages. Mostly from my mother wanting to know where I was and if I was on my way, then they became more concerned. I deleted them all and started listening to the five voicemails that were waiting on me. First two, were my mother, of course. Third, was my father; fourth, Mina, which I deleted before listening to it, and, fifth, was my mother again. I decided that I should call my mother. When she answered, I told her that I was on my way and would tell them all about it when I got there. I continued to work things out in my head on the drive over. I hadn’t even put the car in park when my mother walked out. She was standing at the open front door. I sighed and climbed out of the car.
"Oh, baby, did everything go okay?" She wrapped me into a large hug.
"Yes," I breathed out and squeezed back. I don’t care how old you are, nothing feels better than your mother hugging you. "Let’s get inside. Where’s Dad?"
"Robert," she yelled as she led me to the living room. As we sat, my father entered the room.
I told them what the judge decided and we sat silently for a moment.
"Well, are you pleased with that outcome or did you wish for more?" My father asked while leaning back in his leather chair. I shrugged.
"I don’t know. I only asked for full custody because the lawyer stated that it would look good for me to want to have him completely. Which I do," I assured them. "I didn’t want to take his mother out of his life. He doesn’t deserve that and, well, he needs his mother."
"He needs a mother, Leo, not necessarily her," my mother added.
"Elaine, we talked about this…" My father leaned forward and patted her knee.
"I’m just saying." She put her hands up in surrender.
I sighed.
"I didn’t think that Chloe would offer up what she did. It was surprising."
I heard the front door close and looked up to see Mina enter the room.
"What are you…?" I turned to my parents "What is she doing here?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Leo, please…I am so sorry. I was never sure…" I cut Mina’s pleading off.
"Oh, so you just suspected and didn’t bother to mention any of it to me?" I yelled.
"Please, I never meant for this to happen. I know that I was wrong. I just…I was so confused about everything and then I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to cause a situation without being absolutely sure, and then Mom approached me at the funeral and I knew that I…"
"WHAT?" I turned to my mother. "You knew at the funeral?"
My mother stood quickly and walked over to me.
"Leo, I didn’t know for sure. When I saw you and Anthony in such close proximity, I just felt sure that he was your son. The features were just too strong in resemblance and…"
"HOLD UP," I put my hands up in the air and took a deep breath. "You knew at the funeral and you didn’t bother to say a fucking thing to me?"
"Don’t talk to your mother like that, Leo." Now my father was standing next to my mom.
My mother’s face was full of shock and sadness.
"Honey, I didn’t want to make a scene at the funeral…"
"And what about the rest of the month, mother? You had plenty of time to mention this, don’t you think?" I sat down, roughly, onto the couch with my head in my hands. "I can’t believe this family." I stood up quickly and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" My mother cried, following me to the door.
"I need to get out of here. I need to just…be alone!" I shouted over my shoulder and slipped into my car. I threw it in reverse and then squealed my tires when I slammed the car into drive and took off.
Almost reaching the beach, I saw red and blue lights behind me. "Fuck!" I pulled over. When I looked out my window, Kenneth Fisher was standing there.
"Hey, Kenneth," I mumbled as I rolled my window down. "What are you doing in the cruiser?" I grumbled.
"Hey, Leo, just helping out Chief Murray for the day," he mumbled back. "Everything okay?"
I nodded my head.
"Okay, can you slow down a little so you don’t kill yourself? My grandson needs his father, you know." My head snapped up. He patted my shoulder before walking back toward his car.
"Kenneth," I jumped out of my car.
He turned around and raised his eyebrow.
"Did you know?" I leaned against my car and Kenneth walked back, leaning next to me.
"Well, I didn’t ‘know’, per se. But, when Tony was about a year and a half, he smiled at me with this grin. I knew then that there was only one other boy in my life that had that hair and that grin." He nudged me with his elbow, then he sighed.
"I know that you are mad at, well, at everyone and, to be honest, you have every right to be. I just hope that you don’t let that anger eat you up and ruin the rest of what you will have with your son and your family." He patted me on the back this time and headed back to his car. "Oh, and don’t forget to slow down," he chuckled as he climbed into the cruiser.
I spent an h
our at the beach thinking about everything, mostly focusing on what Kenneth had said to me. Then, out of nowhere, I remembered the night of the beach fire where I had seen Chloe grown for the first time. She was dancing with Mina and Roni, smiling so large, looking so freaking amazing. She was so perfect. Once the sun had sunk into the water, I drove back to my parents.
Once again, my mother was at the open door before I got out of the car. She looked nervous enough to jump out of her skin at any moment.
"Calm down, Mom. I love you." She smiled and hugged me.
"I am so sorry, baby. I really should’ve told you. I didn’t even…oh, I have no excuse." Then she sighed. "I guess we have all made our mistakes…" she let her thought drift off without finishing it.
"Yes, we have, including me." She looked at me confused. "Trust me, I have made my mistakes." She still didn’t understand. I took a deep breath.
"Let’s just say, that if I hadn’t been an absolute tool years ago, then I would probably have about four kids with Chloe right now." That thought alone made my heart rip even further apart.
"Honey, you can’t…" Mina cut her off.
"Will you stop babying him?" She turned to me. "Leo, I know I was wrong and I am truly sorry. I also realize that you can’t forgive me and I will not ask you to. Just know, you have made your mistakes, too, and I have never turned on you. This wasn’t about me choosing sides. This was simply me being confused. I am, and always will be, sorry. I hope that everything works out well for you and Tony." With that, Mina walked out of the door and closed it behind her.
Kenneth’s words came back to me, ‘I just hope that you don’t let that anger eat you up and ruin the rest of what you will have with him and your family.’ I pulled away from my mother and ran out the door.
"Mina!" She turned around, shocked to see me coming after her.
"I don’t want to fight, Leo-" I cut her off.
"Neither do I." She looked even more shocked. "I realize that you didn’t intend for this to happen and, though I do not agree nor am I happy about what happened, I don’t want us to go on like this. You are my baby sister and I just can’t let you walk out because I am angry about a mistake that was made."
All Grown Up Page 25