"I suppose yer satisfied now, Heaven," she said.
"But ya ain't goin' ta be long."
I shook my head and looked away.
When she was asked if she would tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, she replied, "A course, I will." There was some snickering in the audience.
"Mrs. Wilcox," Camden began, "I understand you just recently became Mrs. Wilcox. How recently was that?"
"Randall and I got hitched two days ago. We went ta Hadleyville and got married by a preacher all right and proper."
"I see. How long have you known Mr.
Wilcox?"
"I knowed him a while," she said, smiling at me.
"Now, Mrs.-Wilcox, this wasn't just a marriage of convenience, was it?" Camden asked.
"Huh?"
"You didn't get married just so you could make a good case for becoming Drake's guardian, did you?"
"Objection, Y'Honor," Wendell said. "Ah resent that implication. There is no evidence—"
"That's what we're here to determine, Your Honor," Camden said softly. The judge thought a moment and then nodded.
"Overruled. I think the question is in order and I would like to hear Mrs. Wilcox's response. Mrs.
Wilcox?"
"Yes, Y'Honor?"
"You can answer the question."
"What question?"
"I'll repeat my question," Camden said. "Did you marry Randall Wilcox only so you would appear to have a proper home for Drake?"
"Well . ." She looked at Wendell, who shook his head quickly. Camden Lakewood caught the glance and the motion and positioned himself between Fanny and Wendell so her lawyer was blocked from her view. "Yer askin' me if'n this is a phony marriage just so I kin git the judge ta give me Drake," she said, obviously recalling what Wendell Burton told her she might be asked. "Well, it ain't. Randall loves me and I love him, so we both figured it was time ta tie the knot. And we do have a proper home. You kin have a proper home without bein' rich as Heaven, kin't ya?"
Some of the audience silently nodded their agreement.
"You were married before, were you not, Mrs.
Wilcox?" Camden asked, coolly ignoring her outburst.
"Uh-huh. I married Ole Mallory."
"Old Mallory. I take it your first husband was considerably older than you were?"
"Oh, yeah, 'bout forty years."
"Forty years older than you were?"
"Uh-huh."
"Were you in love with him, too?"
"He loved me and wanted ta take care a me, so I married him I wasn't as old as I am now and I wasn't as wise, and I didn't have a whole lot of experts tellin'
me what ta do and what not, like some people," she added, looking my way.
"Why did you divorce him?"
Once again she looked toward her lawyer, but Camden remained in his way.
"We couldn't get along nohow," she said.
"Isn't it true that you divorced him because he wanted to have children and you didn't?" Camden asked quickly. She flinched.
"No," she said.
"Didn't you tell people that, people we will call to the stand today, if need be?"
She looked down and then up, her eyes blazing at me. I didn't change expression. I had told her I would throw everything at her I could.
"I didn't want ta have any kids with him 'cause he was too old. I mean, what happens after he dies, huh?" she asked, turning in the seat so she could face the judge. "I'm left with children and no husband and then who wants ta marry me 'cause I got children. So I told him no and we had a fight Then we got divorced and then he did die and he didn't leave me nothin'. So I was right."
"But you have a history of not wanting children, Mrs. Wilcox. Isn't that so?"
"No, it's not;" she said. "Look, ain't I havin' ma own now?" she said, jabbing her right thumb toward her stomach.
"And you were married only two days ago?"
Camden asked softly and looked toward the judge.
"I already told you that," Fanny said. "Don'cha
'member?" she asked, and the audience laughed. The judge pounded his gavel.
"Now, Mrs. Wilcox, can you tell the court how you've come to have Drake Casteel in your home?"
"What'dya mean, come to have him? I picked him up and took him there."
"Picked him up? Picked him up from where?"
"From outside the Willies factory at the party. I seen him left alone while Heaven and Logan was off partyin', showin' off their new factory. So I drove up and told him he should come with me. He got in ma car and I took him home where he belongs."
"Just picked him up off the street without telling anyone?"
"Didn't hafta. He's ma brotha."
"But didn't you think anyone, Mr. and Mrs.
Stonewall especially, would be concerned about the boy's disappearance?"
"Well, they weren't concerned 'bout what I thought." She turned toward Logan and me again, her black eyes blazing. "They neva asked my permission or nothin', just took him to that castle near Boston and then ta their big home here in Winnerow. Well, Pa woulda wanted me ta be his motha, not Heaven. He didn't like Heaven as much as he liked me and she knows it. She knows he'd want Drake with me. You know I'm tellin' the truth 'bout that, Heaven," she said, glaring at me.
I always believed he loved her more, I thought, but somehow I always knew he had more faith in me.
He knew that I had a sense of responsibility and he knew that Fanny was spoiled and selfish. No, I thought, if Luke could be here, brought back from the grave to testify, I think he would say he wanted Drake living with me. After all, he made me executor of his estate. I felt confident that it was I he would have wanted to have custody of Drake.
"But you at least knew where he was, Mrs.
Wilcox. Wasn't what you did very irresponsible? Take a child without telling anyone? They had the police searching. And once you had the boy in your home, why didn't you call them then to tell them?"
"I told ya," she said. "They neva called me to tell me nothin' They didn't even call ta tell me they was here in Winnerow."
"Still, Mrs. Wilcox—.-"
"It was the right thing ta do," she still insisted, nodding. "Heaven thinks she can do whatever she wants 'cause she's so rich. Well, I don't care how rich she is. Drake belongs to me."
Fanny's resentment of me was clear enough for everyone to see. I was embarrassed and hurt by it.
"No further questions, Your Honor," Camden said.
Wendell Burton stood up, but this time, when he approached the witness stand, he held his hands behind his back. He stopped about midway between Fanny and our table and turned so he could look at both of us. Then he rocked once on his heels and I knew what was coming. My heart thumped to a stop and then started to pound.
"Mrs. Wilcox, this baby you're carryin'. Whose baby is it?"
"It's his," she said, pointing toward Logan. "He made me pregnant!"
I heard Logan's mother gasp. The crowd broke out into an uproar. I looked quickly at Randall and saw the look of astonishment on his face. What I had suspected was true. He started to get up, but Wendell Burton, who had quickly returned to the table, seized him by the arm and said something to him that made him sit down again. Perhaps he had told him that Fanny was lying, just so she could get Drake. The judge pounded his gavel again and again, his face reddening with fury.
"I warned everyone," he said. "If another outburst like this occurs, I will clear the courtroom.
Proceed, Mr. Burton," he said. Wendell said something else to Randall and then returned to Fanny
"Mrs. Wilcox, ya pointed to Mr. Stonewall, your sista's husband?"
"Yes, I did. And you kin't deny it, Logan Stonewall!" she exclaimed. "Yer been paying me to take care of it and yer last payment's overdue."
Logan looked at me, but I didn't change
expression even though I was crying inside I felt as if Fanny had jabbed her finger into my heart when she pointed at Logan. I didn't turn around or look down. I knew that
everyone in the courtroom was staring at me, watching for my reaction. All of them must have thought this was the first time I had heard the information. Apparently, as Camden Lakewood had feared, Wendell Burton felt Fanny's moral credibility had been damaged so badly, he had to do something to damage us.
"Mrs. Wilcox, the point was made that you got married only two days ago. Did your husband, Randall Wilcox, know that Logan Stonewall made ya pregnant and was sendin' ya money ta help pay costs?
Did Randall know this before he married ya?"
"Yes, he did. Randall's a real gentleman. He loves me and he's tired of me bein' abused by rich and powerful people," she said, reciting it so mechanically, it was clear to me that her lawyer had made her memorize the line. She looked as proud as a schoolgirl in a school play.
But it was also clear that they had left the innocent and naive Randall Wilcox out of their game plan. He looked totally bewildered.
"And so he wanted yer baby to have a father and ya all to have a proper home?" Wendell asked, making it sound more like a conclusion.
"Uh-huh."
Camden Lakewood leaned over to us. "I'll have to call Logan to the stand now," he whispered, "and have him give his side."
"I understand," Logan said. "I'm sorry, Heaven.
I really am."
"I know. Let's just do what has to be done and get it over with," I said quickly.
"Now, Mrs. Wilcox," Wendell Burton continued, his syrupy smile growing wider, "ya've heard some mighty nasty accusations made about yer moral character here t'day. Ah think it's only fair and proper ya get yer side told. How did ya come to live with Reverend Wise?"
"Ma pa sold us, five hundred dollars a piece.
Reverend Wise bought me."
"Like a slave or somethin', the reverend bought ya for five hundred dollars?" Wendell Burton asked, widening his eyes and looking out at the audience.
"The man who accused ya of bein' a pawn of the Devil?"
"Yes, sir, he did."
"And would you tell the court briefly what it was like livin' in the reverend's house."
"It was nice in the beginnin'. They bought me things and the reverend talked about the Bible and stuff, but then he started gettin' funny "
"Gettin' funny? How do you mean, Mrs.
Wilcox?"
"He'd come inta my room after his wife was asleep ta sit on ma bed and talk ta me and stroke ma hair, and then he began strokin' other things."
"Ah see. And how old were you then?"
"Bout fourteen."
"Bout fourteen. And then, without gettin' into the grizzly details, ya became pregnant with his child, is that so?"
"Yes, sir. But I didn't go inta his room like he says and crawl naked beside him. He came inta ma room. I didn't wanna have a child. I was too young and I was scared, but I had no family, no one ta help me. No one to talk to. So when he told me he wanted to give me ten thousand dollars to keep the baby, I agreed. But then I wanted my baby back."
"Oh? You say ya wanted yer child back? Tell us about that," Wendell Burton said, once again rocking on his heels and turning toward the audience.
"My rich sista came to see me in Nashville and I begged her to buy my baby back, ta give the reverend twice as much money. It wouldn't a meant nothin' ta her ta offa him the money. Ya shoulda seen how much she carried in her pocketbook."
"Did she do it?"
"No, she didn't do it. She didn't want me bein' a motha and havin' a child. She wouldn't have nothin' ta do with me. She sent me money sometimes, but I couldn't come see her 'cause her rich relatives would get sick at the sight of someone as poor and as backward as me," Fanny said and took a handkerchief out of her sleeve to dab her eyes.
"Ah see. Then you married Mr. Mallory, who did want to look after ya, but ya could see no future in that marriage?"
"No, sir, he was too old, as I said."
"So ya got divorced and came ta live here where ya have set up home and gotten married?"
"Yes, I have."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wilcox. That's a lot different from the version we heard before. No further questions, Y'Honor."
"You may step down, Mrs. Wilcox," the judge said when Fanny didn't move.
She looked up, tears streaming down her face, looking like the victim. For a moment even I thought that maybe she was. Like all of us Casteel children, she had to undergo the indignity of being sold. Fanny acted as though she were happy about it at the time, but that was probably because she expected to be loved and cherished the way she always hoped she would be. Then the reverend raped her. I was never in doubt about that. She did have a hard life afterward. I could understand why she did the things she had done in Nashville and why she had married Mallory and later divorced him Perhaps I had been too selfish, I thought. Perhaps I should have gotten her child back from the reverend. Maybe having the responsibility of a child would have changed her.
But she had struck back at me in the most
painful way she could. She seduced my husband and now was trying to take Drake away, not because she wanted him—but to punish me. I had to put aside my guilt feelings and once again harden myself against her. Drake's future depended upon it.
"I would like to call Logan Stonewall to the stand," Camden said. Logan stood up. There was a loud rustling in the audience, but Judge McKensie's eyes were enough to keep any chatter down. Logan's mother sobbed once behind us, but we both ignored her. I squeezed his hand for a moment and then he went to the stand.
Logan looked as nervous as a little boy. I saw his hand shake when he placed it on the Bible, and his voice cracked when he said, "I do so swear." He looked toward me again as he took the seat and I smiled to encourage and support him.
"Mr. Stonewall," Camden Lakewood began,
"you've just heard the testimony of Mrs. Wilcox in which she has accused you of fathering the child she now carries. Are you indeed the father of this child?"
"I don't know. Maybe," Logan said.
"Then you admit to having had intimate relations with Mrs. Wilcox?"
"Yes," Logan said.
Once again the audience broke into an uproar, but the judge's quick gavel ended it.
"Can you describe the circumstances under which this occurred?"
"Yes, I can." Logan straightened up in the seat, assuming a take-charge position. His voice deepened and he spoke louder and with more authority. "My sister-in-law often hung around the factory site in Winnerow. She seemed to have nothing else to do and no one else to talk to. Whenever she was there, she brought me things to eat or talked to me about how hard her life was living alone, with no family nearby.
I was staying in our cabin in the Willies, and I did start to feel sorry for her. One night she appeared with wine and food. She made me dinner. We drank a great deal of wine and she cried a great deal. Before I knew it, she was undressing herself and clinging to me. We .
. . ended up in bed together. I was drunk and I regretted it immediately."
"Have you seen her intimately since?"
"No, never again."
"Just that one time?"
"Yes."
"And then you and your wife were told she was pregnant with your child?"
"Yes. And I explained everything to my wife,"
Logan said, looking my way. "She understood and forgave me, and I love her more than ever because of it," he added. Tears sprang to my eyes, but I didn't raise my hand to wipe them away. I would give no one in the courtroom the satisfaction of seeing me brought to tears by Fanny's actions. I sat up even straighter.
Fanny was staring at me. The slight smile on her face faded and an expression of surprise and awe replaced it. How much she wanted to see me broken, I thought. This whole proceeding, everything she had done, was simply to see that happen. Jealousy lived inside her like a parasite all these years, feeding off her and growing bigger and uglier and stronger until it filled her completely. Would Fanny wake up one day and regret the things she had done? I wondered.
"So, Mr.
Stonewall, you never questioned that you were the father of Fanny's child," Camden continued, "even though you knew she had other boyfriends?"
"Objection, Y'Honor. Mr. Lakewood is makin'
an obvious insinuation here 'bout Mrs. Wilcox's character."
"I think I will sustain that objection, Mr. Lakewood. It hasn't been established that Mrs. Wilcox had other boyfriends with whom she was intimate at the time."
"Very well, Your Honor. I’ll phrase my question in another way. Mr. Stonewall, did you know for a fact that Mrs. Wilcox was seeing other men at the time she visited you at the factory site?"
"I knew she had been seeing Mr. Wilcox often."
"I see. Knowing this, you still began sending her money to cover her doctor bills and provide for the birth of the child?"
"Yes, we did."
"And without even being certain as to your responsibility, you did what was best for Fanny Wilcox and the child to be born?"
"Yes."
"No further questions, Your Honor."
"Mr. Burton?"
"Mr. Stonewall," he began, even before he rose from his seat. "Ya said ya knew for a fact Mrs.
Wilcox had been seeing Mr. Wilcox at the time ya made love to her in yer cabin?"
"Yes."
"Do ya know for a fact whether or not Mrs.
Wilcox slept with Mr. Wilcox at that time?"
"For a fact."
"Well, ya didn't go spyin' on Mrs. Wilcox. Or did ya?"
There was some laughter in the audience.
Logan's face turned almost as red as a ripe apple.
"Of course not."
"Did Mrs. Wilcox tell ya she slept with Mr.
Wilcox?"
“No.”
"Did Mr. Wilcox tell ya he slept with Mrs.
Wilcox at that time?"
"No."
"So, ya have no factual information not ta assume the child Mrs. Wilcox is now carryin' is yer child, isn't that correct?"
"I suppose not," Logan said.
"And so ya not sendin' Mrs. Wilcox money for the baby out a pure charity or a civic sense of responsibility only, then, are ya, Mr. Stonewall?"
"Objection, Your Honor," Camden said. "Mr.
Stonewall has already testified as to why he and Mrs.
Fallen Hearts (Casteel Series #3) Page 32