by Jillian Neal
Jack gave Candy a polite smile. “Miss Parker, you stated that you were unaware of your pregnancy with Adeline until you were nearing your last trimester, is that correct?”
“Yeah,” Candy agreed hesitantly.
Logan wasn’t certain if the word trimester had thrown her or if she was averse to agreeing with Jack on any point.
“I personally have never had a baby,” he said, drawing slight grins from the courtroom, “but it was my understanding that there are several telltale signs of pregnancy, the most common being the absence of the female menstrual cycle. Did you not experience this symptom?”
“I didn’t really keep up with it. I kinda figured it went away cuz I didn’t need it. That way I could work more,” she explained to gasps from several jury members. Her lawyer’s face twisted in horror.
Jack didn’t look surprised. “So you held a job that you couldn’t perform when you were menstruating?” He feigned confusion.
“Objection, relevance,” Snyder fumed.
“That question does seem relevant. Your defense is that Miss Parker turned to prostitution in effort to raise her child,” the judge huffed. “Continue, Mr. Stariff.”
Jack nodded for Candy to continue. “Well uh,” she finally began to realize what she’d just admitted, “Kind of.”
Jack cocked his jaw to the side. “Kind of? Miss Parker, were you a prostitute before you conceived and gave birth to Adeline? I will remind you that you are under oath.”
“Well a girl’s gotta eat, and it’s not like I was hurting anyone.”
Logan finally allowed his lungs to fill with air. Maybe this was going to work just the way Jack had promised. Maybe his father’s warning was unnecessary. Maybe he could keep his promise that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. This was all going to be fine.
His Mother-in-Law was an idiot of epic proportion, and she was going to be her own undoing.
Adeline would be able to practice medicine, and life was going to turn out just the way it was supposed to. The thoughts pacified the hysteria that had set in from the moment Vindico had showed up at the farmhouse to inform them that Adeline was going to have to stand trial.
“Did you use drugs while you were pregnant, Miss Parker?” Stariff demanded, quickly taking Candy off guard.
“Not once they told me,” she insisted, not aware that she’d just made Jack’s day.
“Interesting, because according to numerous neonatal experts, the drugs that were in Adeline’s system when she was born would have to have been ingested by you within two weeks of her birth. Care to rethink that last answer?”
“Well, I didn’t know that she was gonna use ‘em while she was in there.” Candy sneered, as if Adeline had stolen something from her before birth.
Stunned disbelief etched every face in the courtroom, and Logan watched Adeline’s head fall in shame. His heart ached for his wife, but the only emotion he could access was elation. No jury in their right mind would believe Candy. She was a lunatic.
Lucas didn’t seem to share Logan’s delight. He squeezed her hand again, offering her loving gazes as Jack went on.
“Miss Parker, you may not have been aware of this, but these,” Jack moved back to the files beside Adeline and held up a thick folder, “are all of the medical tests performed on Adeline while she attended Venton Academy.”
“It is one of the toughest schools in the country. They have extremely high standards. Each and every student that attends Venton, which I will point out is where my client and her husband met and fell in love as he attended the academy as well, must pass a full drug screening several times each year.”
“If a student is caught using, they are immediately expelled. Venton is not a place for drugs and that has been the policy of the school for many, many years.”
“Adeline passed every single drug test that she was given while attending the Academy from the age of sixteen to twenty-one, as did her husband, Logan. Adeline also agreed to broad scale drug tests as soon as she was arrested on drug charges. Four hair samples were taken. As the jury can see, Mrs. Haydenshire has very long hair. Drug use at any time in the last several years would have shown on the tests. They never found any evidence of illegal substances in her system, so I’m going to ask you, Miss Parker, did you ever use drugs with Adeline or ever see Adeline using illegal drugs?” Jack kept a glare leveled on Candy.
“You said she failed one of them tests,” Candy demanded of her lawyer.
“Answer the question Ms. Parker,” Judge Sanderson demanded.
“Not really,” she pulled her mouth back into a pout.
“And did you use illegal substances while in the presence of your daughter while she was growing up under your care?” Jack’s malevolent eyes never moved off of Candy. She twisted uncomfortably in her seat.
“I don’t understand the question.” Her pleasure, at what she must’ve considered a solid answer, seemed to thrill her.
“Did you get high while you were supposed to be caring for Adeline?”
“I was a good mother.”
Logan huffed audibly, and Jack shot him a look that said for him to shut it.
“That remains to be seen, and it was not the question.” He edged closer to Candy.
“I never did nothing in front of her. She never needed me. Besides, she looks fine to you, don’t she?” Candy threw a scowl Adeline’s way.
Nodding, Jack sighed. “You stated to the court that Adeline asked for things when she was a young child? Could you elaborate on the kinds of things Adeline requested?”
“I don’t remember. That was a long time ago,” Candy continued to pout.
“That’s fine. I’ll ask Adeline when I put her on the stand.”
Sensing that she was effectively trapped, Candy huffed. “Like that time she wanted that doll. I didn’t have money to buy her a doll. What’s she gonna do with a doll anyway? Everybody got their panties in a wad cause she got hurt. Clearly, she’s fine.”
What little blood had remained in Lucas’s face slithered downward quickly as his head fell into his hands in abject defeat.
“No further questions,” Jack assured the judge as he returned to his seat shaking his head.
“Snyder, your witness,” Sanderson called as Candy took her seat.
“I’d like to call Mrs. Adeline Haydenshire,” Snyder sneered her last name.
Lucas gave her a consoling smile as he stood and allowed Adeline to walk towards the stands. She glanced at Logan, giving him a desperate gaze that said for him to rescue her.
Logan felt sick. He knew that he couldn’t, but he also still felt confident that this was all going their way. She was too nervous to realize that her mother had effectively indicted herself.
Adeline was sworn in. Her voice shook to such a degree that she could hardly be heard. She took the seat and Snyder dove in. “When did you marry, Mrs. Haydenshire?”
“Logan and I got married December second,” she stammered, but then cleared her throat. With a quick glance at Logan, she settled.
“And how long were you engaged?” Snyder fired quickly.
“Logan asked me to marry him August 28th,” she supplied with a smile, clearly recalling the events in discussion.
“And did you let your mother know that you were engaged or getting married?”
Logan watched Adeline debate how to answer the question. She seemed to decide on the cold hard facts. She drew a deep breath and furrowed her brow in a look of concentration. “No, sir.”
“Don’t you feel that those are events your mother would like to have at least known about?”
“Well, a couple of days before Logan proposed, I asked him to take me to the facility where Mom was being held, and he did.” She cleared her throat and proceeded. “I asked to see her, and she came out and told me that she hated me and never ever wanted to see me again. So I suppose I assumed that she probably didn’t really care if I was engaged or if I was getting married.” Adeline’s explanation held no judgm
ent, only the heartbreaking truth that was going to be Candy’s undoing.
It serves her right. Logan recalled the night at the prison and their impending break up.
Not caring for the answer he received, Snyder moved on. “And did you and Logan have a wedding ceremony, Adeline?”
“Yes sir.” Another smile lit her face, and Logan felt her smile move his own.
“Sometimes, Adeline, wouldn’t you agree that parents occasionally say things that they may not mean,” Snyder coaxed.
“Do not answer that, Adeline!” Jack’s demand startled her as he leapt from his seat. “Objection! Leading!”
“Sustained. Move on Snyder.”
“Don’t you feel your mother should have at least been given the opportunity to attend her only daughter’s wedding?”
Adeline considered thoughtfully. “No, sir, not really.”
Logan gave her a broad, encouraging smile.
“And why is that, seems a bit disrespectful to me.”
“Well, she wasn’t ever interested in anything that I was doing. She told me that she never wanted to see me again all the time. She’d hated Logan since that day he stopped her from hitting me. I only wanted people that I knew loved me to be there when I married Logan, because he’s the person that helped me understand that people could love me. I do wish my dad had been there, though.”
Putting his hand to his heart and blinking back tears, Lucas nodded his heartfelt agreement. Shocked whispers floated around the courtroom.
Quickly deciding that he should change tactic, Snyder moved back to the table while glancing nervously at Lucas.
“You were given a random drug test on September fifteenth, Adeline, and you tested positive for hydrocodone. Do you have access to that medication in your work as an obstetrician at Georgetown Hospital?”
“Yes sir, but I was given a prescription for Vicodin because of a surgical procedure I’d had the day before.”
“I have no record of you having surgery,” Snyder huffed pompously.
Jack leapt up again, “I have the hospital records right here, and the prosecution and the judge were given copies of Ms. Haydenshire’s medical records before the trial.”
“I do have a copy of that. Ms. Haydenshire, then Ms. Parker, underwent an emergency operation to remove a follicular ovarian cyst,” Sanderson held up the copy of the records he’d been given. “She was given hydrocodone acetaminophen after the surgery for pain and a prescription was sent home with her and Mr. Haydenshire.” The judge gestured his head to Logan, who nodded his agreement.
“Did you not receive your copy Mr. Snyder?” Sanderson looked out over the top of the reading glasses he’d placed on the bridge of his nose.
“Oh it’s here,” Snyder lamented. “Must’ve missed that.”
“Might I suggest that you move on, Mr. Snyder?” Judge Sanderson ordered.
“Yes sir,” Snyder whisked quickly back towards Adeline. “Did you let your mother know that you were in the hospital, Adeline?”
“No sir,” she supplied with no additional information. Jack gave her an encouraging nod.
“Seems to me that you went out of your way to shut your mother out of your life once you began dating Logan.”
“Objection, argumentative.” Jack leveled a cold glare at Snyder. He wasn’t going to get away with anything.
“Stick to allowable questions, Snyder. This is your last warning,” Sanderson huffed.
“When you left the hospital, Adeline, who picked up the prescription for your pain medication?”
Adeline’s brow knitted again. “Logan took me home, and I didn’t want him to leave, so Garrett went and picked up the medicine for me.”
“Garrett?”
“Haydenshire,” Adeline pointed to Garrett, who held up his hand as he glared at Snyder. “Logan’s brother.”
Jack shook his head, and she stopped talking.
“And are you involved in some kind of relationship with Garrett Haydenshire? Has he ever supplied you with drugs before?”
Disgust chiseled Garrett features as he gasped audibly. Vindico shook his head slightly clearly thinking this was completely insane.
“A relationship with Garrett?” Adeline’s face screwed up in anger at the audacity of the implication. “He’s my Brother-in-Law, and he’s my friend,” Garrett gave her a reassuring nod, “but that’s it. And I’ve never been given a prescription before that one. I’ve never had surgery before, so no, he’s never supplied me with anything like that.”
“Your honor, this is irrelevant,” Jack demanded hotly.
“Make your point, Snyder,” Sanderson sighed.
“I think I’ll let these make my point for me, your honor.”
Logan felt his heart cinch his throat and choke his vocal cords. Pictures were handed out to the jury. Pictures Logan wished and prayed would simply disappear from existence. Pictures of the stupidest thing Adeline had ever done and that he’d ever allowed.
Emily’s face fell in her shame. That stupid party where they’d let the moment get away from them all. That moment that had cost too damn much. They were kids, stupid kids. They knew better, but dammit, they’d just gone along.
“The point, your honor, is that my client feels that the entire Haydenshire family has turned her daughter against her. I am trying to ascertain just how deeply involved Adeline is with this family, who I personally believe have poisoned Adeline’s mind against her mother.”
“I believe that this is a photograph of Garrett Haydenshire up on a bar. And this is Adeline quite obviously drunk and drinking more. This is her husband, Logan, and her Sister-in-Law, Emily. I believe that would be Rainer Lawson, Emily’s fiancée, with his tongue in her navel up on a bar. Do these look like moral, upstanding examples to you? Her lawyer can dress her up in a conservative suit and call her a saint, but these pictures tell an entirely different story.”
The hope and stupid assurances that had fortified Logan moments before now served to mock him. The trial was anyone’s game now, and there may not be anything he could do to save his wife.
“Objection you honor!” Jack huffed. “Adeline is of legal drinking age and was in those photos. She was at a private party. None of the people in that photo ever gave Adeline anything illegal, and they never would. Stop trying to demonize my client, Snyder!”
Tears formed quickly in Adeline’s eyes. She shook her head, “No! No they have done nothing but take care of me since I first started going out with Logan. They are wonderful people, all of them. Mrs. Haydenshire has fed me almost every meal for years now.”
“Excuse me, your honor, but the Haydenshires are not on trial here, and though I wasn’t aware that I would be teaching law today, Mr. Snyder’s job is to determine whether or not Adeline Haydenshire was in possession of or using illegal drugs at the time of her mother’s arrest. These are photographs from an entirely different time.”
But this time, Judge Sanderson shook his head at Jack. “Although that is partly true, we are being asked to determine whether or not Adeline Haydenshire might’ve used either illegal substances as her mother claims, or legal substances in an illegal fashion that she can acquire from her job. The pictures are admissible as witness to her character.”
Logan’s head sank. Fionna and Emily shared a heartbroken glance. That stupid Angels party, that had already cost so much, might’ve just lost Adeline her job.
“Adeline, could you please tell the court if either Senator or Mrs. Haydenshire ever gave you or encouraged you to take drugs either prescription or illegal?”
“No, never,” Adeline vowed instantly.
“Logan or any of his siblings?”
“No!”
“Your witness, Mr. Stariff.” Snyder smiled like the cat that just swallowed the canary.
“Thank you,” Jack sneered. “Adeline,” he greeted her with a warm smile, “dear, have you ever taken any kind of drug legal or illegal that was not prescribed to you by a doctor?”
“No, sir.�
�
“Would you care to explain the photographs the jury now has?”
“Yes, sir. It was a party after a sporting event. I didn’t mean to drink too much. I’ve never done it again. I suppose we all make mistakes, and that was certainly one of mine.”
“Were there any drugs, legal or illegal, being passed out at that party?”
“No, sir, none.”
Jack gave a quick nod. Logan prayed that whatever happened next would somehow expunge those stupid pictures from the jury’s collective mind.
“Adeline, can you tell the court how old you were when you began paying the household bills for your mother?”
Adeline glanced from her father to her mother. One looked disappointed and deeply concerned, the other flippant and uncaring, parts they’d both perfected.
“I was in either third or fourth grade, I suppose. Paying bills always made my mom angry, and it scared me. So I would usually take some of the cash that she…” Adeline choked and then shuddered slightly before forcing out the word, “earned, and I would pay the bills that I could find. I got better with it as I got older. When I turned fifteen, Mom wanted me to get a job, so I started working at the pizza place after school. I would use my tips and paycheck to pay the bills when Mom didn’t make me give the money to her.”
Logan was thoroughly convinced that his heart could not withstand much more of this trial, but Jack had done an effective job of bringing the jury’s attention back to Candy’s failings and away from Adeline’s.
“Your mother made you give her your tips and paychecks? Do you know why?”
“Usually to pay her dealer.” Adeline’s pallor hued slightly.
“Her drug dealer?”
“Yes sir,” she admitted as pain broadcast from her features. Her pain physically affected not only Logan, but Rainer, Governor Haydenshire, Vindico, all of Logan’s brothers, and most of all, Lucas.
“Adeline, sweetheart, can you tell us how old you were when you and Logan began dating?” was Jack’s next question.
Some of her visible pain abated. “Yes, sir, I was seventeen.”
“And Senator and Mrs. Haydenshire offered for you to come and live with them on their farm, did they not?”