Those Children Are Ours Page 5

  “We’ve checked records, we’ve hired a private investigator,” Jennie added. “It sounds as if I would not have been able to find anyone better to care for the girls all of these years if I had tried.”

  “I’m sure that Thomas was a good father.” Sheila patted her arm. She had always like Thomas.

  When no one else spoke, Alice continued. “The facts are that twelve years ago Jennie abandoned her children. She deserted her husband and moved in with another man. Over the next two or two and a half years, she slept with a number of men and she drank heavily. On occasion, she behaved in a violent manner, assaulting her boyfriend and patrons at the restaurant where she worked. When her husband filed for a divorce, she did not contest it, and she made no attempt to assert any rights to her children.”

  Alice paused as she flipped through a folder of documents. “We will have no choice but to admit to everything I have just said. They are fact and they are documented. We will argue that Jennie’s behavior was the result of a mental disorder, a bipolar disorder…”

  “My daughter is not crazy,” Askins growled. “She was right to leave that man and…”

  “Mr. Bateman, your opinion on these matters really does not count in court. Jennie’s condition was diagnosed by her psychiatrist, Dr. Wilson.”

  Alice paused, looking at the expressions on the faces around her.

  “We knew she moved in with Jeff, but…other men?” Sheila swallowed hard. She didn’t want to believe what she was hearing. “I never heard that she attacked anyone.”

  “I thought the court decided that Thomas made more money…” Sarah added. “I guess I assumed that’s why he had the children…Jennie, how could you just…”

  Jennie looked at the floor, refusing to meet anyone’s eye.

  Si reached over and patted her on the shoulder. “It’ll be all right, Sis.”

  The group sat in silence for several moments, then Alice looked around the circle. “Not all of you were fully aware of Jennie’s lifestyle during that period. I’m telling you about it now, not in order to embarrass her, but because you will hear it in court, and when you hear it from her former husband, it will sound much worse than what I have just said.”

  Si glanced at the others. “Mom, Dad, Sarah, we all knew that Jennie had a rough time, even if we didn’t know the details, but whatever happened then doesn’t matter now. We know that she’s not like Ms. Green just described her. Not now. The Jennie we have always loved is a good person.” He turned to Jennie. “We love you and we’re with you. Right, everybody?”

  “Of course.”

  “We love you, sweetie.”

  Jennie wiped her eyes as her mother and Sarah hugged her.

  “I love you, Jennie.” Sarah held Jennie’s face and looked into her eyes. “I’m behind you all of the way.”

  Sheila hesitated, disturbed by what she had heard. Then she took a deep breath and looked Jennie in the eye. “Me, too, sweetie. I’m with you.”

  Only Askins remained silent, staring at the wall, a scowl on his face.

  “Her former husband will argue that she was an unfit mother twelve years ago and that nothing has really changed. He will assert that it would be negligent to give her access to her children, dangerous even.

  “Our job,” Alice continued, “will be to show that Jennie has changed. We cannot deny her past, but we can argue that she is a different person today. For instance, we have a statement from Dr. Wilson to the effect that Jennie has been receiving medication for her disorder for several years, that it is under control, and that the symptoms she exhibited are no longer present. We will have to convince the court that Dr. Wilson’s assessment is accurate, that Jennie has changed, and that she has a lot to offer her daughters.”

  She placed her hand on Jennie’s shoulder. “You are all here to support Jennie, to let her know that you love her, care about her, and believe in her. Be with her for that purpose. Please do not speak in court unless you are called as a witness.”

  “Might we be called?” Sheila’s eyes were wide.

  “None of you is scheduled to be called, but that could change. Please do not speak to Jennie’s former husband, or to his attorney. As far as you are able, please do not react to anything they say.”

  “Ms. Green?” After what she had heard, Sheila was uneasy, and her voice trembled. “What do you think our chances are?”

  Alice Green took a deep breath. “I cannot imagine that Jennie would not be granted visitation of some kind. As far as the rest,” she shrugged, “it’s anyone’s guess. Her former husband’s attorney will paint him as a saint, complete with white robe and golden halo. She will picture your daughter as blacker than Satan himself. She will attempt to make the hearing a classic battle between the saint and the sinner.”

  “In my experience, the sinner tends to win.” Askins chuckled softly.

  “It often seems that way, but in family court, Mr. Bateman, when the welfare of children is involved, I’ll place my money on the saint every time. I will work to counter the perception her former husband’s attorney tries to create.”

  ***

  Thomas sat on the sofa in Emma’s family room, his arm around her shoulders. He could hear Alexis and Tasha calling Latin vocabulary words in the next room. Christa and Amy had taken their math books upstairs.

  “Dinner was delicious,” Thomas said. “Shrimp and grits. My favorite.”

  “Thank you. I wanted to have something special. Tomorrow is going to be hard.”

  “I’ll be all right.”

  “You’re worried.” She squeezed his hand, then wrapped her arms around him. “I’ll do anything I can to help.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “I know you will. We’re still going to dinner tomorrow night?”

  She nodded. “Of course. I’ll pick up dinner for the girls on my way home.” She snuggled against him. “So, how did Kimi Carson come to be your attorney?”

  “Michael Bannister at the McIntosh Firm recommended her as the best family lawyer he knows.”

  “I know Kimi. She’s on the vestry with me at Saint Phillip’s. She represented two of my friends in custody fights. You know Jane Thomas and Marcia Bartow. They sing her praises.”

  “I’ve heard good things about her. She seems to be well prepared, and I hear that she can be a terror in court.”

  Emma turned and leaned against him. “Does she think we’ll win?”

  Thomas looked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. “She seems to think that there is little reason to deny her request for visitation.”

  “Thomas, no…

  He held up his hand to stop her. “That doesn’t mean that she can get what she wants. Her petition is excessive—a weekend each month, almost the entire summer, most of Christmas break. Add up the time. It’s over ninety days a year. There is no way possible to do what she wants without interfering with their activities, their plans, their lives.”

  “That’s so true. Can she really maintain that she has their best interests at heart and then take them away from everything they love to do, from their friends, from us? If she really cares would she seriously try to interfere with all that they have planned? Have you looked at their schedules over the next four months? My kids have a handful of unplanned weekends. I know that yours are the same.”

  “They are.”

  “How can they possibly fit in weekend visits with her? How can Christa take a part in a play? Soccer season doesn’t revolve around her.”

  Thomas shrugged.

  “And this summer—isn’t Alexis planning on returning to Governor’s School for their writing program? Isn’t Christa planning to take theater classes and riding? How can they do those and spend the summer in Georgia?”

  “They can’t. What she is asking will totally disrupt their lives, and I cannot see how the change could possibly be beneficial to anyone except her.” Thomas’s voice was angry. “She doesn’t care about them anymore than she did…” He took a deep breath. “Kimi believe
s we can hold visitation to a weekend each month, maybe less, and a couple of days during Christmas break.”

  “What is Kimi’s plan?”

  “She expects Jennie’s attorney to admit to her behavior when we were married.”

  “Really?”

  “They don’t have a lot of choice. Kimi has affidavits to support my account of Jennie’s behavior.” He tapped his hand on the arm of the sofa. “She did discover that several years ago Jennie was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. She expects that her attorney will blame everything on that. Since it is now under control, she will then assert that the petition should be granted.”

  “Is it? Under control?”

  Thomas sighed. “I don’t know. Supposedly they have an evaluation, but Kimi has not received a copy. If they have one, she may be able to attack it. She will emphasize how bad her behavior was, regardless of the reason, try to raise doubts about her current condition.” He stared at the fire “She plans to emphasize the potential harm to the children. When it comes to ordering visitation, her plan is to manage it. Rather than oppose it outright, she will attempt to delay it, limit it, and, if it comes to it, make the motion herself, incorporating our terms.”

  “Are you all right with this?” t: First Day

  “All right? No. But if it can be limited…Well, I can live with it.”

  “It’s so unfair. She doesn’t deserve our kids. How are they holding up?”

  “Alexis is angry. Christa won’t talk about it. She starts to cry whenever the subject arises. I’m glad she and Amy have a math test to study for tonight. It gives her something else to think about.”

  They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, before Thomas spoke again. “I asked Kimi not to call you to testify, but she said that they will discover we’re engaged, if they don’t already know it, and call you. She wants to question you first, show that you are a wonderful person. Then, it will be more difficult for them to picture you as Cinderella’s wicked stepmother-to-be.”

  Emma nodded. “I’ve talked with Kimi. She told me to answer the questions that are asked, not to elaborate, not to be a smart aleck.”

  “You? A smart aleck?” He laughed and hugged her.

  “Of course not. Never.” She smiled. “I do wish she would let me tell that witch of a first wife of yours what I really think of her, though.”

  Thomas laughed again. “I’m sure the message will come through. Loud and clear.”

  Chapter Three

  It didn’t look like a courtroom, Jennie thought as she followed Alice into the small chamber on the third floor of the courthouse. She had imagined an enormous room with a witness box and a raised dais for the judge. She’d envisioned flags hanging on either side of the judge’s bench and something, maybe the state seal or a sculpture of the blindfolded goddess of justice, suspended on the wall. On the floor, she’d expected there would be tiers of seats for the jury, and two long tables, one on each side, separated from rows of chairs by a waist-high bar.

  What she found instead was a small room with two windows overlooking Broad Street. A table and a chair were set on a low platform, and an armchair stood beside the table, angled so that the person sitting in it would be speaking to the judge, as well as to others in the room. In front of the platform were the two tables, but there was no bar and no jury box. She saw seats for maybe twenty people, two rows of five chairs on each side. Her family would take up most of one row. She wondered who would take the other seats. Would Alexis and Christa be present?

  Court was to begin in twenty minutes, but, except for the two of them, the room was empty. The drive from Columbia, which should have taken two hours, had taken almost three. The interstate highway abruptly ended in town, and morning traffic backed up for miles as cars waited for traffic lights at the ends of the exit ramps. Worse than anything she had ever seen in Atlanta.

  “Let’s sit over here.” Alice motioned to the table on the right. “Your family can sit behind us.” The door opened as she spoke, and Jennie’s family entered.

  “Maybe I should sit over here.” Si pointed to the other side of the room. Jennie saw a twinkle in his eye. “Maybe I can eavesdrop on the opposition.”

  Alice smiled. “Probably not a good idea.”

  Jennie sat at the table while her family took seats behind her, her mother and sister in the first row and her father behind them, next to Si. “No one else is here,” she said. “Where is Thomas? Can people just walk in to listen to what is going on?”

  “We’re a little early. Your former husband and his attorney will be here. He may have other people with him, but the general public usually doesn’t attend hearings in family court.”

  “How about the children?”

  “I doubt it.”

  Alice opened her briefcase and extracted several file folders. No one spoke, and Jennie could hear the tick, tick, tick as the clock on the back wall counted the passing seconds. She glanced at the paper in Alice’s hand. It seemed to be a list of names.

  “What is that?”

  “What?” Alice turned toward her, then glanced at the paper. “Oh. Witnesses who your former husband plans to call.”

  “That many? Who are they?”

  “Neighbors, friends. This one,” she pointed at one name, “is a state senator. They are character witnesses, I suppose.”

  “The senator?”

  Alice sniffed. “He lives down the block from your former husband. The General Assembly elects judges here. I suppose it’s a subtle warning.”

  Jennie gasped. “You mean that if the judge rules in my favor, she may lose her job?”

  “Nothing as blatant as that.” Alice frowned slightly. “Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about it. I will likely offer to stipulate that your former husband is of good moral character and is a good father if they agree not to call these people. We don’t need to sit for hours hearing all of them sing his praises.”

  Jennie’s father snorted. “You shouldn’t say that. He’s not of good character. He’s not a good father.”

  “Mr. Bateman, your opinion does not matter to the court. In any case, it will be better for me to say it once than for the judge to hear it from twelve people, some of whom, maybe all of whom, she knows.”

  As she finished speaking, the door opened and a young woman wearing a blue suit, crisp white shirt, and black heels entered, marching down the center aisle, her heels clicking on the wood floor. A black pocketbook hung over one shoulder, she carried a tablet in a black leather cover and a thin black notebook. She was tall, with pale skin and jet-black hair. Jennie thought the woman looked like a model. She gazed down at her own shirt and pants—what she wore to church—and felt underdressed.

  “My, my,” her father whispered to Si, just loudly enough for Jennie to hear. “I’d like to see her in a bathing suit.” Si dropped the smirk from his face when Jennie turned and glared.

  Jennie looked back at the woman. She did not appear to have heard. She checked her cell phone, slipped a sheet of paper from her notebook, and seemed to study it. Then, she turned toward Jennie and Alice. She took a step forward and held out her hand.

  “Ms. Green? I’m Kimi Carson. I’m representing Dr. Lindsay. How are you?”

  Jennie stiffened in surprise. She had assumed that Thomas had received his degree, but she had never before heard him referred to as Dr. Lindsay. She always said Thomas. Alice always called him your former husband. It sounded nice though.

  Alice hesitated, then stood and greeted her.

  “You’re Ms. Bateman?” She looked at Jennie.

  “Yes, yes I am.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. I wish it were under more pleasant circumstances.” Kimi Carson handed each a card. “This is how to get in touch with me. Feel free to call if you have any questions or if you need to contact Dr. Lindsay.”

  Jennie didn’t respond, not knowing what to say. Alice had told her not to talk with Thomas. Now it appeared that neither of them were allowed to speak to him directly.

&n
bsp; “It’s almost time to start. I understand that you’ll be spending the night in town?”

  Jennie nodded,

  “Well, I hope you enjoy your visit.” She returned to the other table.

  “Ms. Carson, is Thomas going to be here?”

  Kimi smiled. “I do expect him. He had a class at eight o’clock and I suspect he stopped for coffee.” She turned her attention to her tablet.

  Alice leaned over toward Jennie. “Okay, you will be the first person called to testify. We’ve talked about what I will ask you…”

  Ten minutes later, Jennie jumped as a door closed.

  “Family Court of Charleston County is in session, Judge Amanda Sullivan presiding.”

  Judge Sullivan entered, along with a court reporter and the bailiff who had announced her. She appeared to be about Alice’s age, with a pleasant face and graying hair.

  As both Jennie and Alice rose to their feet, Jennie glanced across the room. She caught her breath when she saw Thomas standing next to Kimi Carson, wearing a navy suit, white shirt, and blue tie with gold stripes. She had seldom seen him in a suit. His hair was shorter than when he was in school and she saw the scattering of gray near his temples that she had noticed in Atlanta. He looks good.

  “You are Ms. Bateman?”

  “Yes…Your Honor.”

  “Ms. Green, you are representing Ms. Bateman?”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “Are you ready to proceed?”

  “We are, Your Honor.”

  “Dr. Lindsay, how are you?”

  “I am fine, Judge Sullivan.”

  “You are representing Dr. Lindsay, Ms. Carson?”

  “I am, Your Honor.”

  “Are you ready to proceed?”

  “Yes, Your Honor, we are.”

  “Good, please be seated. Ms. Carson, Ms. Green, you were notified that I am acquainted with Dr. Lindsay. Since other family court judges also know him, some better than I, you were offered the option of having this hearing conducted in the family court of another county. This option would have required a postponement of the hearing. You both indicated a willingness to proceed. Is this still the case? Do you still wish for me to proceed with this hearing and with the subsequent supervision of this case?”