Authors: Sadie Grubor
"I just spoke, briefly, with Mrs. Foster." The judge's voice broke through the tension filled silence. "She is currently speaking with Victoria; however, she has already covered a few areas that I feel are important." He looked around the room.
"Dr. Bishop," Dr. Bishop turned his full attention to the judge. "Victoria is comfortable and well taken care of in your home." He nodded approvingly. "I don't see any harm from her living with you."
"Thank you, your honor." Dr. Bishop responded.
"However, it does seem you are often displaced in Victoria's daily life." The judge's eye lingered for a few moments on Dr. Bishop. He seemed to nod slightly in a silent conversation or warning coming from the judge.
"Ms. Gold," I watched Grace sit up straighter and smile at him, batting her eyelashes. "Victoria really doesn't feel any connection to you or desire to live with you. Given the fact that you left her when she was about three years of age, I assume that she would need time to get familiar with you again before I could allow you to take any type custody of the child." Grace's face fell and she shot a look of fury at her attorney.
"Ms. Ashwood," I turned to the judge immediately and sat up straighter. "I assure you that you are the motherly figure in Victoria's life. She has spoken non-stop about you since Mrs. Foster has been conversing with her." He smiled warmly at me. "Mrs. Foster also believes that from what she has learned through Victoria you are indeed a good figure for her to follow."
The judge cleared his throat.
"Now, my final ruling in this matter today is that as long as Ms. Ashwood resides with Dr. Bishop, as he assured us she would," I know my eyes widened at the judge's statement and reflexively glanced toward Dr. Bishop. His eyes were trained on the judge. I quickly turned my attention back to him as well.
"Then Victoria will remain in Dr. Bishop's full custody." The judge took a drink of water.
"Ms. Gold, you will have weekly visitation rights for six months. After six months we can re-evaluate, and if your relationship with Victoria has improved then we can negotiate a new custody arrangement." He took a large breath. "Each weekend, the child will visit from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon with her mother, in her mother's residence. This is the arrangement, until six months from today's date."
"This is ridiculous," Grace shouted. Her attorney hurried to shush her. "Don't you shush me!"
"This is my final judgment," The judge's boisterous voice carried through the room and bounced off of the wooden paneled walls.
The judge signed multiple papers lying on the table in front of him and then dismissed us all from his office. I rushed to make sure I was there for Victoria.
Thankfully she wasn't out of the office yet, so I sat on the bench in my spot and waited.
Dr. Bishop said his goodbyes to his attorneys and to the judge before he sat next to me. It was slightly too close, so I scooted away an inch.
"You know I resigned." I whispered.
"I didn't accept it." His tone was cold as usual.
"You can't just –"
"If you go, I could lose Victoria and Victoria would lose you. It's ridiculous for you to resign and I don't accept that." He stood from the bench. I was about to argue, but the door opened and Victoria burst out.
"You're here!" She ran to me and jumped in my arms.
"Are you okay?" I asked her the question like she had been held captive or something.
She looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course I am. Look I got stickers!"
"Ooh, can I have that one?" I reached for the mermaid sticker.
"Of course," She answered.
I giggled.
"I'm just teasing, you keep that one. You love mermaids."
She giggled back.
"Good, cause I wanted that one, but I got you this one!" She held up a sticker that had a huge smiley face on it. "It's a smiley."
"Well, thank you." I kissed the top of her head.
"Shall we?" Dr. Bishop motioned to the exit as he half smiled at us.
"We shall." Victoria responded and then laughed.
I laughed, walking by Dr. Bishop.
"See what I mean about Victoria not being able to lose you." His quiet voice was like smooth ribbons across my neck and in my ear. "We can't lose you." I snapped my head to look at him and he smirked.
"Sophia Victoria yelled at me.
"Huh?"
"Come on!" That was when I realized I had completely stopped walking. I shuffled my feet quickly toward Dr. Bishop's car and helped Victoria into the backseat.
After closing her door, I turned and saw Dr. Bishop holding the front passenger door for me. I kept my eyes away from him, refusing to look at his face, and slipped into the passenger seat. However, I did watch him round the car to the driver's side, but quickly diverted my attention when he got behind the wheel.
For the most part, the drive was quiet. During the ride I tried to wrap my head around Dr. Bishop's behavior. His playful, cocksure attitude was in effect now, but would he return back to his typical behavior when we got to the house? And why is he playing this game?
"I'm hungry." Victoria announced from the backseat.
I twisted in my seat and looked back at her.
"What for?"
"Grilled cheese," She smiled brightly, "With tomatoes. Yum."
I grinned at her. "We can get started on those as soon as we get home, okay?"
She nodded and licked her lips. I giggled at her and shook my head, turning back toward the front. It was quiet again, until we pulled into the driveway.
"What the hell?" Dr. Bishop exclaimed.
I glanced at him quickly. Following where he was staring, my eyes landed on Connor standing on the front porch in a screaming match with Ilene. Dr. Bishop parked the car and I groaned as we climbed out.
"Damn it Ilene! Don't come here and create more problems." Connor begged.
"Me create more problems? I create the problems? Who had the affair Connor and who has brought their whore to my child's home? Not me, that's for sure!" Ilene's face was flushed and wild looking.
"Mother, Father, please refrain from creating a scene." Dr. Bishop tried to defuse the situation. "We can talk rationally inside."
I grabbed Victoria's hand and walked with her slowly toward the house.
"No." Connor insisted.
Dr. Bishop looked at his father in surprise.
"She already tried to attack Juliet when she arrived." Connor explained.
I watched Dr. Bishop pinch the bridge of his nose and his shoulders fall in defeat.
"Speaking of the whore," Ilene spat in Connor's direction. "Collin, how could you allow that piece of trash into your home? After everything she has caused, you agree to let her stay here." Ilene turned on the waterworks now.
Connor pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head at her reaction. It was the first time I saw a similarity in Dr. Bishop and hid father.
"Mother, if I recall correctly, you didn't help this matter one bit, so do not pass judgment on me." He growled at her.
"I can't believe my baby boy would do this to me." She sobbed louder.
"What about Allison?" Dr. Bishop asked in a tense tone.
Ilene looked at him with fury in her eyes.
"She is who I came to see, but he," she pointed at Connor, "won't allow me inside."
"I told you she doesn't want or need to see you. You have caused enough damage Leenie."
"Don't you dare call me that! You no longer get to use that 'pet name' with me." She snapped and turned back to Collin. "Please, I just want to make sure she is okay. I heard what happened and –"
Larissa appeared in the door and cut Ilene off.
"She does
not
wish to see you Ilene." Larissa's anger was evident in her fiery eyes and flushed cheeks.
"W-what?" Ilene choked out.
"You heard me. I went to talk to her, in hopes of resolving this," she motioned between Connor and Ilene, "scene you are creating. She does not want to see you." Larissa's arms crossed over her chest, almost as if she were inviting Ilene to challenge her.
"I see," she sniffled, "So, everyone is against me? Your father has an affair and another child, but you're all against me?"
"No one is against you mother." Dr. Bishop tried to soothe her.
"Speak for yourself." Larissa spat before turning and walking back into the house.
"I'm sure Allison will speak with you when she is ready to." Connor said calmly before following Larissa.
Victoria and I were only a few feet away from where Dr. Bishop and Ilene stood. She finally noticed us.
"Victoria, dear," she smiled warmly at her.
Victoria hesitated.
"Hi grandma."
"Come give your grandmother a hug." She held her arms out to her.
I nudged Victoria toward her. Victoria stepped into Ilene's arms and squeezed her tightly.
"I love you grandma."
"Thank you, dear." She responded.
I wanted to hit her in the head. How about telling her you love her back you selfish witch.
She set Victoria back on her feet and I took her hand in mine before walking into the house. Dr. Bishop did not follow. I assumed he was going to talk with his mother.
"How about those grilled cheese sandwiches, huh?" I tugged on Victoria's arm. She grinned brightly and ran toward the kitchen.
We made the sandwiches together and then sat and ate in silence. Once we were finished, we cleaned up everything and went upstairs.
Victoria went into her room to play for a bit and I sat down to my laptop and worked on my book. It was about two hours later Victoria came running into my room.
"Sophia, look!" She held up a large piece of white paper that had drawings of mermaids on it.
"That's pretty awesome." I closed my laptop and took the picture into my hands. "Who is this?" I asked, knowing the red hair meant that it was her.
"That's me, of course." She giggled. "And that is you." She pointed to the mermaid with brown hair.
"Who is this?" I pointed to a small baby looking mermaid. "Is that M.J?" I started to smile.
Victoria sighed.
"That's my pretend baby sister." She looked longingly at the picture.
"Oh." That was all the response I could muster up.
She wanted a sibling, a baby sister?
I changed the subject by asking about different things in her picture. The coral, the shells, and the jewels on the ocean floor, we discussed the picture thoroughly. Then I found some tape and posted it on my wall.
"Do I have to live with Grace?" Victoria asked me quietly.
I knelt down to her.
"No. You get to stay with your daddy."
"And you, right?"
I nodded.
"Yes, but you will be going to visit with your mother, er Grace."
"Visit her where?" She asked.
I shrugged.
"I'm not sure, but it will most likely be where she lives and she will have a room all set up special for you. I just know it." Victoria didn't look happy about it. "It's kind of cool, you will get two rooms." I nudged her arm, trying to cheer her up.
She smiled a little. "Yeah, maybe."
"Well, give it a try and then we will see what you think, okay?" She nodded.
The remainder of the evening was quiet; however, the night brought on more dramatics.
It was about ten at night when the pounding started. I woke up next to Victoria, in her bed, the DVD menu playing over and over.
Sitting up, I reached for the remote and turned it off. The pounding got louder, so I climbed out of bed and left Victoria's room. Halfway down the stairs was when the voices began.
"Collin, you are my favorite!" Ilene slurred. "How can you choose that whore over me?"
I continued down the stairs and as my toe touched the cold marble of the first floor I caught sight of Ilene hanging onto Dr. Bishop. I stopped walking and waited for a moment, just watching.
"No one has chosen anyone over you." He tried to pull her up straight and walk with her. He was having a difficult time, so I walked quickly toward them and put my head under her left arm. Dr. Bishop looked at me with surprise and slight nervousness.
"Who are…oh you're the 'nanny'!" She drawled out the last word. Mentally I cringed, knowing she wasn't going to stop there. "Another live in whore," Ilene slurred. "Collin, really, you don't need this trash working for you."
"That's enough, mother. You're drunk and need to sleep this off." He spoke through clenched teeth.
"Nonsense," she exclaimed.
"Oh dear God," Allison's voice exclaimed from the top of the staircase. "Throw her out Collin! I don't want her here." Allison started to sob.
Juliet appeared at Allison's side and wrapped her arms around her.
"Don't touch me!" Allison turned on Juliet.