Vicky was surprised because she thought they’d called the meeting.
The Judge looked irritated, “Counselor, I’ve been given some new information that might weigh heavily on my decision. Due to the high profile and delicacy of this matter, I thought it was appropriate for you and Senator Carter to see if you can come to an arrangement with Mrs. Rutherford.”
“My client’s position is that Mrs. Martin…I’m sorry Rutherford is an unfit mother. Based on what we’ve shown the court already we feel sole custody to Mr. Carter is not only warranted but the only viable alternative.”
“Ms. Abernathy, might I suggest to you
again
that you and your client review this new information before you come to such a hasty decision.”
The tone of the Judges voice gave Ms. Abernathy pause. She looked over at Ryan with an accusatory stare. “Of course, if you think this information is worth listening to then I don’t see anything wrong with having a discussion with my client, Mrs. Rutherford and her attorney.”
“Great. I’m glad we can agree on that after all it is the best interest of the child we’re all after. I’ll leave you to it then.”
They all stood as the Honorable Judge stood to leave the room. As soon as she’d left, Ms. Abernathy dropped all pretenses of discussing a rational agreement.
“Mr. Lucas, I’m not sure what type of shenanigans you’re trying to pull but you have nothing to offer that my client is willing to accept but full custody of Angel Martin.”
“Ms. Abernathy…if you plan to have longevity in this arena, might I suggest you find out what cards your opponent is holding before you determine what your client will or won’t accept.”
He pulled out an mp3 player and a single speaker. “This recording has been authenticated by well-respected experts.” Then, he pressed play.
“Alicia, I think I may know how I can salvage all of this.”
“And just how do you think you can fix this? This isn’t fixable!”
“What about if we beat them to the punch? We can call our own press conference to announce to the world that at considerable risk to myself, I selflessly donated blood to a daughter I never knew I had until the day of the accident.”
“That’s all great for you but how will you explain that she was conceived while we were
married
Ryan?”
“We can say that you and I were separated during the time Angel was conceived. But, we realized how much we meant to each other and decided to make our marriage work. Everyone can understand marriages going through problems.”
“There is one more piece to this that would definitely put us into the Governor’s mansion. The whole plan rests solely on if you can accept this.”
“And just what other sacrifices would you have me make Ryan?”
“We’d need to file for sole custody of Angel.”
John Lucas stopped the tape. Vicky sat incredulous.
“This was at the hospital Ryan! We didn’t even know if Angel was going to live or die back then!” Vicky jumped out of her chair and lunged at him. However, John Lucas was able to stop her before she was able to connect. “You are a cold-heartless bastard!”
Ryan’s attorney was stunned. She was clearly trying to calculate her way out of this. “Control your client Mr. Lucas!” Ms. Abernathy was furiously trying to find an out in this situation. You could see her mind thinking. “My client’s position is this tape was obtained illegally and therefore inadmissible evidence in this case.”
“This tape was obtained legally. I have a date/time stamped video that can prove it.”
“How did you get this tape?”
“The aunt of my client, Ms. Shirley Martin, had been in the same waiting room earlier in the day. She inadvertently, left her cell phone in the waiting room.
“Ms. Martin obviously knew Mr. Carter would be using the room.”
“Unfortunately for you, she never knew your client would be using the room. To my understanding and according to witness testimony, no-one knew where your client was or if he was even going to show up. Shall I continue?”
The look of defeat started to appear on her formally smug face, “Continue.”
“In the process of checking her home messages somehow she inadvertently pressed the button to leave a message instead of disconnecting the call. She then preceded to accidently leave the cell phone in between the seat cushions where her home voice-mail began to record your conversation. It was several hours later before her cell phone was discovered missing and ultimately located in the waiting room. Ms. Martin discovered she had the recording two days ago when she accidently listened to an archived message.” John Lucas gave Ms. Abernathy a manila envelope. “You’ll find a report inside authenticating the recordings.”
Ryan reached over and whispered into his lawyer’s ear. “I’ll need a minute with my client.”
John Lucas gave him a smile that said, I just won this case without even taking it to court. “I thought you might.”
Ryan and his attorney stepped out of the chambers the same way the Judge had left.
Vicky was both seething with anger and relieved at the same time. “Mr. Lucas? I…I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it. This nightmare is almost over. Even without this bit of evidence, we would have won this case. Mr. Carter has a nasty little past. We had a Plan A, B, and C. This just happened to drop in our lap.”
It didn’t take long for Ryan and his attorney to come back into the Judge’s chambers.
“My client and I would like to come to an agreement. Our terms are
if
the tape is destroyed, then he is willing to give up all of his parental rights.”
The surprises kept coming. Vicky didn’t know why she was surprised that this gutless piece of man would do this. “Ryan, are you serious? You’ve met her. She’s your daughter. What kind of man would do this?”
He wouldn’t even look at Vicky.
Ms. Abernathy experiencing defeat for the first time was cold in her response, “Those are our terms.”
Vicky spat out at him, “Don’t act like you hold any cards in this situation because you don’t. We all now know this whole stunt was about your political career and damn all the lives you’ve affected.”
Vicky gave herself a moment to breathe. After a second she exhaled, “She’s better off without you. We all are. Fine, I’ll agree to those terms on one condition. If and only if, when Angel is old enough and wants to meet you…you meet her. She deserves to get answers from you and hopefully she’ll be able to get closure on why you so willingly discarded her.” Vicky folded her arms across her chest to keep from trying to attack him again. “Those…are…my…terms.”
Ryan finally spoke for the first time since they’d entered the judge’s chambers. “I want a confidentiality agreement that you or anyone close to you won’t discuss the terms. If I can get that along with confirmation that the tape has been destroyed...I’m sure we can leave the attorney’s to wrap this up.”
“I will not agree to that. I won’t destroy the tape until Angel’s twenty-fifth birthday. Until then, it should be held in a safe-deposit box monitored by the courts.”
Vicky could see Ryan didn’t like that idea. His jaw muscles clenched as he turned to his attorney to agree to terms. “I think we can arrange that. If there is nothing else, I would say we’ve reached an amicable solution.”
Ryan walked into his private waiting room with his lawyer, Ms. Abernathy. Alicia and Ryan’s campaign manager was sitting there waiting too.
As soon as they walked through the door, Alicia stood up, “What was the hearing about? What happened?”
Ryan sat down and put his hands in his head. “I just need a minute to think Alicia. I just need a minute okay?”
Alicia turned to his lawyer, “What is going on?”
“We’re withdrawing our petition. Ryan and Vicky came to an agreement.”
Alicia looked confused, “I don’t understand…what kind of agreement could you have possible made?”
Ryan turned to his wife and took a deep breath, “My run for the Governorship is over Alicia. I withdrew my petition because you and I were caught on tape discussing our plan to win the Governorship when Angel was in the hospital.”
“What…how?” Alicia looked at Ms. Abernathy, “Isn’t that illegal? I didn’t know I was being recorded and neither did Ryan.”
Ms. Abernathy was putting some documents into her briefcase, “It would have been illegal if the person who taped you knew she was taping you. She didn’t. You were accidentally taped and it wasn’t discovered until a few days ago.”
Alicia was stunned. His campaign manager was stunned. However, she quickly recovered and wondered if it was too late to get on Ryan’s opponent’s campaign team.
Alicia turned back to her husband, “Ryan…I want a divorce.”
*****
On the opposite end of the courthouse, the only sound that could be heard in the Rutherford’s waiting room was the background noise of the local media station playing on the television. And, Jason wearing a hole in the floor pacing back and forth. They’d been in with the Judge for over an hour. He had no idea what was going on in there.
Just as he was about to go completely insane Vicky and John Lucas walked into the tiny waiting area. He couldn’t read either of their faces.
“Well? What happened?”
Vicky whispered, “It’s over.”
“What?”
Then, a slow but dazzling smile spread across her entire face as she shouted to roof tops, “IT’S OVER! Ryan is withdrawing his petition for custody and relinquishing all of his parental rights.”
After a moment of stunned silence, the room erupted into shouting and thanksgivings.
Jason picked Vicky up and spent her around before unabashedly kissing her deeply. He only put her down when Angel came running over to them wanting to be included in the celebration. He picked her up and spent her around too.
John Rutherford’s booming voice filled the room, “John Lucas thank you for what you’ve done for my family. What the hell happened in there?”
John Lucas threw up his hands, “I can’t take credit for this outcome. Shirley Martin gets it all.”
Everyone in the room turned to look at Shirley.
Vicky walked out of Jason’s embrace and over to her. She wrapped her arms around her tightly, “Thank you thank you thank you. I love you so much Aunt Shirley. I don’t know how I will every repay you. However, I’m just curious, why didn’t you say something to me?”
“Don’t thank me. Thank your mama. I have to believe she had more to do with this than me. Everyone knows I’m not good with technology. I didn’t do much but find a voice-mail. And, I didn’t want to give you or anyone else false hope. So, I called John Lucas instead and told him.”
John Lucas interrupted, “She made my job a lot easier. I have no doubt that we would have won this case but the ideal is to win it before you enter a court room. Ms. Martin provided me with not just a smoking gun, but a nuclear bomb.”
He played the recording and went on to explain the chain of events that led to Ryan giving up his parental rights and withdrawing his petition from the court.
Everyone listened intently until Sandy noticed the ‘Breaking News’ along with a photo of Senator Ryan Carter scroll across the screen.
“Shh..shh..turn the television up.”
Franklin found the remote and turned it up as the local anchor was reporting the breaking news.
‘In a stunning and surprising turn of events, Senator Ryan Carter just released a statement confirming that he is withdrawing from the Minnesota gubernatorial race. He did not specify what led up to this decision only that it was deeply personal and asked that we respect his family’s privacy. Speculation is running rampant as Senator Carter was embroiled in what could only be described as a nasty custody battle over his three year old daughter.”
Jason had heard enough, “Turn it off. Ryan Carter is officially done affecting my family. John Lucas, I just have one bit of unfinished business if it’s okay with Vicky.”
Franklin turned off the television. Vicky didn’t know what it could be but she was sure whatever it was she would be fine with it.
“I want you to draw up adoption papers for Angel.” He looked into his baby girls eyes before turning to his wife for her approval, “I would like to officially become her father.”
Her hands flew to her throat as her eyes filled with tears. But, she wasn’t the only person in the room with tears in their eyes, “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything except marrying you.”
“Angel couldn’t have asked for a better father than you.”
“And, I couldn’t have asked for a better wife and daughter. Can we get hell out of here?”
Two years later
Vicky was thankful that the weather had decided to cooperate. As a matter of fact, it did better than cooperate. It was a beautiful Indian summer. The sun was beaming and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
Angel’s fifth birthday party was in full swing. A circus theme in the backyard was Jason’s idea. He’d hired a magician, a clown, a mime, there were people on unicycles, and at the end of the night there was going to be a fireworks display.