“Great. Just what Angel needs a house full of frantic adults. How is she? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Luckily, she’s so young. She has no idea what’s going on. Mrs. Rutherford and your Aunt Shirley have made sure she is occupied and having fun. They are spoiling her rotten. Thank goodness you’re having another baby to share some of the attention.”
“Thanks Sandy. That’s comforting. We’ll be home soon.”
As the car pulled up to their street, Vicky couldn’t believe all the TV news vans and people that were lined up out in front of their gate. Cameras were clicking and flashing away.
“What in the world?”
Jason knew this might happen that’s why he’d requested a car with darkly tinted windows.
“I’m sorry. I’d hoped the press wouldn’t be this intense this quickly.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for Jason; this is strictly Ryan’s fault!”
As the gates opened, a small team of security guards appeared out of nowhere to make sure no one followed behind them after their car passed through.
“Honey, please try to calm down.”
Vicky’s brows furrowed, “Please stop telling me to be calm! He’s turning our life upside down. I have a right to be angry.”
Jason couldn’t argue with her there. They all had a right to be angry but she was pregnant and needed to take extra care of herself and their baby.
“You’re right. You have more than a right to be furious.” He reached out and placed his warm hands on her stomach, “But, we need you to be calm.”
Vicky immediately tried to calm down. Jason was right. She whispered, “I’m sorry. I just…this is just…I feel helpless.”
He moved his hands from her stomach to her cheek and gazed deeply into eyes, “I know. Things are a little out of control right now because he made the first move. I promise that’s going to change very soon.”
Vicky touched her forehead to his, “Jason, I just want to hold my little girl.”
“That’s why I made sure to have my parents bring her home so she would be the first person you’d see when we got here.”
Vicky exhaled, “Thank you.”
Jason smiled, “Well…Angel is in the house but so are a lot of other people. You might want to take her upstairs and away from all of the madness.”
Vicky had a feeling that Jason was also trying to get her away from all the madness too.
*****
Just like Jason had said, her family and friends were waiting for them at the front door with little Angel perched on Mr. Rutherford’s hip. Her legs were getting long.
As soon as Vicky got out of the car Mr. Rutherford Sr. put Angel down and she ran over to her. To look at Angel, you would never have known just a few short months ago she was in the hospital fighting for her life. Her hair is shorter and she had a small limp when she walked or ran. However, the doctors believe with time and more therapy the limp would go away.
Vicky bent over as low as she could and hugged her baby girl. Having her wrap her tiny little arms around her neck helped to quell some of the uneasiness she’d been feeling.
“Hi sweetness, I missed you so much!”
“Missed you too mommy.”
Vicky rained kisses down on her precious little face.
“When we get inside, I’ve got tons of stuff for you.”
Angel giggled. Then, she looked around to find Jason. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and she went running into his arms.
He picked her up with ease. “Hey baby girl. I missed you.”
She kissed him on the cheek, “You too.”
No one noticed the car that was making its way up the driveway until one of the occupants got out.
The driver stayed in the car but a woman in a black pant suit approached them, “Excuse me. I am looking for Victoria Martin?”
Jason walked up to Vicky’s side and spoke before she could say anything. “Who are you and how did you get on to my property?”
“My name is Alissa Freemont and I work for the sheriff’s department. Security let me on the property once I showed them my badge.”
Vicky spoke strongly and clearly, “What can I do for you Ms. Freemont?”
“I’m here to serve you with legal papers. Please sign here?” She handed the papers to Vicky and extended the clipboard to her so she could sign that she’d received them.
Vicky looked at Jason not knowing what she should do? She’d never been served before. John Lucas, the attorney who had been handling things appeared out of nowhere. He took the papers before Vicky could accept them.
“I’m her attorney, Mr. John Lucas. Why was this served to her home and not my office?”
“Sir, we didn’t know that she had any representation and were instructed to serve the papers to her at her home.”
“Well…I am representing
Mrs. Victoria Rutherford.
Please return these to whomever. They’ll need to at least file the papers with the right name on them.
Ms. Freemont paused for a moment as if trying to decide what to do. She eventually made the decision to leave. She got back into her car and left.
Vicky’s nerves were so bad she felt like she was going to throw up.
Jason noticed how pale she’d become.
Miriam Rutherford noticed too. Food could soothe almost anything “How about we all go inside and get something to eat.”
Jason loved his mother. She always understood what a moment needed. With Angel on his left hip and Vicky on his right side, they walked into their home together.
They were able to have a nice dinner with Aunt Shirley, Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford, Sandy, Franklin, and Mr. John Lucas given the circumstances.
However after dinner, Vicky, Angel, and Sandy went upstairs to Angel’s bedroom. They spent over an hour showing Angel all the things she and Jason brought her while they were on their honeymoon. Angel fell in love with a giant sea shell Vicky found on the beach. She spent so much time with it that she fell asleep on the floor listening to the ocean.
Sandy went to pick Angel up and put her in bed next to them. She waited a few extra minutes to talk seriously with Vicky. She wanted to know for sure that Angel was sleeping “How are you doing? Really? You look exhausted.”
Vicky exhaled loudly. “I’m a little tired but mostly angry and frustrated.”
“I can only imagine. But, you do know that there is no way Jason is going to let Ryan take your baby away from you.”
Vicky smoothed Angel’s wild curls away from her face.
Sandy laughed, “He’d buy you an island somewhere in the world and move you away before he’d let that happen.”
Vicky rubbed her neck and then her lower back “I know. I just wish…”
“Wish what?”
“That Jason would treat me more like a partner than someone he needs to save.”
“Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. Where’d that come from?”
“He wants to fix everything instead of us working together to deal with our problems. If he tells me one more time that he’ll take care of it, I’m going to scream.”
“I guess I could see how that would be frustrating.”
“You think? They are discussing MY life downstairs and I’ve been sent away like a child.”
“Vicky, you looked like you were going to pass out earlier. If you remember, when Angel was in the hospital, you were admitted too. Jason is going to be a father for the first time. He’s nervous and wants to make sure you and the baby are okay. Maybe he’s a little overprotective. Try to overlook it, just like I did when you just snapped on me.”
Vicky gave Sandy a half smile. “I’m sorry. Please, let’s talk about something else…anything else besides all the drama that’s going on in my life. What’s going on with you and Franklin? Have you guys finally decided to become official?”
Sandy wrinkled her nose. “Not official but I’m hoping soon.”
“You guys are perfect together. Franklin was so uptight before he started dating you. Now, he’s so much more relaxed…funny even. I’m sure you’ll be engaged before the end of this year.”
“I don’t know about that but I’m happy. Speaking of men and commitment you’ll never guess who came to my office yesterday?”
Vicky couldn’t come up with anyone.
“Josh.”
“Get out! You haven’t talked to him in months. What could he possibly have to say?”
“Well, he apologized for how badly he treated me during the relationship, told me he missed me, and that he wanted me back.”
Vicky’s mouth dropped. “Are we talking about Joshua Jones? Wow…seems to me like he missed the boat. He did miss the boat right?”
Sandy let out a little laugh.
“Yes! But, honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was really over him until yesterday. It’s one thing when a person is out of sight and out of mind. It’s quite another when they are there in the flesh. And Joshua is still one handsome man. He walked through my door looking at me with those chestnut eyes, and that smooth caramel skin - smelling oh so yummy.”
Vicky laughed too, “Well, yeah… he’s always been very attractive…at least until he opens his mouth. Then, he’s a grade A ass.”
“Well, yesterday he was very charming.”
“What did he say?”
“According to him, he’s ready to settle down. Do you know how long I waited to hear those words from him? For a second, my mouth did go dry. But then, I thought about Franklin and it didn’t matter that Joshua was finally saying everything I always wanted to hear because I’m in love with Franklin.”
Vicky reached out to hug her, “Oh my goodness! I am so happy for you. You deserve this. Have you told him?”
“No, not yet, I can’t very well belt out I love you when we’re haven’t even defined what ‘we’ means.”
A knock on the door interrupted them. A second later Aunt Shirley poked her head through the cracked opening.
“I just wanted to say good night before I head off to bed.”
Aunt Shirley walked inside the room and gave Vicky a hug, “Sweetie you look tired. You feel okay?”
“I have a little headache and my back hurts a little but overall, I’m fine. Nothing a little sleep won’t cure.”
Sandy stood up. “You should get some rest. If I’d known, I would have made you go to bed.”
“You guys, I’m pregnant not dying. Women do this every day. Anyway, I’m sleeping in here with Angel tonight. Aunt Shirley, are they still down stairs plotting strategy?”
“Yes they are and let me just say for the record, I don’t ever want to get on Jason’s bad side.”
After Vicky, Sandy and Angel went upstairs, Jason ushered everyone else into his office.
“I don’t know about you guys but I could use a drink. Please feel free to help yourselves.” He poured himself a brandy before taking a seat next to his father; Franklin poured himself a drink too.
“Thank you for taking on our case Mr. Lucas. But, what are we really looking at here? What are his chances for getting full custody of Angel?”
“Honestly Jason, there is about a fifty fifty chance he could get full custody. If his press conference was a preview as to what he’s going to say to a judge, the courts might not take too kindly to the fact that Victoria didn’t inform him of his child for all this time.”
Jason got up and started pacing back and forth, “But that’s a lie. He knew about Angel the moment she was born and he chose to keep it a secret so that it didn’t expose the affair he’d had with her.”
“Does Vicky have anything that would back up her claim? If not, this is going to be a case of he said she said.”
Miriam Rutherford chimed in, “Well, if it’s a case of he said / she said then why on earth would the courts side with him?”
“Because he is Ryan Carter, possibly the next governor of Minnesota. Folks look…you are not fighting just a traditional custody case. You are about to jump into the arena of politics. Now, luckily for you Jason your family has some pretty strong connections but so does Ryan’s. Make no mistake this is going to be a long and tough battle.”
Aunt Shirley rubbed her forehead in frustration, “All I know is that little girl means the world to my niece and it would kill her to lose Angel.”
Jason’s dad chimed in, “Shirley, we will fight this in the courts but make no mistake, that for damn sure will not happen even if we have to take matters into our own hands.”
“What do your people have in mind for the ground game for my wife?”
“Our PR team has put together some preliminaries. First, we need to leak Vicky’s side of the story to the press so we’ll need a full accounting of that. Secondly, we’ll need to get Vicky and Angel out of the house and get candid shots with her being a loving and doting mother. Is Vicky a member of any charities or boards? If so, get her out there ASAP. We need to show that she is not only a loving mother but an upstanding and contributing member of this community.”
They spent the next hour or so strategizing and going over what Vicky had told Jason about her relationship with Ryan.
“Okay…this is a good start. Of course, I’ll still need to speak with Vicky but by morning, the Carter’s will know that we’re in this fight.”
Franklin cleared his throat, “Well then Mr. Lucas, it looks like you’re going to have your hands full handling things from the positions of PR and the courts. We’ll handle plan B. Therefore, you might not want to be here for the conversation we’re going to have next.”
Jason’s father agreed. “He’s absolutely right John. We’ll touch base first thing in the morning.”
Mr. Lucas packed away his notes and paperwork. He shook hands with everyone and even though it was late, his night was just beginning.
Jason’s dad, Jason and Franklin spent a couple more hours going over plan B after John Lucas and his staff left. John was the first to call it a night.
Jason was exhausted. It was well past midnight and time for him to call it a night too.
Sandy peeked her head into the study. She said jokingly, “Is it safe to come inside?”
Jason waved her in, “Of course. We were just getting ready to call it anyway. How’s Vicky?”
“Probably feeling like anyone else would right about now. She’s frustrated, angry, and tired but she’s tougher than she looks.”