by C. B. Stagg
He nodded, just as unable to read my mom’s expression as I was. She almost looked like she wanted to hit him, but instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers, while the rest of the room looked on in shock.
“I should probably mention, that’s my dad, for anyone who’s curious.” I pointed to my parents, locked at the lips, as if anyone needed further explanation as to who I was referring to. “He’s also an attorney who apparently did a whole lot more than work for my grandfather while I was growing up.”
Vaughn’s head swung around to meet my eyes. “And he’s also my attorney. He’s been the link between me and the father I never knew.” She looked back at George, but addressed her question to me. “Jase… Who was your grandfather? What was his full name?”
“Marshall Vaughn-Pearson,” I replied. “He was adopted. Vaughn was his birth name, but Pearson was his adopted name, so he combined them.” She nodded her head and turned to leave the room, but my mom stopped her.
“Vaughn?” She turned at the sound of her name. “I think George may be able to clear some things up for you.” My mother looked around the room, first to me, then to Vaughn and Casey, who’d magically appeared beside his new wife. “For all of us.”
She looked back at George. “Look,” she said, lowering her voice so the children didn’t hear her. “My father was an amazing attorney, and he brought a lot of good to the world, but he was a bastard. He kept me from you all of these years with the threat of ruining your career and mine, and I was too spineless to stand up to him. He robbed me of the only man I ever loved and robbed Jase of his father. Now, throw Vaughn into the mix, and there’s another life he’s manipulated. He’s gone now, George. Can you please fill in the gaps for this poor girl so she doesn’t have to live with questions any longer?”
“Guys, we’re going to take the kids home,” Donna stated to anyone who was listening. “We’ll take Taj and Julian to your house, Claire, and I think Rosie and Doc are taking Whiskey and Ruby Grace to the Hansons. Why don’t the rest of you either stay here or go to Mrs. Pearson’s house to sort this all out and we can get together for brunch in the morning, okay?”
We all nodded and said our goodbyes, vaguely aware of keys being handed to those who needed them. We all found seats at the back of the sanctuary so we could start our new lives with no more questions, no more secrets, and no more lies… just everything out in the open.
“First,” George said, “Marshall Vaughn-Pearson’s wife, Adele, had a stroke in her sleep in the summer of 1989. She fell into a coma and was placed on life support. Marshall spent every day at Parkland Hospital at Adele’s side, hoping she’d wake up. He loved her very much, but as the days went on, her chances for any kind of recovery became slimmer and slimmer. At some point, Marshall met Vaughn’s mother, who was a nursing student at the time. They became friends, but once the decision was made for Adele to be taken off life support, I thought that was the end of their friendship. But roughly nine months later, Vaughn was born.” George looked over and spoke directly to Vaughn. “Marshall was so guilt-ridden from cheating on Adele, he didn’t want to have a thing to do with you, so he sent me to ‘clean up his mess.’ It was only supposed to be a one-time payoff to prevent your mother from ever claiming paternity, but I couldn’t let you go. Did you know I was the first one to ever hold you? It was like you, this little baby—never asking to be born as a pawn between two ungrateful people—had firmly set up camp in my soul. So, I set up the visits, moved you to private school when things started getting out of hand, and I just—”
“So the whole time, all the money and the payments, the trust fund… ” She stood, looking at George. “It wasn’t my father, was it? It was you?” He nodded.
“I had nothing in my life, Vaughn.” He cleared his throat. “The woman I loved didn’t love me back, at least that’s what I was told. She’d even had another man’s child.” He motioned toward me. “I knew I would never love another, but then you came along, and after getting to know your mother, I knew there was no way I could just abandon you.”
Vaughn wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head on his chest, where he held her, stroking his hand over the crocheted cap covering her bald head. “When you got sick, Vaughn, I didn’t know what to do. You were my little girl. I’d never been so lost, and the idea that something might happen to you broke my heart into a million pieces.” He removed a handkerchief from his suit pocket and dabbed her tears before wiping his own.
“And Jase,” he said, not letting Vaughn go, but continuing his confession. “I am your father, but you need to know that, even though I’d had my suspicions for a while, I wasn’t completely sure of it until recently. When Marshall found out I was dating his daughter, he told me I’d never be good enough for her. He convinced me I’d ruin Marian’s life and her career if I asked her to marry me like I’d planned, and I was foolish enough to listen to him. It seems as if all of the bad decisions that led us here are mine. But Jase, I loved you very much—since the day you were born—because even when I thought you weren’t mine, you were a part of your mom and I loved her with everything in me.” He glanced at Marian. “I still do.”
He shifted Vaughn to one side and reached into his pocket with the other. Vaughn moved to sit with Casey while George walked to stand in front of Marian. “I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you, and I’m sorry I haven’t been the man you’ve deserved, but if it’s not too late… ” He glanced around the room at all the shocked faces watching the latest in a series of unexpected events unfold before their eyes. “If it’s not too late, I’d like to make good on everything. I’d like to marry you, and I’d like to be a father to Jase and a grandfather to his beautiful girls. But I need you to know that, while you come with a son,” he reached over to grab Vaughn’s hand, “I come with a daughter.”
“George, I have been waiting for you to ask me this exact question for almost thirty years. It’s about damn time.” My mother laughed through her tears as did the rest of us. “Of course I’ll marry you. And I’ll make you a deal. I’ll share my son with you if you’ll share your daughter with me.”
Vaughn nodded, unable to speak, and we watched as our parents fell into each other’s arms, only to be interrupted a few seconds later by Christian, who was standing at the pulpit, Bible in hand.
“Luckily,” he called out, “it’s my church, and we just happen to be in wedding mode. We’ve already had two tonight, what’s one more?”
Chapter 51
Becky
August 1, 2012
Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice, Huntsville Unit
“MA’AM, PLEASE WAIT right here. A guard will escort the inmate to this room. You will use this phone to communicate. If you or he becomes belligerent, your visit is over. He will be escorted back to his cell, and you will be escorted out of the building. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” I nodded.
“And, as a reminder, your conversation will be recorded, and anything said between you and the inmate becomes the property of TDCJ and can be admissible in court. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” I nodded again. “Okay. So, I just wait then?”
It was the guard’s turn to nod, so that’s what I did. I waited.
It had taken me almost eight months to get my visitation approved. In that time, I learned that it mattered very little if Toby signed away his parental rights to Ruby Grace. He was her only surviving relative, and he was in prison with a life sentence, which automatically made her eligible for adoption. But I continued my quest for visitation for selfish reasons. I needed closure, but I also had a very important appointment later, one that wild horses couldn’t keep me from. Someone needed to get this show on the road already.
I sat facing a plexiglass window. It was like a low budget, high school cafeteria had been split in half by a wall of windows just like the one I was in front of. There were people of all ages, colors, and sizes on both sides of the wall.
What seemed like hours later, but still too soon, the chair opposite mine was pulled out, and a man in an orange jumpsuit took his seat.
Toby Carraway was a ghost of the man he’d once been. He’d aged poorly. His once thick, sandy blond hair was now the color of snow sludge. It was thin and oily, limply hanging like wet leaves from his head. His skin, once tanned from the sun, had the texture of a crumpled paper bag and his cheeks sagged like deflated balloons. Once he opened his mouth, I saw gaps between his yellowed teeth. He looked at me for a lifetime before he picked up his receiver, motioning for me to do the same. I did, placing it to my ear, but not speaking.
“You look just like her.”
I tilted my head. “Just like who?”
“Minnie. You look just like her.”
“Oh.” I didn’t, and he and I both knew it. My mother was a tall, rail-thin black woman, with skin almost as dark as her coal black eyes. I was not—clearly a mix with a lighter race—which diluted the features I inherited from my mother significantly. I looked nothing like her at all.
“Why you here, girl? I thought I was done with you.” He sounded bored.
“I have a question.”
“Well, ask it then and go on.”
“Okay.” I wiped my unoccupied hand on my pants. “Are you my father?”
He looked me directly in the eye and shook his head slowly. “No.”
“You’re sure?”
This time he nodded. “Yes. When I met your mother, she was already infected.”
That got my attention. “Excuse me, infected?”
“Yeah, girl. Your momma had AIDS.” I nodded. It made perfect sense. “Is that all ya want?” His raised eyebrow was the only indication he was interested in my answer to that question.
“No.” I shook my head. “I want to adopt Ruby Grace Jackson.”
“So?”
“So, I have a document I’d like you to sign, giving up your parental rights, so I can adopt her.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? You’ll sign the document?”
He nodded, and I motioned for the guard to take it to him and watched closely as it was passed through a window in the guard station and taken to him. I watched as his shaky hand scrawled his name on the line at the bottom of the paper before handing it back to the guard, who passed it back through the window before it was returned to me. The entire process took less than two minutes.
“Is that all?”
“No.” I folded the document and placed it in the pocket of my jacket. “Why?”
Toby’s elbows were on the table in front of him, and when I asked that question, his head dropped into his free hand and stayed there, staring at the ugly gold Formica as the clock ticked and I waited.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember doing it. I spent a lot of years fucked up. I used to think it was the drugs, but it was just me. I’m fucked up.”
I nodded. “I think that’s the most honest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Yeah, I believe you. You tried to kill my baby.”
“No, I tried to kill you.” A grin started to spread across his face. “Killing your baby was just a bonus.”
I placed the receiver on the table and walked to the guard station. I’d come asking for a signature, and in exchange I left him my forgiveness. No, he hadn’t been sorry for one thing he’d done, but I’d accepted his unoffered apology because I was done with him. He was a villain and I’d allowed him to live in my head for entirely too long. Within ten minutes I was in my car—windows rolled down, cruising down Highway 30—pushing the pedal to the metal to get home to my family.
“Well, are y’all ready for this?” I asked, approaching Vaughn and Casey, who were seated quietly outside the closed doors of the courtroom. Her beautiful red hair, cut in a short pixie style, created a halo around her head as the late afternoon sun poured through the stained glass windows. She’d gained weight, had color in her face again, and looked exactly like the confident, healthy fifth-year college senior she was.
“We’ve been ready, birthday girl!” she said, bouncing a little on the bench.
“Speaking of birthday girls, where is mine?” Vaughn was doing her student teaching at the same school Ruby Grace, Julian, and Taj attended, so she’d checked them out a little earlier than usual. She then dropped by the middle school to grab Whiskey before coming to court, where we’d agreed to meet for our very last hearing. We’d gotten the carpool thing down to a science.
“Whiskey and all of the kids are in with the judge. We brought cookies to celebrate y’all’s birthday, and they wanted to get a head start.” She smiled. We’d met with the judge on more than one occasion during the adoption process, and to say he had a soft spot in his heart for the Clark boys and the Pearson girls would have been a gross understatement. “We’re just waiting on—”
“Nobody, now. Looks like the gang’s all here.”
I looked up to see my parents, with Rosie and Doc, Casey’s parents with Donna and Hank, and Jase’s parents, who held hands like newlyweds, pulling up the rear.
“Happy birthday, honey!” My mother leaned down to where I was sitting to give me a hug.
The rumble of the heavy courtroom doors opening signaled our crew to enter, and they slowly filed in, but I stayed back. Jase, coming from the direction of the parking garage, rounded the corner and waved.
“Babe, you didn’t have to wait on me.” He was out of breath from running to make it on time.
“Well, I kind of did. See, I made the mistake of sitting down by Vaughn, and well… ” I looked down at myself, palms up in surrender.
“And you got stuck, didn’t you, sweetie? Aww, my poor baby. Just think, he’s probably just as ready to be out of there as you are to get him out.” Jase poked at my protruding belly. Casey had Julian and Taj convinced I’d eaten a watermelon seed and one had grown inside of me, which was hilarious until Julian wanted to make a science fair project out of me.
“Ha!” Jase hauled me up and steadied my wobbly body before turning me toward the doors. “Your mom told me how you camped out in her uterus for an extra few weeks. Looks like this little guy already takes after his daddy.”
Jase laughed as we waddled into the courtroom, where the judge was seated at the bench with four little children piled around him. To our left, our caseworkers and contacts with social services sat in a neat little row, all smiles at the sight before them.
“Mom! He’s gggonna let me bang his hammer when he’s dddone!”
“No, Julian,” Whiskey said in a motherly tone, exactly mimicking mine. “He said he might let you bang it if you promise not to hit his fingers—again. And it’s a gavel, not a hammer.” She rolled her eyes, and the entire room erupted into laughter, sweeping away any stress or tension we may have ushered into such an important hearing.
We found our seats and the judge called everyone to attention. “If I can have your attention, I’d like to get this hearing underway before Mrs. Pearson decides to give birth right here in my court.” Those seated in the gallery laughed.
“Mrs. Preston, Mr. Preston,” he said, addressing Jase’s parents. “We all know why we’re here, but just to review for the stenographer… Mr. George Preston and Mr. Jason Pearson are representing Casey and Vaughn Clark in the adoption of Julian Jackson, age nine, and Taj Jackson, age five. Mrs. Marian Preston is representing Jason and Rebecca Pearson in the adoption of Ruby Grace Jackson, age ten, and also in Jason’s adoption of Wynona Isobel Key, age thirteen.”
“I’ve had the opportunity to review all of the case files, and everything is in order. I have visited at length with both of the families involved and found that, while their situation may be a bit unorthodox, I have no doubt each and every decision made by both couples has been made in the best interest of the children. With that being said, I have already signed the final decrees of adoption, formally creating the parent-child relationships between the adoptive parents and the a
dopted children, as though the children were born as the biological children of their new parents. New birth certificates have already been issued, and you’ll find everything has been included in the folders I’ve handed to your respective attorneys.”
“So, that’s it? Our families are complete?” Jase asked, wondering what was left.
“Not quite.” The room fell silent at the judge’s solemn tone. “Mr. and Mrs. Preston, I now invite you to address the room on the most recent matter we discussed.” He motioned Marian and George to the front of the room, while we looked on.
“Well,” George said, clearing his throat. “Marian and I have been discussing this for quite some time and, well… ” He seemed to choke up a bit.
“What my husband is trying to say is that it seems everyone is getting new parents today. Whiskey has a new dad, and Ruby Grace, Julian, and Taj have all got new parents as well. Yet this entire time, during this whole process, I’ve felt like we were leaving someone out.”
George and Marian directed their attention to where Vaughn and Casey stood with their boys right beside them. “Vaughn, we both realize you’re an adult, and you’ve done so well for yourself despite the fact that your biological parents weren’t worth a damn. But we both love you so much, just like you were our own… so while the judge here is creating new families, we thought he could make us one too.”
My mother cut my dad off, again. “Yes, technically you’re my half-sister, but I’d like very much to be your mother, and George already sees you as his daughter. Again, we know you don’t need parents, but if you want some, and a big brother as an added bonus, we’re here.”
Vaughn nodded her head and walked to embrace her new family. Jase grabbed paperwork from his briefcase before joining the group hug. “Uh, Mom, Dad, and Sis, I guess? In the event you agreed, I had these papers drawn up. And if you could just sign here, we can all go eat some dinner before my very pregnant wife becomes even more unbearable.”
