by Cherry Kay
“I love you, too. Always,” she whispered to him. They held one another for a long moment and then walked back, hand-in-hand, to their daughter.
***
The days went by and Elise returned to the house and to David’s bed, sleeping beside him each night, glad that they were together. They went to see their daughter every day and spent almost all of their waking hours with her.
Being in the hospital with Jaden had kept them away from the press, and Carlson had deftly handled everything that had come at them, part of it, without them even knowing it. Elise was able to get to her shops to check on them and was relieved to find that they were running like well-oiled machines in her long absence. All of her staff had refused the press entrance to her businesses, and all of them had made or bought cards filled with well wishes for Jaden.
It wasn’t until she was out in the public a little more that Elise discovered what kind of damage Marvin Jackson and his attorney were trying to do to David. They accused him of attacking Marvin first, rather than the truth, which was that Marvin had actually attacked David. They published stories about it being racially motivated and they showed David as a hater of darker skinned people and small businesses.
They were doing everything they could to bury him alive, and the more that Elise saw, the angrier she got. It weighed on her mind and in her heart, and finally, she came up with an idea that she felt would be just the thing to help her husband and save him from the onslaught of Marvin Jackson and his attorney. She invited Carlson over for dinner and sat with him and David, discussing her idea.
“I’ve given this a lot of thought and I want to do everything I can to help David.” She smiled at him and covered his hand with hers tenderly.
Carlson looked at her with raised eyebrows and asked, “I take it you have something in mind?”
Elise nodded. “I do. I want to testify on the stand in court that David helped me with my small businesses, that we fell in love and were married and now have a child together. That would disprove everything Marvin Jackson and his lawyer are saying.”
A wide grin spread over Carlson’s face. “Elise, that’s a brilliant idea. I’m going to take you up on that. I’ll want to prepare you as a witness, so you’ll need some coaching time with me, when you can. I know you’re both busy at the hospital, but we’ll need to prepare you. This is going to be an ugly battle and you can’t go in unprepared. How’s Jaden doing, anyway? Any news on her progress?” he asked looking at them both.
Elise could not contain her happiness. “She can come home in two more weeks. She’s much better; she is getting stronger and bigger every day.”
Carlson nodded and tilted his head with a smile. “That’s what kids do.”
David looked at Elise and shook his head with a little grin on his face. “It means so much to me that you’re willing to testify for me. Thank you so much. You’re doing more for me than you could imagine, I really appreciate it.” He felt enormous gratitude at her thoughtfulness and loyalty to him. He could not believe how lucky he had been in finding such a good woman to be his wife, even though it had been as a business deal in the beginning. He didn’t know if it was fate, coincidence or just pure luck, but as he looked at her sitting there beside him, he couldn’t imagine his life without her.
Elise just shrugged her shoulders. “Well, we have to keep both of our businesses afloat. We’ve got a baby to bring home and take care of now!”
They laughed and enjoyed their meal together, discussing details of both Jaden’s homecoming and the court date that was getting closer every day.
***
Over the days that followed, Elise spent hours with Carlson and David as they prepared for court. Carlson ran through scenarios with her, practicing being on the stand and testifying. He threw every curve ball at her that he could imagine. After she learned how to answer, she felt as though she would be successful when she was called to speak on David’s behalf.
Every day, David and Elise evaded the press who were hounding them and they spent their free hours at the hospital with their daughter, bonding with her as best they could and waiting to take her home. Her health improved in small amounts every day. And, while she was improving, her parents finished up work on the nursery that adjoined their room.
Elise prepared her shops for her absence, making sure to hire and train new staff, and get extra chocolates made ahead of time. David settled as much as he could at his office. They both felt as ready as they ever would be when the day finally came to bring Jaden home from the hospital. They spent the first day with her at their home alone, and on the second day that she was there, they invited Sarah and other close friends and family over to meet their baby girl. It had been a long road and they had gone through so much to bring her into the world and their home. But it had finally happened, and for David and Elise, it felt like their dreams were coming true; their happiness knew no limits.
One week after Jaden was brought home, the red circled court date on their calendar came. Because they knew it would be beneficial, not only to Jaden to be with her parents, but also to draw sympathy from the court, Jaden accompanied David and Elise to the courtroom for the first day of the trial.
The courtroom was old and grand with wooden floors and railings, uncomfortable benches and tall narrow windows that looked out onto the city. The judge sat up on his pedestal and looked down at all of the people gathered before him while ceiling fans suspended by cables whirred softly overhead, doing nothing to freshen the air in the quiet room.
On the plaintiff's side sat Marvin Jackson, suited up and looking every bit a professional and respectable businessman. Beside him was his attorney, Dennis Beck, who had been calling all of the press conferences and slandering David as much as he could. Beck looked slick in his black suit and tie, with his hair carved backward from his face. He had dark cold eyes that looked like a black hole, just waiting to suck in everything he saw and keep it inside of himself forever.
Carlson sat at the defense table looking calm and unperturbed. He was in a navy blue tweed suit, wearing a lighter blue tie. It seemed to Elise that he looked approachable and welcoming, and she thought that the contrast between his look and that of Beck’s dark and almost sinister look was vastly different. Carlson did not write or flip through pages of notes, he did not look around nervously or lean over to David and whisper every few moments. He just sat there, still and quiet, looking ahead at nothing in particular, as if he might be waiting as a passenger on a train for his stop to come up.
David did not feel as calm as Carlson looked. He had felt ready to be in the courtroom until they had arrived, but the austerity of it dwindled his confidence into dust. He glanced around him subtly, taking it all in, memorizing every part of the room, thinking about what he was going to say when he was called to the stand, looking back at Elise (who sat behind Carlson and held Jaden in her arms). Sarah sat next to Elise, looking around the courtroom with narrowed eyes. Jaden slept quietly and peacefully with no notice of what was going on around her at all.
Elise gave David an encouraging smile and he appreciated it. Her eyes warmed the cold pit in his stomach and he took a deep breath and steadied himself, reminding himself that they had the truth on their side, and no matter what might be said by the plaintiff, they knew that they could prove the truth. It gave him a flutter of confidence until the bailiff asked all of them to rise and he announced the judge.
The chamber door opened and an older woman, with black and silver hair pulled up tightly into a bun on her head, swept through the doorway into the courtroom, her robe billowing out behind her. David felt his stomach drop to the floor and he reached his hand to the table in front of him to steady himself as he sat back down.
Court was called into session and Beck made his opening argument. He stated that his client had been in business discussions with David and the two of them had originally made verbal agreements that David would absorb Jackson’s company that would allow all of the employees to retain th
eir jobs, current pay rates and benefits.
He then stated that David had begun to insist that if he were to continue with the arrangements they had already agreed upon, that some of the benefits would have to go, and Jackson acquiesced just to see the deal go through. David came back again in another meeting after that and insisted the pay for the workers be lowered or he would back out. Jackson again acquiesced so his employees could keep their jobs. Beck then stated that David had come back again and had insisted because he thought any company owned by a black man wouldn’t be successful no matter what they did, he would be breaking the company apart and dissolving it.
Indeed, Beck explained, David even told Jackson that he should be grateful that he was even willing to do that much for a black man, and when Jackson declined to go forward with the deal, David attacked him, calling him derogatory names meant to belittle and demean negroes, telling Jackson he had to take the deal. Beck stated that Jackson only fought back to defend himself, and Jackson had incurred several injuries, which had cost him a small fortune in medical bills, and his recovery had been a long and slow process, costing him time at his business.
He demanded restitution for not only the medical bills and the time away from work, as well as a litany of other incidental expenses, but all of the money David would have given him had he absorbed Jackson’s company, as he had promised to do in the beginning.
David was internally outraged that such slanderous lies were being spread about what had happened between them. He glared at Beck the entire time the man strutted around the courtroom, raising his voice and pointing his finger at David. Jackson tried to look as pathetic and abused as he possibly could while maintaining a professional demeanor. The judge watched all of it without any expression on her face whatsoever.
Beck took his seat and Carlson stood up, walking a few feet in front of the table he had been sitting at with David. His demeanor was calm, cool and collected. He explained to the judge in a steady and even voice that David and Jackson had been in discussions about a merger in which David’s company would absorb Jackson’s, that much was true.
However, after a careful examination by both David and his business team, it was decided that such a move would not be financially sound and David retracted his offer and proposed a modified offer in which Jackson’s company would be bought out at a much lower amount of money, all of the employees let go and the company dissolved.
He stated that when Jackson heard David’s offer, he went berserk, attacked David in his office and that Jackson’s injuries were no more severe than a blackened eye and a fat lip. He further commented that while David had not addressed the media or public in any way about the events of the meeting and the fallout that occurred thereafter, Jackson had gone to extreme lengths to slander his client, and though monetary restitution was not being sought by David, he was demanding a public admission of statements of falsehood and an apology.
Again, the judge’s face was perfectly stoic and impenetrable. Jackson made loud scoffing noises at the close of Carlson’s statement but no one paid him any attention over it.
Beck called Jackson to the stand and began to question him about his business. He spoke about how he had built the business up from scratch and that it meant everything to him. He described how his employees were like family to him and he was willing to do anything to keep the business and the employees from going under. He made himself out to be the martyr, practically giving away his precious small business to a greedy corporation who would do nothing but dismantle it, and he himself taking physical punishment from the cold-hearted head of that corporation because of his color and his vulnerability in needing help to save his company from going under. Beck sat down.
Carlson stood up and walked toward him, nearing the stand at a close proximity and looking directly into Jackson’s eyes with a steely gaze.
“Mr. Jackson, you’ve said your business is the most important thing to you and that your employees are like family to you. Would you do anything to keep your most valued investment, that is your business and your employees, from being forfeited?”
Jackson hesitated and looked at his attorney and his attorney nodded to him. Carlson saw Jackson’s move and didn’t turn to look at Beck, but rather, leaned forward slightly and said, “Mr. Jackson, please answer the question.”
“Yes, I guess I would,” he said shortly.
Carlson kept his gaze steady on Jackson. “You’d do anything to protect your business and keep it afloat?” he asked.
Jackson nodded. Carlson said, “Please answer the question out loud, Mr. Jackson.”
“Yes,” Jackson replied.
“Would you please explain to the court what your understanding of your business agreements were with my client?” Carlson continued to watch him, unwaveringly.
Jackson sat up a little bit. “I thought he was going to absorb my company, like we agreed, and then he changed his mind and told me that since I was a nig-”
The judge, who had been watching him speak from her lofty seat, stopped him immediately. “Mr. Jackson, please refrain from using that kind of language in my courtroom. I do not tolerate it.”
Jackson looked up at her and nodded. “…uh, since I was black, he thought my company wasn’t worth anything and I better just be grateful that he was willing to give me any money at all. But he didn’t offer me a tenth of what the company was worth, and I refused him, so then he attacked me.”
Carlson nodded slightly and pursed his lips. “Mr. Jackson, what value did you initially tell my client your company was worth?”
Beck stood up and shouted, “Objection! He’s leading the witness!”
The judge turned her head toward him. “Overruled.”
Jackson thought for a moment. “I told him it was worth $800,000.”
Carlson continued to gaze at him. “How much did my client offer you to dissolve your company?”
Jackson looked over Carlson’s shoulder and glared at David. “He offered me $500,000 and told me I better be grateful to take it.”
Carlson’s gaze remained on Jackson, who looked back at him. “Did you include the debts your company had incurred when you told him the value was $800,000?”
“Yes,” Jackson said a little unconvincingly.
Carlson narrowed his eyes at him. “All of the debts, Mr. Jackson?”
“I believe so,” Jackson said, sinking down in his chair slightly.
“Including the third mortgage you took out on your business location one week before you met with my client?” Carlson’s voice grew slightly louder.
Beck jumped to his feet again. “Objection! Fruit of the poisonous tree! That is illegally obtained information!”
The judge looked at Beck and raised her voice. “Overruled! Witness, answer the question.”
Jackson squirmed a little in his seat. “I… I don’t recall if I told him that.”
“You don’t recall if you told him about a major loan that you took out on your failing business one week before you met with my client to ask him to merge your company with his?” Carlson’s voice was firm and slightly raised.
Beck leapt to his feet again and punched his fist into the air. “Objection! He’s leading the witness!”
The judge turned fully to look at Beck. “Mr. Beck, your objection is overruled, please limit yourself!” She turned back to Carlson and Jackson. “Mr. Jackson, answer the question, please.”
Jackson shook his head. “I don’t recall.”
Carlson looked at him silently for a moment and then walked over to his desk and picked up a stapled packet, walked over to Jackson and handed it to him.
“Do you recognize this financial statement as the same financial statement that you provided to my client upon your first meeting with him, one week after you closed your loan with the bank?” Carlson stood a few feet from the witness stand, making it necessary for Jackson to speak up when he answered him.
“Yes. That’s what I gave him,” Jackson said in a low tone.
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“Does it include information about the loan you had taken out one week before you gave my client that document?” Carlson’s voice went up in volume a little.
Jackson flipped through the pages. “I guess it doesn’t. I don’t think I had the loan documents yet to put those numbers into this statement.”
“Didn’t you leave the bank with loan documents when you closed the loan with them a week before your meeting?” Carlson took a step back, making Jackson speak up a little louder.
Jackson looked at his attorney with a worried expression. “I… uh… I gave those documents to my finance department and I didn’t have them for this statement.”
Carlson tilted his head slightly, as if he might possibly be confused about something. “Who runs your finance department, Mr. Jackson? Please remember that you are under oath and perjury is a punishable offense.”
Jackson’s eyes grew wide and he mumbled an indiscernible answer.
Carlson turned his head slightly “I’m sorry, what was that?” he asked.
“I said I do,” Jackson repeated, looking helplessly at his attorney.
“You run your finance department, and you gave yourself the loan closing documents. Who prepared that financial statement in your hand, Mr. Jackson?”
“I did,” he said quietly.
“What is the date on that document?” Carlson asked, sliding his hands into his pockets.
“It’s dated the day before our meeting,” Jackson answered.
“Just so we all understand what you’re saying, you went to the bank a week before your meeting, you left the bank with your loan closing documents, then a week later, you prepared that financial statement in your hand, leaving out the information about the loan you had just closed on, and you provided my client with incomplete financial information, asking him for more money than your company was truly valued at?”
