I Won't Remember You (Aidan & Vicky Book 6)

by Mairsile Leabhair

  “She is your daughter only because you somehow managed to adopt her before you stole her from her mother. And point of fact, our marriage is real in the eyes of God, and finally the law, not that it matters. It’s real to us.”

  “I adopted her with her mother’s consent, and I took her away to protect her from being abused by her mother,” Harold proclaimed.

  Brigid jumped up. “That’s a lie! I wasn’t even at the adoption, and I would never give my consent to you. And God will attest, I never, ever abused my child!”

  Another question answered! Aidan thought. She had been curious about why Brigid agreed to the adoption, but didn’t know how to ask the question without sounding like she was accusing her. And in a way, she would have been.

  “Order,” Williamson said. “You will have your turn next, Ms. O’Malley. Please sit down.”

  Brigid reluctantly sat back down, and Aidan patted her on the shoulder.

  “Okay, I confess,” Harold quipped. “My daughter and I don’t see eye to eye. She thinks I’m a bastard, which is funny because then that would make her a bitch.”

  “Objection, Your Honor,” Meghan said.

  “Sustained. Mr. Cassidy, do you have a question for this witness?”

  “Of course, Judge,” Harold responded. “My question, Vicky, is why are you doing this to me?”

  Vicky shook her head. “I’ve done nothing to you. Nothing.”

  “Well, if I’ve done nothing wrong, and you’ve done nothing wrong, then why are we here?”

  “You’re delusional,” Vicky countered.

  “So I’ve been told. But fortunately, the shrink thinks otherwise,” Harold said.

  “Then why are you doing this?” Vicky asked.

  “I’m not doing anything,” Harold protested. “You did this. All of this is your fault.”

  “I’m warning you, Mr. Cassidy.”

  “Please, Your Honor, let him finish,” Vicky requested.

  Aidan shook her head, but Vicky just smiled at her. Trust me, honey. It’s okay. She turned back to the judge. “Your Honor, he has an agenda, and I would like to know what that is.”

  The Judge shook her head. “This is highly irregularly.”

  “Your Honor, the People have no objection,” Meghan stated.

  Williamson thought for a moment and then looked at Harold. “You may proceed, Mr. Cassidy, but I caution you, step over the line, and I will hold you in contempt.”

  “Thank you, Judge. I’m happy to explain to Ms. Montgomery what she already knows.”

  “And, Mr. Cassidy, understand that what you say here will be considered in my final judgement, so choose your words wisely.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Judge,” Harold replied, turning his attention back to Vicky. “So, you think I have an agenda. No doubt you probably think it’s all about you, don’t you?”

  Harold wandered across the invisible line and Meghan immediately called for an objection. Harold threw up his hands in surrender, and walked back over to his side of the room. Aidan unclenched her jaw, but remained on the edge of her seat, ready to spring into action.

  “Anyway, you would be right, Vicky. It is all about you. All about how you ruined my life.”

  “You keep saying that,” Vicky chastised. “And yet you won’t tell me how. Why is that, Harold?”

  Richard leaned forward and whispered to Aidan. “That’s very good. She has him on the defensive now.”

  “You want to know why? All right, I’ll tell you why. Because of you, my daughter left me, and I was forced to do things that I didn’t want to do.”

  “What kind of things were those, Harold?” Vicky asked.

  Richard whispered to Aidan, “She’s trying to get him to confess.”

  Harold shook his head. “I’m not as delusional as that, girlie-girl. But I will tell you that I was force to repeat certain things several times, all because of you.”

  “I don’t believe you, Harold. No one forced you to rape me when I was thirteen. And I know I’m not the only one you violated.” Vicky looked over at Bob Wilkes, who was sitting in his usual seat in the back of the gallery. She could tell that he was angry. She looked back at Harold.

  Harold laughed ominously. “You forced me, Victoria. You turned my daughter against me, and then turned her into a fag. I had no choice.”

  Vicky ignore his rant. “If you were any kind of a decent human being, you would have confessed a long time ago. But then, if you were a decent man, you wouldn’t have raped me in the first place.” Vicky shook her head. “I don’t see how you can live with yourself.”

  “It takes a strong man to take on the responsibility of teaching people like you a lesson in obedience. Your father was too weak to do it, so I stepped up. I am proud of my accomplishments.”

  Leonard had been listening quietly, but inside, his anger slowly simmered until it finally boiled to the top. “You son of a bitch!” he shouted, standing up, waving his fist.

  Judge Williamson banged her gavel. “Order! Mr. Montgomery, another outburst like that and I’ll have no recourse but to have you banned from these proceedings. And that goes for everyone else in this courtroom,” she said, waving her mallet from one side of the audience to the other. “I will not tolerate these outbursts any longer. Anyone else with ants in their pants will be dismissed immediately.”

  Leonard sat down quietly, but his angry eyes looked contemptuously at Harold.

  Harold, however, was staring at Vicky’s hand. “Where’s my ring?”

  Vicky looked down at her ring finger, then looked back at Harold. “It has been returned to the Irish government, where it belongs.”

  “No! That ring was mine,” Harold exclaimed. “You’ve ruined everything!”

  “That’s something else you keep saying, Harold,” Vicky prodded. “You had that ring for years and didn’t even know it was gone until you saw it on my finger when you tried to rape me again. Why do you care now?”

  Harold turned away. “I’m tired of this witness.”

  “Why, Harold? Tell me,” Vicky pleaded.

  Harold turned back to her, his red face in a scowl. “It was the only damn thing my father ever praised me on!” he shouted at her.

  Vicky was shocked. She believed that it was the first time he had ever spoken the truth, and she felt empathy for him, which was gone the second he spoke again.

  Harold shook his head as if to clear away the vision of his father holding the ring, and patting him on the shoulder. “Besides, it reminded me of what a great time you and I had. No more questions,” he said and walked to his chair, but before he sat down, he winked at Leonard.

  Aidan put her hand on Leonard’s shoulder to keep him from jumping up again. “He’s not worth it, Pop. Don’t give him what he wants.”

  Leonard nodded, and leaned back, his fists still clenched.

  “I think now is a good time for a ten minute recess,” Williamson said, banging her gavel.

  The Bailiff stepped forward. “All rise.”

  As soon as the Judge left the room, Aidan and Vicky, along with friends and family, exited the courtroom and walked outside for some fresh air. They didn’t want to stay in the courtroom because Harold would have to remain there under guard. It would take too long to transfer him back to the city jail around the next block, and then return him to the courtroom.

  “Damn, you did great, baby,” Aidan said, hugging her wife.

  “Vicky! Vicky, can you give us a statement?” a reporter asked, as several of them ran up and stuck their microphones in front of her face.

  Vicky shook her head. After traversing the land mines Harold had set, she wasn’t prepared to speak in front of a camera. “Let’s wait until we have a verdict, all right? I’ll have a statement for you then.”

  The reporters grumbled, but agreed to wait.

  Aidan watched them walk away and then turned to Brigid. “Mom, if Harold gets too invasive, play the foreigner card.”

  “I don’t understand, Aidan?” Brig
id asked.

  “Harold will probably play the same game he just played with Vicky, only now he will be more vicious. Don’t let him lead you into a trap, okay?”

  “All right, I understand,” Brigid said. “But I won’t be playing, honey, this is all foreign to me.”

  “How are you doing, Dad?” Vicky asked as she walked over to her father.

  “I’m sorry that I lost it in there, honey,” Leonard replied. “I just couldn’t take his bullshit any longer.”

  “He insulted you, Dad. You had every right—”

  “That’s not why I got so mad. It was because he thought he was owed that privilege.”

  “He’s clearly nuts,” Richard said jovially.

  “I thought you shrinks didn’t like that word, Richard?” Vicky said.

  “We don’t like it when lay people use it, but trained professionals have the expertise to call it like they see it.”

  Leonard laughed. “Well, I’m no expert, but it was a very good call.”

  *

  “I can’t believe she gave the fucking ring away. What am I going to do now?”

  “Did you say something, Harold?” George asked, not really paying attention to what Harold had said.

  “Yeah, I said I’m a dead man. All bets are off now.”

  George shook his head. “Harold, you’re not making any sense.”

  “Here’s the thing, George. I have cancer. Lots of cancer and no money or insurance to treat it. Six months ago they said I had a year to live. That would have been just enough time to get things wrapped up in a neat little bow. But that bitch, Vicky, just unraveled my bow.”

  “How’d she do that?”

  “She gave my fucking ring away!”

  George shook his head. “So your father liked the ring. Big deal. He’s dead now.”

  “That’s not it, you idiot. It was my ticket out of here. I knew keeping that ring would pay off someday. See, the Irish mob had been after it for years, and so I told them that all they had to do was take it from Vicky. They’ve been in court every day, watching.”

  “Damn it! You put a target on her back?”

  “Yes, it was an ingenious plan if I do say so myself. My daughter is the one who made it possible. She caught an idiot drug courier and he ended up in a jail cell right next to me. He wasn’t there long. Just long enough for me to put a bug in his ear on how to get his revenge. He was so grateful that he set me up with one of his friends in Chicago. So, the plan was supposed to be that they take care of both those bitches, and break me out of jail at the same time. Now I don’t know what the fuck will happen.”

  “Damn, Harold, you are a cold hearted son of a bitch.”

  Harold smiled. “Thank you.”

  *

  Ten minutes was not enough time when people had to stand in line for the bathroom. Court had reconvened by the time Joyce came barging through the door to take her seat behind Vicky. Ellen leaned over and whispered, “The prosecutor just called Brigid to the stand. She was sworn in and Meghan asked her to describe Harold’s character.”

  “He was the sceith diabhail,” Brigid replied.

  “I’m sorry, please translate for the court,” Meghan requested.

  “The devil’s spawn,” Brigid repeated in English.

  Harold shook his head. “Objection, Judge. Why is this woman even allowed to speak?”

  “You know why, Mr. Cassidy. Objection overruled.”

  “Please continue, Ms. O’Malley,” Meghan said to Brigid. “Tell us what it was like, living with the defendant?”

  “When he wasn’t abusing me, he was raping me. If he had to leave, he had his girlfriends watch me, or sometimes one of his comrádaí from the pub.”

  “So you were essentially his prisoner?”

  “I was his sclábhaí. His slave. I was forced to cook and clean, and not just for him, for the bean sráides, um, hookers also. They were filthy creatures.”

  “Ms. O’Malley, did he beat you while you were pregnant?”

  “No, when I began to show, about three months after he kidnapped me, he stopped abusing me. He insisted the baby in my womb was his child, but I knew she wasn’t his. My menstrual cycle had stopped two months before he ever touched me.”

  “But he didn’t believe you, did he?” Meghan probed.

  “No, he didn’t. One day shortly after Aidan had been born, he disappeared. He was gone all day and when he came back, he handed his mate a cigar, announcing that he had adopted Aidan. I was hysterical. He had no right.”

  “Thank you, Ms. O’Malley. Nothing further,” Meghan stated. As Meghan turned to sit down, a courier handed her a brown envelope. She opened it immediately.

  Judge Williamson looked at George. “Counselor, do you wish to question this witness?”

  “Yes, Your Honor,” George replied.

  Harold stood up and walked in front of Brigid and positioned himself at an angle so he could see both Brigid and Aidan. “So, tis herself then. Come all the way from Ireland to sit here and tell lies on me, your husband.”

  “You are not my husband!” Brigid exclaimed. “In the eyes of God and church, we were never wed.”

  “And yet, I am your child’s father,” Harold debated. “What did the church have to say about that?”

  Brigid looked down at her hands, afraid for Aidan to see her face. “They said nothing.”

  “How could that be?” Harold knew he must have hit a soft spot and he attacked. “You don’t go to the bathroom without the church’s blessing. What did they say?”

  Brigid shook her head, still looking down.

  “Judge, make the witness answer the question please,” Harold whined.

  “The witness will answer the question,” Williamson said.

  Why doesn’t she want to answer it? Aidan wondered.

  Brigid raised her head angrily. “They didn’t say anything because I didn’t tell them about her.”

  “Brigid, darling. If you hadn’t run off and then brought the police in, you would have seen your precious baby again.”

  “You took her away from me, tú bastaird dúr!”

  “I understood bastaird, and I’m pretty sure you’re right about that. Anyway, I was there, watching. I only drove her up the hill so I could teach you a lesson, but you had to go and call the cops. Man, I never heard anyone scream as loud as you did. You’ve got some set of pipes on you.”

  “You mac soith!”

  Harold laughed. “That one I do know. For the record, Judge,” Harold said, strutting back over to his table. “Mac soith means son of a bitch. No more questions for this woman.”

  Shaking her head and crying, Brigid felt like she was drowning. He was there the whole time… if only I—

  Meghan jumped up. “Redirect, Your Honor!”

  “Proceed.”

  “You were right, Ms. O’Malley,” Meghan said, walking up to her with papers in her hand.

  Brigid wiped her eyes. “I was?”

  “During the two day break, I secured a subpoena and had delivered to the Vital Records Department in Tennessee, where Aidan was born. I just now received their report. The adoption on Aidan Marie O’Malley was bogus.”

  Complete silence…

  “Fuck me!” Aidan exclaimed, jumping up into the air.

  Vicky jumped up, applauding, followed by everyone in their support group.

  Aidan grabbed Vicky and spun her around. “Did you hear that, kid?”

  “It’s wonderful!” Vicky exclaimed.

  The Judge made a few notes on her pad trying to hide her smile. Finally, she called for order.

  Aidan put Vicky down and looked at her mother, tears in her eyes. Brigid had her hands to her face, weeping.

  “Your Honor, I submit people’s exhibit number four, legal papers stating that the adoption of Aidan Cassidy has been ruled null and void.”

  Aidan pumped her fist in celebration, but stopped short of jumping up again. She wanted to hear more.

  “At my insistence, Vital Re
cords did an audit on the adoption papers and found the clerk who issued them. The clerk, who had left the department years ago, was paid five-hundred dollars by Harold Cassidy to falsify papers. He has surrendered this information voluntarily in exchange for the possibility of a lighter sentence,” Meghan concluded, handing the papers to the Bailiff to give to the clerk. “Nothing further, Your Honor.”

  Judge Williamson looked at George. “Counselor would you like to re-cross examine the witness?”

  George looked at Harold, who for the first time, looked defeated. “No questions, Your Honor,” George stated.

  George shook his head. Damn it! Everything is falling apart!

  “The witness is dismissed.”

  As Brigid walked left the stand, she walked up to Meghan and took her hand and kissed it. Then she sat down beside Aidan.

  Meghan watched her sit down before turning back to the judge. “Your honor, the People rest.”

  “Very well. Court will adjourn for lunch and resume with the defense’s case at thirteen hundred,” Williamson declared, pounding her mallet and standing up.

  “All rise,” the Bailiff instructed.

  Aidan stood up and wrapped both arms around her mother as the judge left the room.

  *

  “What will you do now, Aidan?” Richard asked before taking a bite of his salad.

  “You mean in terms of changing my last name?” Aidan asked as she poured ketchup on her hamburger. Richard nodded, and Aidan set the ketchup bottle down. “I honestly don’t know. My whole life I’ve been known as a Cassidy. Everything I did was to bring honor to my name because I knew that Harold would hate it. That’s a pretty lame reason now that I think of it. But my military record, and most importantly, my wife, carries my name.”

  “And your wife has no reservations in keeping the name Cassidy,” Vicky interjected. “I don’t see your last name as having anything to do with Harold. This will sound silly, and I know you both have the same surname, but where his last name reminds me of the evil he’s done, your last name erases that and reminds me of your unconditional love for me. It’s because of your first name that I can see the difference. I’m proud of you, Aidan Cassidy.”