“But you still think I'm wrong.”
“I don't think you're wrong, Mitch. I just don't think you've thought it through. Jonathan isn't a piece of property to be divided up. He's a child who needs his mother.”
“He needs a mother. But just because Lillian claims the title, doesn't mean she'll be one.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know her like you do.”
He sighed. “It's the money she wants.”
“Did she say that?”
“In a roundabout way. She said she wanted Jonathan to get all that was coming to him.”
“Any mother would want everything they could give their child.” Sara rubbed her eyes with her other hand and dropped it to the table. “Did you ask her Mitch?”
“What?”
“The reason she left him.”
“I asked her why she didn't tell me about him.”
“Why don't you ask her why she left him? Then maybe you'll understand the reason she wants him back.”
He played with her fingers in the dark, caressing them, sending a flow of sensation through her body.
“Mitch, you have to think about what you'll do if the judge gives Jonathan back to her.” It pained Sara to say it aloud. She knew Mitch had to have been thinking about what Cynthia had said about moving closer to Baltimore, but he hadn't said a word. If he wasn't awarded custody, he could always try to get joint custody or visitation and see Jonathan on a regular basis. That would be nearly impossibly if he were living in Steerage Rock.
“Mitch?”
“I can't lose my son,” he said quietly. “And I won't abandon him.”
That said it all. He didn't have to say anymore.
“You should get some sleep,” she said. Getting to her feet, she blew out the candle and pulled her hand from his, wanting nothing more than to run so she could find a quiet corner and cry.
“Sara?”
She made it to the doorway and angled back. “What is it?”
“Why did you come with me to Baltimore? Even after the way I treated you the other night.”
“You said you needed me. And I'm your friend.” I would never turn my back on you, Mitch.
He started to say something, hesitated, and then said, “Will you come with me to court? I don't know if I can...do this alone.” His voice broke. In the light of the moon shining through the window above the sink, she saw his jaw tighten and his eyes close. She wanted to reach out to him, wrap her arms around his shoulders and tell him that she'd always be there for him. He didn't have to do this alone.
But something held her back, keeping her from reaching out to him and telling him what was in her heart. Good Lord, she loved him. After tomorrow, their lives would take a very dramatic turn if he lost custody of Jonathan. He'd be leaving Steerage Rock and coming back east to be with his son.
And she'd be going to live on the reservation without him.
Her heart was torn. Yes, she loved him. But it was clear that loving him would only end up hurting her in the end.
She walked over to the table and as she did, he rose to his feet. She instantly melted into his embrace, took from him the comfort he gave, while giving it back.
This is love, she thought. Something she had never had in her marriage to Dave. Never had her husband opened himself up so vulnerably, trusting in her enough to be there for him. She buried her head in the crook of Mitch's neck, felt his heartbeat hammer against the walls of his chest as he stroked her hair.
“I'm going to talk to Lillian before we go into court,” he whispered.
She closed her eyes and waited for Mitch to continue.
“If it means moving back east to make this work...”
“I know,” she said in a faraway voice.
“Thank you.”
She pulled back and gazed up at him in the moonlight and she fought mightily to keep from breaking down. This wasn't about her and Mitch. He was doing this for Jonathan. “For what?”
He tipped her chin up with his fingers, grazed his rough, calloused hand along her jaw, making her head spin. “For being my friend. I don't think I've ever had a true friend like you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Neither have I.”
He kissed her, letting his lips linger on her mouth. Her head spun in circles and she clung to him to keep herself steady. Yes, she was steady with Mitch in a way she hadn't been on the reservation or in LA. And it had nothing to do with where she was. It was how she felt when she was with Mitch.
After all this time, she'd finally found a man she loved, and a friend like no other.
She was going to lose both.
#
Chapter Eleven
“You want what?”
Mitch had said something like this was coming. But actually hearing Lillian say the words still threw Sara off balance.
Lillian stood outside the downtown courthouse with her arms crossed in front of her, her perfectly made up face smug. “You heard me, Mitch.”
“That's blackmail,” Mitch said.
“You want to keep the baby, you need to pay me to stay out of his life.”
“So all this crap about wanting him back was a lie?” Sara shot back. She took a step forward, but Mitch held her back with his outstretched arm.
It shouldn't have shocked Sara so, but it did. Mitch had been right all along. Lillian had been using Jonathan as a ploy to extort money from Mitch. Nothing more. Knowing Mitch as she did, Lillian knew he would fall in love with his son and pay any price to keep him.
“You can start by writing out a check for half now. Once the will has gone through probate and you get the money from the trust, you can give me the rest.”
Mitch squeezed Sara's hand a little too tightly before he caught himself and let go. No doubt he was trying to keep his anger in check after Lillian's revelation.
“How did you know about the will?”
Lillian tilted an eyebrow. “Does it really matter?”
“It does to me.”
She sighed impatiently. “I met dear dad in Atlantic City, not long before you and I were involved. He told me about the will over the blackjack table and a bottle of scotch.”
Mitch's face registered pure shock, but the shock Sara felt had turned to betrayal. How could she have been so wrong?
“Before we married,” he said tightly. His laugh was bitter and hard. “You and my old man?”
Lillian scowled. “Please! I recognized your father and struck up a conversation with him. Your father probably doesn't even remember meeting me or what he told me. And even if he did, it's his loss and my gain.”
“Does it end here? Or are you going to keep coming back to extort more money from me?”
Lillian grinned. “That depends.”
“On what?” Sara said, outraged.
“On how much money is actually in that trust fund of course. And whatever else is left to you in that will.”
Mitch laughed again. “You haven't even seen the will yet, have you? For all I know my grandfather left me his antique gumball machine and WWII memorabilia. Anything of his is priceless to me, but I don't think you'd see it quite the same way. I'll take my chances in court.”
Lillian's face hardened. “I'd think long and hard about that before you do.”
“When the judge hears what I have to say--”
Lillian talked over him. “It won't matter when I present him with my proof.”
Mitch stopped short. His hand found Sara's again and he squeezed it.
“That's right,” Lillian taunted. “You didn't think I'd have gone to the trouble of bringing you all the way back here if I didn't have an ironclad case, now did you?”
“What proof could be more damaging than the fact that you left a baby on my doorstep with no word of when you'd be coming back?”
She smiled sweetly. “How about receipts from a hotel in the town next to Steerage Rock proving that I was living there all along?”
“If you were in Steerage Rock all that time, why
didn't you come back sooner?” Sara asked.
“It would have ruined my plans.”
“A single hotel receipt isn't enough proof. You could have picked it up from anyone staying in the area. It doesn't mean you were there,” Mitch charged.
“Well, then there are the cell phone records showing I called the ranch on several occasions, only to have my calls refused.”
“But you never... Oh, directions to the Powwow,” Sara said, recalling the longer than normal conversation. “And those wrong numbers. That was all you?”
Lillian nodded. “When I'm done telling the judge that I sent Jonathan to meet his father only to be turned away and driven to taking legal action in order to get him back, you'll see who wins.”
Sara stepped forward. “How could you do that? Don't you even care about Jonathan?”
“He's a cute kid,” Lillian said, shifted uncomfortably for a moment before straightening her spine. “But in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly mother material. I never intended to raise a child.”
“You only intended to use one for money,” Sara supplied.
“Let's go,” Mitch said, pulling her toward the court. “My lawyer is here.”
Furious and unable to find her voice, Sara twisted on her heels and left Lillian to meet with Mitch’s lawyer.
As Liz Chadwick introduced herself to both of them, Sara felt sick inside. It angered her that she'd actually felt empathy for Lillian to the point of almost ruining her relationship with Mitch.
“Are we ready to go inside?” Liz asked as she reached them.
Mitch gazed at her and then to Lillian as she breezed by them on her way into the courthouse.
“No,” he sighed and proceeded to fill Liz in on the conversation they'd just had with Lillian. “There isn't anything we can do?”
The lawyer just shook a head of tight curls, pulling off her wire-rimmed glasses. “No matter what you say about her character, the evidence is damaging. It will look as though she's been in Texas all this time. The phone calls to the ranch, the hotel receipts. It all makes it look like she didn't abandon Jonathan at all but that you kept Jonathan from her. That evidence will be far more damaging to you.”
Mitch blew out a frustrated breath, his jaw tight with fury. “That's not the way it happened. The only reason she's doing this if for money.”
“Can you prove it? What evidence do you have to counter her claims? She's got the cards stacked in her favor. We have no proof except the word of a father, who as the evidence indicates, has tried to keep his son from his mother.” As Liz wiped her glasses clean with a Kleenex, she sighed. “We'll just have to hope the judge is open-minded enough to hear us out. Your only hope may be to seek joint custody. But that means moving back to Baltimore. I'll meet you inside in five minutes.”
“Don't worry,” Sara said, smiling up at him.
“How can you say that? I don't know how I'm going to fight against this?”
She wrapped her arms around Mitch’s shoulders and reached up on her toes, giving him a kiss. “You're going to walk into that court and tell the judge the truth. You love your son and you have his best interest at heart.”
“What does that mean for us?” His gaze was so intense, she didn't know what to say.
“We'll worry about that later. You'll see. Everything is going to be just fine.”
This was Mitch's fight and he needed to do it his way, Sara thought, her heart pounding as they climbed the courthouse stairs. She was here for Mitch, to support him in any way he needed. Whatever the outcome may be.
* * *
The courtroom was filled with people waiting to be heard. Mitch had never seen the inside of a courtroom, except on TV. It didn't look very much like the docudramas he'd seen on TV and suddenly he had no idea what to expect.
“They'll be hearing some other cases before ours,” his lawyer said as they sat down.
The wait was long and tedious. Mitch tried his best not to show his nervous energy.
“Will the party of Broader vs. Broader please step up to the bench,” the judge finally asked.
Lillian had just stepped into the courtroom, led by her lawyer. Her lawyer was polished to a spit shine, complete with Armani suit.
Sara sat back in the bench while Mitch stood and straightened his tie. He glanced back at her before joining Lillian and the lawyers in front of the judge.
“I've read the affidavits and I have to admit cases like this anger me a great deal. To use a child in a marital dispute in unconscionable.”
“Your honor, we've submitted our statement of the events that took place in Texas,” Liz interjected.
“I see that, Ms. Chadwick. But it doesn't exactly mesh with the statement Mrs. Broader made.”
“For the record, Lillian Devereaux changed her name to Broader only recently. On the marriage certificate and the annulment papers she chose to keep her maiden name.”
“That's not uncommon to want to have the same last name as your child's. I've seen it many times in divorce cases. It's not against the law to change your name to Woody the Clown if it makes you happy.”
A ripple of quiet laughing broke free in the courtroom, which the judge stifled with one hard look.
“What I don't understand, Mr. Broader is why you did not support your ex-wife during her pregnancy.”
When his lawyer tried to answer, the judge held up a hand. “I'd like to hear it directly from Mr. Broader.”
“After the annulment I immediately left for Texas. I didn't even know Lillian was pregnant with my child until she dropped Jonathan on my doorstep when he was just a few weeks old.”
The judge glanced down at the papers, his eyes grazing their conflicting statements. He shut the papers quickly and pushed them aside.
“You claim she made no attempt to contact you until the night before you were served papers to bring your son home.”
“That's correct.”
“Then how do you explain all the evidence to the contrary?”
“It's a lie,” Mitch said flatly.
The judge drew in a deep breath and a rumble of whispered spread out in the courtroom and died. “I believe that is my job to decide.”
Pulling the papers back in front of him, he said. “It is also my job to decide where this child should be raised. I'd like to hear from both of you why you think I should choose you. We'll start with Mr. Broader.”
“Because I love him. I'm not saying I did right from the start, because I didn't even know about him. It was quite a shock to find out I was a father. But in time, and with some help—a lot of help—I fell in love with my son.”
Sara listened to Mitch's declaration, his voice deep and steady when he spoke of his love for Jonathan. If for no other reason that this, it was worth all the pain of loving Mitch just to have him come to this place in his life, knowing his love for his son. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“Love alone isn't enough,” the judge said. “This child needs care and consistency. This statement states you have a nanny taking care of him while you work. But you work long hours. Mrs. Broader has stated that you are looking for another nanny.”
Lillian's lawyer interjected. “With proper child support, my client can care for the infant herself and live comfortably.”
“I'm aware of the kind of child support your client is seeking. We'll have to shave that down a bit to meet the state's guidelines.”
“What state guidelines?” Lillian shot out.
“Child support is based on salary. This inheritance referenced here is irrelevant in child support cases. It is up to Mr. Broader to appropriate what he chooses to his son in his own will or trust.”
“But what about me? I was married—.”
Impatiently the judge cut her off. “And you had the marriage annulled after only two weeks. Let's face it, Mrs. Broader, your lawyer should have explained this to you. The money was willed to your ex-husband before you were married, and he inherited it after the marriage dissolved, therefore making
you ineligible to claim any of it as his spouse. By virtue of having the marriage annulled, it was as if you were never married at all, and therefore, not entitled to spousal support. If you have a problem with that, take it up with your divorce lawyer. But I can guarantee if you come before my bench with this, I will strike it down.”
Steam seemed to rise from Lillian's ears. She gave a hard glance at Mitch and folded her arms across her chest.
“My primary concern is this child and the events that have transpired since his birth. I'd like to take a half hour recess to mull over these affidavits before making my decision.” With the strike of the gavel, he rose and waltzed into his chambers.
“I had a chance to look at the evidence Lillian's lawyer has and I won't lie to you. It doesn't look good,” Liz said, snapping her brief case closed. “Why don't two grab a cup of coffee? There is a cafeteria in the lower level. I'm going to see if there are any last minute tricks I can pull out of a hat to help us. I'll meet you back here when court reconvenes.”
In silence, Mitch and Sara took the elevator to the bottom floor. Mitch looked so shattered, it made Sara's heart ache. When the elevator door flew open, she was as surprised as Mitch to see Lillian waiting for them, a smug grin splitting her face.
Mitch stiffened.
“Have you given my offer any more thought, Mitch?”
“I won't bargain with you for my son.”
“You're going to lose what's most precious to you. Then what?”
He didn't respond, but Sara could feel his pulse pounding where she held his arm.
“As soon as we walk into that court room again, it will be too late. The judge will hand custody of Jonathan over to me, and I promise you, I'm not going to make it easy for you to see him. I suggest you think about that for a while.”
Lillian turned on her heels and waltzed into the women’s bathroom.
Mitch's heavy sigh spoke the gravity of emotion he was feeling. Sara had believed this was Mitch's fight. It wasn't her place to intervene. She was here only to lend her support to him if he needed it. But she was wrong in thinking it was only about Jonathan. It was about the two of them, too. And Sara had a lot of fight in her in that regards.
His Heart for the Trusting (Book 2 - Texas Hearts (Contemporary Western Romance) Page 14
