Another Chance to Love

by Cheris Hodges

  But from what Paige could feel, his body was saying something else.

  “Just don’t leave me tonight. I want to wake up in the morning with you in my arms.”

  She nodded. “I’ll stay,” she whispered. Brian scooped her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Paige nestled herself against Brian’s chest and he held her tightly as they drifted off to sleep.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Brian woke up with a start. The phone was ringing, there was a loud knock at the door and beside him, and Paige lay naked from the waist up. He stroked her cheek gently, ready to ignore the door and the phone. The knocking grew louder and the phone continued to ring. Brian eased out of the bed and picked up the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Brian, it’s Gabrielle. There’s an emergency and I need to bring Mickey over,” she said. “Terrence said something about a fire at the club.”

  “All right,” he replied. The knocking continued. “Somebody’s at the door. I have to go.”

  He hung up the phone and dashed to the front door. Brian pulled the curtain back and saw Olivia standing there. He opened the door and looked at her.

  “What do you want?”

  “Are you keeping my son from me?” she asked as she pushed her way inside the house.

  Brian ran his hand over his face. “Mickey isn’t here,” he said. “And I think you should leave.”

  Olivia folded her arms across her chest. “Where’s my son? And why are you trying to rush me out of here? I guess you and your little girlfriend got back together. Is she in here? Is that why you pushed my son off on a baby-sitter? You know I want to spend time with him.”

  Brian had never wanted to hit a woman before, not even when he was a little boy and Gabrielle got on his nerves the way little sisters do at times. But standing there talking to Olivia, he felt the urge to do just that. He balled his hands up into tight fists. This was the first time he’d seen her since she’d served him with the custody papers.

  “I’m going to ask you to leave one more time,” Brian said. His voice was calm despite the rage bubbling inside of him like lava. “If I were you, I would go.”

  Olivia raised her eyebrow. “She’s here, isn’t she?” She started for the bedroom, but Brian grabbed her arm.

  “What I do and who I do it with is none of your business. What is this really about, Olivia? You walked out on me and Mickey, now you act like we’re the most important things in your life. Are you jealous that I’ve moved on and you haven’t?”

  Olivia twisted her lips as if tasting rancid milk. “I’ve moved on with my life and I’m not going to stand here and have a pissing contest with you about who’s slept with the most people since our divorce.”

  Brian stalked to the front door and snatched it open. “Get out.”

  “I told you to keep that woman away from my son and you’re not listening to me. Mickey has one mother and that’s me,” Olivia said as she walked out. Brian slammed the door behind her, then turned around and saw Paige standing in the hallway.

  “Are you sure you two are through?” she asked as she walked into the living room, picking up her dress and covering her bare breasts with her arms.

  “Paige, I don’t know how much of that you heard, but –”

  “I heard enough to know that I’m not going to be your trophy girlfriend to show your ex that you’ve moved on with your life.”

  Brian dropped his head in his hand. “I’m not asking you to do that. Paige, I don’t know what else I can say or do to prove to you that I want you in my life and that it has nothing to do with Olivia. What else do you want me to do?”

  Paige looked at him, narrowing her eyes, then stomped out of the house.

  Women! he thought as he plopped down on the sofa with his head in his hands.

  Paige walked across the street to her house and before she could head to the bathroom to take a long hot bath, someone rang her doorbell. She opened the door without looking to see who it was, because she thought it was Brian. To her surprise it was Olivia.

  “What in the bloody hell do you want?” Paige snapped.

  “Do you want to be the reason why Brian loses custody of his son?”

  “Get off my doorstep.” Paige attempted to close the door, but Olivia stuck her foot inside.

  “Paige, I don’t know you or what you want from Brian, but let me tell you what I want. I want my family back. I made a huge mistake leaving the way I did. But I’m back now and you’re in my way.”

  Paige rolled her eyes at Olivia, thinking that she had a lot of nerve to be here. However, Olivia Jackson was messing with the wrong person.

  “I’m in your way? I think you have it twisted, honey. See, your marriage to Brian is over. You walked away, left him with a young child, forcing him to rearrange his life to be a good father. Now, when a good woman walks into his life, you decide that you want to come back. But, Olivia, you’re not his wife anymore and I’m not giving Brian up because you said so. This isn’t some kind of game or business deal. Brian and I have real feelings for each other. You need to concern yourself with your son and let your ex-husband live his life.”

  Olivia stood there with her mouth wide open. “Don’t you dare talk to me about my son! Giving him a few Popsicles and hamburgers doesn’t make you a parental authority. I love my son and my son loves me; you’re just the woman his father happens to be sleeping with this week.”

  Bubbling with anger, Paige hauled off and slapped her. Olivia slapped her back and the claws were out. Paige lunged at her, pushing her against the door, causing the glass in the window to crack.

  Olivia retaliated by pressing her knee into Paige’s stomach, causing her to fall forward. The women tumbled down the five front steps. Olivia tried to scratch Paige’s face, but Paige blocked her when she pushed Olivia’s chin upward. Olivia dug her nails into Paige’s arm.

  “Get off me, you bitch!” Paige yelled as she kicked Olivia in the midsection, then stood up and got into a kickboxing stance, as if she was egging her to come and get her. Olivia ran at Paige, but Paige kicked her in the face. She fell down to the ground, moaning in pain. Paige fought the urge to spit in her face. She turned her back to Olivia and headed for the front steps.

  Olivia leapt up and jumped on Paige’s back, dragging her down to the ground, pulling her hair with one hand while with the other arm, she attempted to strangle her. Paige felt as if she were seconds away from passing out, when suddenly she could breathe again. Rolling over on her back, she saw Brian holding Olivia.

  “What in the hell is going on out here?” Brian demanded, looking from Paige to Olivia. “You two do realize that if Mickey had been home he would have witnessed you two imitating the WWE? What kind of example are you setting?”

  Olivia jerked away from Brian. “That woman attacked me,” she exclaimed.

  “What are you doing here?” Brian asked Olivia.

  “Threatening me!” Paige called out. “But you know what, I’m through with this—with you, your crazy ex-wife, and all of this drama.”

  Brian let Olivia go and turned to Paige. “At this point, I would really rather that both of you just left me the hell alone,” Brian said. “Anybody want to press charges? I can run you both downtown.”

  Olivia poked her lips out, reminding Paige of a child caught stealing cookies before dinner. “No, Brian,” she said, and then turned to Paige. “I’m sorry about this.”

  Paige folded her arms. Did she think she was going to return the apology? Paige’s eyebrow shot up. “Get off my property—both of you,” Paige said coldly before she walked into the house.

  Once inside, Paige questioned why she’d stooped to Olivia’s level. Brian probably thinks that I’ve completely lost my mind, she thought as she sat down on the sofa.

  Brian looked at Olivia and shook his head. “Why did you go over there and start a fight with her,” he demanded.

  Olivia threw her hands up. “So that’s all that you are concerned with? She attacked me.�
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  “You’re always the victim,” Brian said as he began to walk away.

  “This is going to be great in court,” Olivia called out before getting into her car and speeding away.

  Brian was beginning to wonder what he’d ever seen in Olivia. Maybe Gabrielle has been right about her all of these years, he thought as he sat on the front steps looking across the street at Paige’s house. Was he making the same mistake twice? Paige had a fiery temper that was actually starting to scare him. Then again, right now Olivia could inspire violence in the most levelheaded person. At that moment Gabrielle pulled into the driveway and Mickey jumped out of the car and ran over to his father.

  “Daddy!” Mickey exclaimed as he threw himself into his father’s arms.

  Gabrielle looked at her brother. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked, noting the scowl on his face.

  “Women,” Brian said as he ushered Mickey into the house.

  Gabrielle looked across the street and saw Paige’s car. “So, she came back,” she said with a slight smile. “What’s the problem?”

  “Don’t you have some place you need to be?”

  Gabrielle placed her hands on her hips. “Look, don’t get all salty with me because the women in your life are causing havoc. I guess she’s still mad because of the little lip lock between you and Olivia.”

  Brian shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said as he stood up.

  Gabrielle looked at her brother. “You know what? You guys are really getting on my nerves. You’re obviously falling in love with the woman and she obviously cares about you. I wish you two would just get it together.”

  Brian stood up and kissed his sister on the cheek. “Go take care of your trouble and leave me to worry about this mess.”

  Gabrielle shrugged her shoulders and headed back to her car. Brian walked into the house as she drove off.

  He picked up the phone and called Chief Whitt. “What’s up, Jackson?”

  “I can’t make it in tonight,” he said. “My baby-sitter canceled on me and I don’t trust leaving my son with his mother.”

  The chief sighed into the phone. “I hate that you’re going through this. If you need to take the day off, go ahead. My wife Mildred might be able to help you if you get in a bind like this in the future.”

  “Thanks, Chief,” he said before hanging up.

  Walking into the living room, Brian knew he needed a break from everything going on around him. “Hey champ, let’s do something fun today.”

  “Like what?” Mickey asked, turning away from the TV.

  “Umm, let’s go to the zoo,” Brian said.

  Mickey’s eyes lit up like Christmas trees as he nodded yes. Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia was about two hours away from Elmore. Brian wanted to get far enough away from town so that he wouldn’t have to think about custody hearings, Paige or Olivia.

  “All right!” Mickey exclaimed.

  Brian ushered his son into his room to pack a “car bag.” Mickey grabbed his crayons and jumbo coloring book.

  “Now we just need some snacks and we can go,” Brian said. He and Mickey walked into the kitchen and packed a snack of graham crackers, apple slices, and a small jar of peanut butter.

  Once they were packed and ready, they got into Brian’s truck and headed for the zoo. For the first time in a week, Brian was focused just on his son and everything was good—until he realized he had to tell his son about the custody case.

  Brian knew Mickey was going to ask ten thousand questions that he wasn’t ready to answer. He had hoped his divorce would leave Mickey unscarred, but the custody case would drag him through the muck.

  Brian glanced over at his son, who was happily coloring.

  “Hey, champ, you know Mommy and I are divorced. You understand what that means, right?”

  Mickey nodded. “It means she doesn’t live with us anymore.”

  “Right,” Brian said as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Well, Mommy wants to spend more time with you and in order to do that, we have to see someone called a judge. You know what a judge is, right?”

  Mickey stopped coloring. “That’s the man in a black robe who sends bad guys to jail. Is Mommy going to jail?”

  Brian laughed nervously. “No one is going to jail. See, there are all kinds of judges. And the judge that we have to see is a family judge and he doesn’t send anyone to jail. He just makes sure that everything is fair. Sometimes adults can’t agree on things like where children spend their summers and holidays. So the judge has to help the adults decide what’s best for the child. That’s what’s going to happen with us.”

  “But I want to stay with you,” Mickey said with tears welling up in his eyes. “Mommy leaves me alone at night.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When her phone rings, she leaves and I have to stay with Grandma and Grandma’s food makes me sick.”

  Brian gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned ashen. “Well, if the judge says that Mommy can spend more time with you, then you would go visit her at her house in Atlanta.”

  Mickey smiled. “And you’d come too, right?”

  Brian shook his head. “No, son, this would be Mommy’s time with you. It’s called visitation. You would live with me and then in the summer and some holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, you would go with Mommy.”

  Mickey furrowed his brows. “But if I’m with Mommy on Christmas, Santa won’t know where to find me. I don’t want to go with Mommy. I want to stay with you and then Mommy can come home and visit both of us.”

  Brian sighed. “It doesn’t work like that, champ.”

  “Why?”

  “I wish I knew,” Brian mumbled. “Look, I don’t want you to be afraid when we go talk to the judge.”

  “Okay.”

  “And,” Brian continued, “you know your mother and I love you very much.”

  “I know,” he said returning to his coloring.

  Brian returned his attention to the highway. He wished things would stay this simple. But he knew better.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Two weeks passed before a family court judge was ready to hear Brian’s custody case. He and Gerald Johnson walked into the courtroom looking like two men ready for the battle of a lifetime. Olivia and her Atlanta attorney sat at the table across from them. Brian shot a contemptuous glance her way, which she returned with an icy stare.

  “Don’t give her any more ammo,” Gerald whispered in Brian’s ear as they took their seats.

  Moments later, court was called to order. The honorable Charles White, an imposing man with silver hair and pale skin, was presiding over the case. He took the bench, peering over his glasses at Brian and Olivia.

  “The first thing I always say in these kinds of cases is that this isn’t about who the better parent is or ego. We’re here because a child needs to have his mother and father in his life. With that being said, let’s get this case started.” He pushed his wire-rimmed glasses off the bridge of his nose.

  Olivia’s attorney, Malcolm Kittle, stood up. “Your Honor,” he said with a thick southern drawl. “My client has been denied access to her son. She divorced Mr. Jackson and moved to Atlanta. Her intention was to come back and take her son to Atlanta once she got her home ready for him. However, when she returned she was met with resistance from her former husband.” The man paused, wiped his round, oily face and continued.

  “Olivia Jackson has always been a good mother. While her husband is no doubt a decent father, she was the one the child spent most of his time with up until six months ago when the couple split. Mr. Jackson is a police officer and due to his work schedule, he can’t provide the boy in question with the time and supervision that he needs. During their marriage, Mr. Jackson worked many overnight stakeouts, went undercover for weeks at a time and if it wasn’t for Mrs. Jackson, the little boy would have been pushed off on babysitter after babysitter. That’s no life for a child, but it’s what
he’ll have with his father.”

  Brian rolled his eyes in disgust as the man spoke. Olivia made it seem as if all he ever did was work and never took up any time with his son. He had been by Olivia’s side when they tucked Mickey in at night, unless he was working undercover. Regardless, he had been there every morning, even if he was coming in from an all night stakeout. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “My client, Your Honor, is seeking sole custody of her son with limited visitation,” Kittles said.

  The words hit Brian like a Mack truck. “What the hell,” he mumbled, then turned to Gerald, who looked dumbfounded. “Do something.” Gerald nodded and stood up. “Your Honor,” he said, then shot a sharp look at Kittles and Olivia. “If I may interrupt my colleague, this hearing was supposed to be for shared custody of Brian Jr. And I would like to take this time to say that Mrs. Jackson abandoned her family in the middle of the night and didn’t leave a forwarding address or telephone number. It was weeks before Brian Jr. heard from—”

  “Your Honor,” Kittles interrupted. “I think Mr. Johnson will have time to present his case.”

  Judge White banged his gavel. “Did my opening remarks go over your heads? What I have in front of me is a petition for shared custody. What you need to do, Mr. Kittles, is get the appropriate paper work to the court. I don’t know if you all in Atlanta play fast and loose with the rules, but we don’t in Elmore.”

  “Well, uh, Your Honor, some circumstances came up that made it necessary for my client to push for full custody,” Kittles stammered.

  “Regardless, I don’t have that information. And this ruling is of high importance to Brian Jackson Jr. I want the new information before we proceed. This case will be continued next month. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, I suggest you take this time to try and form an agreement that you both can stick to. I don’t like the nastiness that I’m feeling in this courtroom.” He shot a glance in Gerald’s direction. “I will not tolerate grandstanding from either side.” Judge White banged his gavel. “Next case.”