by L. J. Taylor
Ivy nodded. “Yes, he knows about it and says the same thing, but so far, he hasn’t been able to get the court to drop the petition for child support. We filed an appeal, but Zeke’s not willing to wait for it to be decided. He’s going forward with the custody hearing. He’s a very dangerous man but he’s never been caught, so he doesn’t have a record. Even if he doesn’t get full custody, he’ll probably get shared custody. I don’t want him anywhere near Omari.
“I can see why,” Luke said. “How are you planning to keep him from getting shared custody of Omari?”
Ivy thought about telling him about her plan to testify against Zeke, then thought better of it. It was best she kept that information to herself for now. The fewer people who knew about it, the less likely it was to leak. “I don’t know. Mr. Tate and I are working on that.”
“Well, if you need anything, just let me know. I’m here for you” he said.
She touched his arm and looked up into his eyes. “Thank you. For everything. You’ve been so good to me and Omari. I want you to know that I appreciate it.”
He smiled at her. “It’s my pleasure. It’s one of the highlights of my week to spend time with him.” He looked around. “Speaking of Little Man – it’s been awfully quiet in here lately. I wonder what he’s been up to.”
It was true. They hadn’t heard a peep from Omari for at least ten minutes. That was highly unusual. She cast a suspicious glance toward the dining room and saw Omari peeking furtively around the corner. She gasped. How long had he been standing there? How much had he heard? How much had he understood? She peeked at him again. He was smiling. Whatever he had heard hadn’t upset him. Thank God. She plastered a smile on her face and looked up and pointed at him. “There you are!”
He giggled. “Mommy, I was watching you.”
She and Luke glanced at each other. “I can see that. How long have you been standing there?”
Omari didn’t answer the question. He just ran up to them waving his toys. “I have my toys.”
“Okay.” Ivy grabbed the baby bag and opened it. “Put them in here and let’s go. It’s time for bed.”
While Omari stuffed the toys into the bag, she looked up at Luke. “I’ve got to get him to bed.”
Luke reached down to tousle Omari’s braids. “I’ll see you on Saturday, Little Man.”
***
Ivy sat next to her attorney at the counsel’s table in the courtroom. He had told her to dress conservatively, so she wore a navy blue skirt suit with matching pumps. Her attorney argued the motion to dismiss the child support petition. The judge cut him off.
“Counselor, am I to understand that you are arguing against pursuing the child support petition? Wouldn’t it be in the best interests of the child for the mother to have another source of income with which to raise the child?” the judge asked.
“While it may be beneficial for the child to have access to another source of income for his support, it is the mother’s prerogative to choose whether or not to pursue child support from the non-custodial parent. The parents were never married and this is not a divorce proceeding where the Court can take it upon its own initiative to award child support. Simply put, the State overstepped its bounds when it filed the child support petition on Ms. Brooks’ behalf,” her attorney said.
“Are you saying the State isn’t authorized to file child support petitions under any circumstances?” the judge asked.
“No. There are certain limited circumstances under which the State may file child support petitions – such as when the mother is receiving financial benefits from the State or where the child is in the foster care system; however, none of those circumstances are present in this case,” Mr. Tate said.
“But isn’t it true that your client claimed not to be able to afford to pay her restitution obligations? Doesn’t she have a legal and moral obligation to seek every avenue of income for her child and to pay the victims of her crimes back for the harm she caused them?” the judge asked.
“Yes, my client has a legal and moral obligation to provide for her child and to pay her restitution obligations. And yes, she did, at one time, tell her probation officer that she would not be able to afford to pay the full amount of the restitution he proposed. That was due to the fact that he increased her restitution obligations to twenty-five percent of her gross monthly income. That, however, will be the subject of a hearing in criminal court since this court does not have jurisdiction over such matters. Your honor, there is simply no justification for the State to violate my client’s constitutional rights by filing this petition on her behalf.”
“Why is your client so opposed to allowing the petition for child support to proceed?”
“Because she believes having the petition proceed is not worth the potential risk of harm it would cause to her or the minor child.”
“What potential harm? If your client believes the father of the minor child is a danger to her or the child, then she can seek a restraining order.”
“My client believes that the risk can be avoided altogether by dropping the child support petition.”
“Is this true, young lady?” The judge glared at Ivy.
Ivy cleared her throat and stood up. “Yes, Your Honor.”
The judge stared at her for a moment, then banged his gavel. “I hereby find the child support petition to be in the best interests of the minor child. I therefore deny the motion of the mother to dismiss the petition and order that paternity testing take place forthwith to verify that the respondent is, indeed, the father of the minor child.”
“What does that mean?” Ivy turned to her attorney.
“It means we’re going to have to appeal,” he said.
Ivy turned back to the judge, “But Your Honor, you can’t do this.”
The judge looked at her. “I can and I have young lady. You need to get your priorities straight.” He banged his gavel again. “Hearing adjourned.” He stood up.
“All rise,” said the uniformed bailiff. Everyone in the courtroom stood up and the judge left.
Ivy turned to her attorney. “What do we do now?”
“Earlier today, I called counsel for the respondent and tried to negotiate a deal on the custody petition. He said they’d be willing to withdraw the petition if we got the child support case dismissed. The custody hearing is set to take place in four weeks. I’ll see if we can get an emergency appeal pushed through in that time. The judge was dead wrong on the law in his ruling today. He’s known to be biased toward the government in these matters. We should be able to get his ruling overturned. In the meantime, don’t panic.”
“I’ll try not to, but it’s a little difficult considering what’s at stake.”
Chapter X
True to his word, Luke arrived at noon on Saturday to pick Ivy and Omari up. He brought his fourteen year old cousin Shayla with him--a beautiful and friendly girl. Omari took a liking to her immediately.
Ivy allowed Shayla to take Omari on the merry-go-round. She waited with Luke near the ride’s exit, waived at Omari each time he sailed by and took a million pictures. She turned to Luke. “This is the first time he’s ever done anything like this. I’m just so happy to be able to do things like this with him. I want to make sure he has a happy childhood, everything he needs and all the love in the world. I don’t know what I’ll do if Zeke wins this custody battle.” Her voice broke.
Luke took Ivy’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Don’t think like that. We’ll just take this one day at a time and deal with whatever we have to deal with if and when that time comes. No mother should be without her child – especially not a mother as good as you are.”
“I can’t help but think there’s some truth to the allegation that I don’t spend enough time with him, but I don’t know how to change that. I have to earn enough money to provide for him.”
“Stop that,” Luke said. “Don’t let that jerk con you into thinking you’re not a great mother. Look at Omari. He’s a happy, healthy, a
nd smart little guy. He didn’t get that way by being neglected. You’re just feeling the same guilt every working mother feels about not being able to stay at home with their children. Zeke’s the one that should be shot. He and his lawyers are doing everything possible to avoid him having to pay child support. He doesn’t give a damn about his own son. He’s just using him as a pawn to control you.”
“I know that. It’s just that sometimes I get so worried about doing this all on my own. When I was growing up, I never dreamed about raising a kid on my own. I always thought I’d have the white house with the picket fence and the husband. Over time, I guess I gave up on the fairytale. For some reason, I was always attracted to the bad boy types. That didn’t bode well for a fairytale ending.”
Luke lifted Ivy’s chin and kissed her on the lips. “You are not alone. You have family and friends who are more than willing to help you out along the way.”
“Well, well, well,” said a deep male voice. “The plot thickens.” Ivy and Luke looked to the right in the direction of the voice. It was Zeke. He had a sleazy looking woman hanging on his arm and two of his goons trailing behind him.
“Hello Zeke,” Ivy said. Her voice could have frozen water.
“Hello Ivy.” Zeke nodded at Luke. “Luke. It’s been a long time.” He turned back to Ivy. “Where did you leave our son – with another babysitter?”
“As if you really gave a damn,” Ivy said.
Zeke chuckled. “You’ve got me there. So, have you figured out a way to get rid of the child support case yet?”
“No. I tried to, but the Court denied my motion to dismiss. The matter is up on appeal now. Zeke, you can’t be serious about seeking full custody of Omari. You never wanted kids.”
Zeke examined his fingernails. “I don’t know. Having a little mini-me running around sounds a hell of a lot better than paying you thousands of dollars each month in child support. Just think of the things he could learn from me.”
Rage rose within Ivy. She lunged at him. “You bastard! How could you do this? I’ll never let you have him. You hear me? Never!” Luke held her back.
Zeke laughed. “Why don’t you let her go? That way our son can see how crazy his mother really is.”
Luke frowned at him. “Why don’t you just leave?”
“I’ll go when I’m good and ready to. Just because you’re getting the benefit of my sloppy seconds doesn’t mean you have what it takes to step to me.”
Luke let Ivy go and stepped up to Zeke. “Anytime you want to put that to the test, you let me know.”
The two men squared off, then Zeke smiled. “Yeah,” he said, “I’ll be sure to do that one day.” He turned to his entourage. “Let’s roll.” They walked away.
Luke put his arms around Ivy. She laid her forehead against his chest and closed her eyes. “I can’t believe I went after him like that. I could have killed him.”
“Nothing like a mama bear protecting her cub,” he said.
She looked up at him and smiled. “I wasn’t the only protective one there.”
He looked at her innocently. “Oh yeah? Who else was being protective?”
Ivy laughed.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Omari shouted. He ran over to them with Shayla trailing behind. The ride was apparently over. “I rode the horsey! It was fun! Can I do it again Mommy? Please?”
Ivy looked down into her son’s adorable little eyes and her heart melted. She picked him up and gave him a kiss. “Of course you can go again, darling. Let’s get in line. Mommy will go with you this time.”
The rest of the day passed without incident. They didn’t run into Zeke or his people again while at the fair. Luke played a shooting game and won a huge teddy bear for Omari. The bear was bigger than Omari and nearly toppled him when he tried to carry it.
“I’ll carry that for you, Little Man,” Luke said.
“Okay,” Omari said.
“What do you say Omari?” Ivy asked.
“Thank you, Luke,” Omari said.
“You’re welcome, Little Man.”
They dropped Shayla off and then headed home. Exhausted from spending all day at the fair, Omari fell asleep in the car. Luke carried him and the bear inside. Ivy got Omari washed up, into pajamas and into bed. She then fixed herself and Luke a nightcap and joined him in the living room.
“Omari and I had a really nice time today. Thank you very much for taking us to the fair,” she said.
“It was my pleasure. I had a ball. Omari is such a cute little guy.”
“You’re so good with kids. Did you ever think about having any yourself?” she asked.
When Luke looked sad, she could have bitten off her own tongue. How thoughtless of her to ask that question when his last child was murdered. “Don’t answer that. I must be more tired than I thought bringing that up.”
“No,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. It’s a fair question. The answer, however, is more complicated than I once thought. After my woman was killed, I vowed never to open myself up to that kind of pain again. I never thought I’d want another serious relationship or a child, but, after spending time with Omari, I’m starting to rethink that. There’s nothing like seeing the fair through a child’s eyes, for example. I guess I’ve missed that sort of interaction over the years.”
“I know I would,” she said. “You sort of take things for granted when they’re with you every day and you get caught up in the grind of making sure they have the necessities. But once you have them, you can’t imagine life without them. If they’re gone for more than a few hours, you feel like something’s missing. They sort of grow on you that way.”
“They certainly do.” He looked deep in thought for a moment, then he stood up. “Well, I think I’m going to call it a night.”
She stood up too. “Okay. It has certainly been an eventful day.” She walked him to the door. “Thank you again for showing us such a good time.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.
“Anytime,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
***
He stood outside her door for a moment while she locked up behind him. He then rode the elevator up to his floor and let himself into his place. After locking the door behind him, he headed toward the bathroom. He needed a shower.
He stripped off his clothes, climbed into the shower and let the spray run over his head as he thought about Ivy and Omari. He realized that he cared about them a lot. He felt a strong need to protect them from that evil bastard. He wondered what had ever attracted someone as special as Ivy to a thug like Zeke in the first place. You never could tell with women. She said she’d always found herself attracted to the bad boys. Was that why there was so much chemistry between them? He was certainly no choir boy.
He got out of the shower, toweled himself dry, put on a pair of pajama pants and climbed into bed. He laid there making plans to protect Ivy and Omari. Karen had told him about Zeke having committed the robbery for which Ivy served time and how Ivy might have to turn him in to keep custody of Omari. A man like Zeke was likely take Ivy out if she turned him in. He’d never let that happen. He’d see that she and Omari remained safe. They meant too much to him to do any less.
Unable to sleep, he got out of bed and walked over to the bedroom closet. He opened the door, reached up and took a wooden box down from the top shelf. He brought the box back to the bed, sat down and opened it. Inside, rested a Glock nine millimeter pistol. He stared at the weapon for a moment. It had been a long time since he’d used it. At least he now had a license to carry a concealed weapon and the gun was legal. He took the gun out, opened it, checked inside, and then put it back into the box. He carried it out to the dining room table and began cleaning the weapon.
***
The next day, Luke took his gun to a nearby firing range. He’d made arrangements to meet his friend Marshall there.
Marshall was waiting for him outside. Luke walked up to him. They shook h
ands and gave each other a man hug.
“It’s been a while since we hung out,” Luke said.
“Yes it has.” Marshall turned to walk inside the firing range. Luke followed. They checked in at the front counter, purchased some ammunition, and then headed upstairs to the booth assigned to them.
“So, how are things going with you?” Luke asked.
“Good. I finally got that promotion to Captain.”
“Congratulations man. You deserve it. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you, man.” Marshall stopped at the assigned booth. He took his weapons out, laid them on the platform and began to load them. “So what’s going on with you?”
“Everything’s good,” Luke said. “Work is going good. We’re busier than ever. Word of mouth just landed us two new accounts. They’re big jobs that will keep us busy for a while. Counseling the kids is going good too. I was able to stop a family law attorney’s son from joining a gang. You know what they say – one child at a time.”
“Now that’s a huge victory, my friend. That kid will go on to be a productive member of society instead of becoming another statistic. You’re really good with kids. You’ve got a gift. You ever think of going into teaching or something?” Marshall asked.
Luke shook his head. “Nah man, I don’t have that much patience. I’d probably end up smacking some smart-mouthed kid and then you’d have to lock me up.”
Marshall laughed. “No, thank you. That would sort of defeat the purpose of having you turn your life around to begin with.”
“If it wasn’t for you giving me a chance, I don’t know where I’d be right now,” Luke said.
“You always had it in you,” Marshall said. “So, what brings us here today?”
“I may need your help,” Luke said. He described the situation with Ivy.
“It sounds as if you’ve really become attached to this woman and her son. Are you sure she’s worth it?”
