by Amanda Brown
She turned, startled by the sudden entrance of Edward Kirkland into the courtroom.
Becca’s eyes flew open with surprise. Seeing Jerry Garcia would have startled her less than seeing Edward Kirkland at that moment. He was in her every thought, but her mind had cast Edward in very different images. She thought he would be taking his marriage vows about now, grinning easily, shrugging his shoulders and accepting his fate in the loping, relaxed manner in which he agreeably met the challenges of life. But he was not behaving as she pictured him. He strode into the courtroom with quick, firm steps. He walked directly to the judge, his eyes blazing and fixed intensely on her.
He was dressed in a morning coat and tails, with a white bow tie. The judge was starting to feel underdressed.
“Edward,” she said, assuming Becca had notified him as she was required to under the statute. “Hello. We were expecting you.”
She turned to Becca, whose shocked expression made it obvious that Edward had learned of this hearing on his own.
“Hi, Eddie,” mumbled Emily, her mouth half full of candy.
Becca watched him soften, his shoulders relaxing for the moment that he smiled back at the child. She caught her breath. Edward loved Emily, and she knew, as she gazed at him standing before her, that she loved him. She turned her head away, trying to focus on anything else she could see: her purse, some papers to shuffle. She had called this hearing, she had led them all here, and now what? She felt utterly lost. Her eyes welled with tears, which she hid by staring at the floor.
The judge cleared her throat. “Well, shall we begin?”
Edward spoke, clearly and directly, to the judge.
“Your Honor,” he said, nodding his head in a polite bow before continuing. “We’re here—Becca and I—” he said, and his voice trailed off as he paused to turn toward Becca. His eyes rested upon her for a silent minute.
When Edward looked back at the judge, Becca studied him. He was standing in the center of the courtroom, with no wall to lean against, no table on which to rest his hands, no diversion, and no aid.
Standing still, intense and purposeful, Edward spoke.
“We are here, Your Honor,” he repeated, “Becca and I, together, to seek permanent custody of Emily Stearns.”
For a moment, the shock made her feel dizzy and she moved over to a bench to support herself. She knew now what it felt like to “swoon.” As she pulled herself together, she had time to grasp Edward’s intent. She smiled and watched him tenderly, in silence.
Edward glanced back at Becca, and her beautiful expression of consent filled him with courage. She understood; she was with him. He stopped for a moment, feeling the very air was alive with his joy.
“We are here to seek permanent custody of Emily,” he repeated, smiling broadly. His eyes flashed suddenly with humor. “Can I take the stand?”
“If you like,” replied Judge Jones gently. She realized she had fallen into a private moment and that it had happened by accident. She didn’t swear Edward in as he walked up a step to the wooden witness box. She could see that the truth within him was leading him to speak.
Edward looked at Becca.
“I couldn’t let you leave,” he said. “Becca, I can’t even remember my life before I met you. I tried to go back to it,” he said, shaking his head, “but I don’t know what it is. I don’t know who I am, except with you,” he said, his eyes filled with all he felt for her. He did not notice, with his stare fixed on Becca, that Emily had stood up on the bench, and was absorbed in watching him speak.
“I love you, Becca,” said Edward, “and whatever is to come, the joy of knowing you will be the meaning of my life and that is all I want.”
Her eyes filled with tears and she was flooded with happiness. She admired him so much, his patience, his kindness, his quiet strength. She knew he had come here at the sacrifice of much that was once important to him.
“I love you, Edward,” she whispered, smiling at the sound of his name on her lips.
He closed his eyes, breathing in her words with pleasure. When he opened them again, he looked right into her beautiful, animated face, watching her eyes shine with tears.
“Will you marry me, Becca?” he asked simply.
“Yes!” Emily shouted from her bench.
They both turned to her with surprise, laughing. Enraptured by what was taking place between her guardians, she looked at Becca.
“Pleeeeease?” she asked.
Becca nodded. Turning slowly toward Edward, who had stepped down from the witness stand to be near her, Becca gave a great happy smile.
“Yes,” she said, her eyes sparkling with joy.
She threw her arms around Edward as he rushed to hold her, and for a minute they embraced in celebration and relief, laughing tenderly.
The judge wiped her tears, thinking family law wasn’t all bad. Emily ran to hug her parents, who cuddled her and tousled her hair.
After a whisper to Becca, Edward approached Judge Jones with a smile.
“You see, Your Honor,” he said, “we’d like you to marry us. Then Emily can stay with us permanently. Our little girl.” Becca nodded, wiping her eyes.
Approval shone on the judge’s face. “Sure, guys, you’re dressed for it,” she said. “Why don’t you follow me into my chambers? I have the papers in there. Don’t anybody change your minds,” she added with a smile.
“This is where we started,” Becca said, suddenly remembering the first time they met, at this courthouse and in this room. She was so hung up about whether he had a job, she didn’t even see what kind of man he was: his strong sincerity, his gentle consideration and quiet selflessness, so evident in his patient love for Emily.
“I will never trust my first impression again!”
He shrugged. “I stand by my first impression,” he said, looking at her with admiration. He reached for her hand and she offered it to him with joy.
When they walked down the hall behind the judge, Emily was no longer between them. Becca was in the middle, holding Edward’s hand warmly, and with her other hand returning Emily’s excited squeeze.
On the street Becca looked for Edward’s car but instead he led her toward a double-parked station wagon pulling a horse trailer.
“This is our chariot,” Edward said. “Hope you don’t mind that we’ll have to squeeze in.”
“But…”
“I had little choice. You had Dad’s Bentley, my car was here, and I didn’t think under the circumstances that I should ask Bunny for the loan of hers.”
Emily let go of Becca’s hand and was jumping up on Eddie like a puppy wanting to play. He picked her up and walked to the window of the trailer so she could see the horse’s head within.
“The horse?” So much had happened in the last few hours that Becca was suffering from meltdown. Completing a sentence was tough.
“Oh, why the horse? Well, I could not find Henry and I was in a rush. It’s impossible to get this mare out of the trailer without assistance. So, I just got onto the expressway dragging the horse behind me. It’s perfectly legal.”
“Expressway’s pretty popular these days,” Becca managed to say.
At this point, Emily was squirming in Edward’s arms to be let down, to be allowed to pet the horse’s rump, to go into the car and see if the horse was visible from there.
“Just a second, Em,” Becca found her tongue. “In a little bit, we’ll be unloading the horse and then you’ll get to pet her.” At this she turned to Edward with a baffled expression. “But”—she swept her arm to indicate the car and trailer—“where?” As usual, Becca needed a plan.
Edward understood all of this as he understood all of Becca and so he placed his forefinger over her lips. “Don’t worry. Paul Novograd is a friend. And I’m sure there is space in Claremont.”
The picturesque stable on the west side of Manhattan was home to all the most chichi horses in Manhattan. Many a business deal had been cut by two equestriennes on the bridle path throug
h Central Park.
“And,” he finished, “perhaps we can get this little girl some lessons—the mare is a sweetheart when she’s not being moved in and out of the trailer.”
Emily, proof of the maxim that “little pitchers have big ears,” began to cheer, “Horse lessons, horse lessons.”
“That’s what she needs. More appointments.” Becca smiled.
“We’ll ask her which ones she wants to keep and which we should cancel. I think Emily has been trained long enough, do you agree?”
Becca shook her head. “Absolutely. From now on it’s chocolate in the morning and fancy dresses to play in the dirt.”
They hugged, Becca’s dress snagged on a rebellious piece of broken concrete sticking up from the sidewalk. She was unmindful of the tear that ripped one section of the dress in the back up to her waist.
“I see London, I see France,” Emily sang, and Edward joined her. “I see Becca’s underpants.”
But she didn’t care. The former Becca Reinhart was no more. In her place was Becca Kirkland. And along with that came a softer, more loving and tolerant world.
The other drivers were still forced to veer around the trailer and Edward was worried they would draw the attention of the police. “Let’s go, guys, before we end up in the pokey. Do people still say that?”
“What’s a pokey?” Emily and Becca spoke at the same time.
“Come with me, my two beautiful women, and we will discuss the pokey.”
With that, he took both their hands and escorted them into the passenger side of the station wagon. They pulled away from the curb into Manhattan’s traffic. Edward did not know if driving a horse trailer through the city was legal or not, and he saw a cop car pull out behind them. But luck was with them and the cop turned his siren on and rushed past them, on to bigger, more serious criminal acts, no doubt.
And no doubt about it—this was his lucky day.
More from Amanda Brown
Before it was a blockbuster movie and a Broadway musical, Legally Blonde soared as a fresh, funny romance, with the unforgettable Elle Woods proving blondes will run the world.
Elle Woods, California University senior, seems to have it all. President of Delta Gamma sorority, a star in the classroom (her major: sociopolitical jewelry design)—and is on the verge of becoming the much-envied Mrs. Warner Huntington III. Too bad Warner, bound for Stanford Law, dumps her with the explanation that he now needs a more "serious" woman at his side. Faced with this unexpected reversal of fortune, Woods doesn't get depressed, she gets busy.
Thanks to a creative application and a demand for "diversity" at Stanford Law, Elle gets her acceptance letter. Soon she's packing up her convertible—as well as her miniature Chihuahua—determined to win back her man, and to prove to herself that dreaming big is the only way to dream. Smart, fast, and funny. Legally Blonde proves just how much fun blondes really can have.
Legally Blonde is available now in eBook!
Connect with Diversion Books
Connect with us for information on new titles and authors from Diversion Books, free excerpts, special promotions, contests, and more:
