A Moment of Weakness: Book 2 in the Forever Faithful trilogy

by Kingsbury, Karen

  “Think I could come see you play?” Tanner’s enthusiasm was genuine, and from where she sat watching them, Jade smiled.

  “League play’s over.…” Ty thought a moment. “But there’s tournaments starting next month on the weekends. You could come then!”

  “Deal.”

  “Hey, what’s it like being on TV and stuff?”

  Tanner laughed. “I’m only on TV when one of my clients winds up in big trouble.” Jade caught the concern in his eyes. “Then it’s something you forget about. I’m usually too busy helping my client to think about it.”

  “Mom’s your client, right?”

  Tanner’s eyes met hers, and Jade felt a shiver pass over her. He had a way of seeing straight through her, down to the deepest part of her soul. “Yes.” Tanner reached across Ty and squeezed Jade’s hands. “Your mom’s a client. And she needs a lot of help right now. Lots of prayers.”

  Ty frowned. “You mean because of the hearing.”

  “Right.”

  “You mean I might not get to come home?” Ty had been so happy, but now doubt clouded his face.

  Watching him broke Jade’s heart, and she pulled him close. “Mr. Eastman’s going to do everything he can, honey.” She exchanged a quick glance with Tanner. “One way or another we’re going to get you back home. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Tears filled the corners of Ty’s eyes.

  “I’m not too worried about it. Best thing I can do is pray for help. When I get up there before the judge, God’ll have to give me the words to say.” Tanner ran the back of his hand gently over Ty’s cheek. “You’re praying, too, right?”

  Ty ran his fists under his eyes and dried his cheeks. “I wanna go home with my mom.”

  This time Tanner slipped an arm around the boy and hugged him. “That’s what we’re going to tell the judge.”

  The door opened and Jim stood there, glaring at them. “Get your hands off my son!” He stepped out on the porch as if he might push Tanner, and in the distance the officers both turned their attention toward Jim. He noticed them and immediately relaxed his stance. This time he pasted a smile on his face and spoke in a quiet hiss. “I said … get your hands off my son!”

  Jade didn’t bother to get up. Let Jim look like a hothead in front of the officers. “He’s my attorney, Jim. Besides, this is my time. Leave us alone.”

  The plastered smile remained, but Jim shot a vicious glance at Tanner and then turned back to her. “I don’t care who he is, I want his hands off my son.”

  Tanner loosened the hold he had on Ty and leaned back. Jade wished he would say something, threaten a lawsuit, anything. But Tanner remained silent.

  Ty glared at Jim and slid closer to Tanner. “I can talk to anyone I want.”

  Jade caught her son’s eyes and gave him a look. Not now, Ty. Don’t be rude now. Ty slid away from Tanner once more, and Jade was proud of him. The upcoming hearing was too packed with emotions and tensions already. At this point Jade, Tanner, and Ty needed to be agreeable.

  “Go in the house, Jim. Everything’s under control.” Jade stared at him until finally he disappeared back through the front door. How she wished they could stop this nonsense, and that Tanner could look Jim in the eyes and tell him the truth.

  But Tanner had already explained that to her. The possibility was too strong that Jim would still win complete custody because he was the man Ty identified as his father, and because he was more tolerant in his views than either Jade or Tanner. No, their best chance was to fight the case from the angle they’d already planned and hope that she’d win Ty back because of her First Amendment protection, her right to believe in God and teach his truths to her child.

  The hour was up, and Jim’s appearance had dampened the mood considerably. “Well, buddy, nice talking with you. I’m sure we’ll talk again sometime soon.” Tanner pulled Ty into a hug, and Jade was grateful. Tanner had his reasons for saying nothing to Jim earlier, but he was obviously not intimidated by him.

  “And you’ll come to my tournaments, right?” Ty’s voice was no longer enthusiastic. It never was when the hour was up and it was time to say good-bye for another week.

  “Right.”

  “Ty, we’ll see you Monday at the courthouse. You’ll be there in case the judge needs to talk to you. Okay?” Jade held her son’s face in her hands and searched his eyes.

  “Okay.”

  They said good-bye, and Jade waited until her back was to Ty before she started crying. Without saying a word, Tanner fell in step beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

  “I don’t want my boy—” his voice was strained with emotion—“living with that man one more day.”

  A tense and anxious silence filled the car as Jade drove Tanner back to his motel. It was painful to leave Ty behind, knowing the way Jim felt, his lack of love for her son, his anger for Jade.

  Help me, God, I’m so afraid. The prayer passed through her mind, and she knew she wouldn’t have survived the past weeks without her faith.

  Trust in me with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

  Jade forced herself to breathe slowly. I’m trying, Lord. Help me trust you more.

  Whatever the coming days held, the waiting was almost finished. The hearing was less than forty-eight hours away.

  Thirty-six

  THERE WAS NO MISTAKING SOMETHING OF GREAT IMPORTANCE was happening at the Clackamas County Courthouse that Monday morning. Media vans clogged the parking lot and well-dressed news anchors milled about outside, sipping coffee and bemoaning the dampness of spring in the Northwest.

  Jade arrived at the scene alone, thankful Tanner had made prior arrangements. In an agreement with Jim’s attorney she would park near the rear of the courthouse and enter through a private door. There she would go to Room 12, where she would meet with Ty in what was scheduled to be a private session.

  She eyed the sea of reporters and prayed God would protect her from them. At least right now when she had just five minutes before meeting with her son.

  Jade parked her car and thought about Tanner. He had met up with his partner, Matt Bronzan, Saturday night, and the two had taken a hotel room near the courthouse. They ordered in meals and without other interruptions ran through every aspect of research and case history pertaining to the case. She hadn’t heard from Tanner until late last night.

  “Have you read the newspapers?” Tanner sounded concerned, and Jade felt her anxiety increase.

  “No. I try to avoid them these days.”

  “They’ve done their homework, Jade. Big piece in The Oregonian quotes you as saying U.S. Department of Education should not be allowed to parent our children.”

  Dread filled her heart. “How’d they get that?”

  “I’m guessing you said it during one of your school board meetings, right?”

  Jade thought back. “You’re right. Three years ago, I think.”

  “Well, they found it, and you can be sure they’ll use it against you.”

  Jade didn’t miss a beat. “It’s true. They shouldn’t be parenting our kids.”

  Tanner sighed. “I know that and you know that, but judges are part of the judicial system. And the judicial system is part of the U.S. government.”

  Jade felt sick to her stomach. “So it’s me against them.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

  Tanner paused. “Maybe because I know he’s my son … because I’ve seen how Jim is around him … I don’t know. But it’s going to take everything we’ve got to win this time.”

  Remembering their conversation, she whispered a brief prayer. Then she checked herself in the rearview mirror and slipped on a wide-brimmed hat and a flouncy scarf, both of which helped hide her face. Her eyes trained on the ground, she climbed out of her car and headed toward the back of the courthouse.

  The reporters kept their distance. Apparently they were assuming she would arrive with Tanner, so she made
her way inside the building without pause and found Room 12. Okay, Lord, give me the strength. If she lost the hearing today, this would be the last time she and Ty would spend together alone for months. Maybe even years.

  Tanner and Matt had arrived hours earlier and were going over their case one last time in a private office adjoining the courtroom. As Tanner had predicted early on, the hearing would be heard by Judge Susan Wilder, and that fact alone sent shivers of apprehension through Tanner.

  In their research over the past few days the lawyers at CPRR reviewed the cases Judge Wilder had heard. She had ruled that a Portland woman, Anna Jenkins, who’d been injured in an auto accident was entitled to only minimal compensation even though she was not to blame in the collision. In her ruling she stated, “Ms. Jenkins was carrying out a work-related task and therefore should have taken into account the hazards of the job.”

  Matt had done further research and learned that the Jenkins woman was a volunteer with the local crisis pregnancy center and had been transporting handouts from the printer back to the center.

  “In other words,” Tanner concluded, “the judgment went against her, at least in part, because of her involvement in the Pro-Life movement.”

  There were other cases. A teacher at one of the public high schools allowed a Bible study to meet in his classroom before school each Wednesday. Time and again this same teacher was denied the stipend usually allotted to staff members who sponsor extracurricular activities. When the case reached Judge Wilder’s courtroom, she ruled in favor of the school district.

  “In accordance with separation of church and state, it is my opinion that the school district does not need to compensate this teacher for his involvement in an extracurricular Bible study. Other clubs are supported by the U.S. government as being neutral and in the best interest of the students. Bible study—while not something we can forbid—certainly crosses the line that separates church and state and therefore cannot be supported by the government or the school district.”

  After reading Judge Wilder’s decisions for half the day Sunday, Tanner had taken to pacing the hotel floor. “The timing is perfect for Jade to lose here, Matt. Are you seeing that?”

  Matt sifted through the briefs on the table. “If it could happen anywhere, it could happen here.”

  “Jade’s husband couldn’t have picked a better judge if he’d paid for one.”

  They agreed there was just one way to argue before a jurist with such obvious prejudice. And to that end they had spent the remainder of the day and much of the night preparing.

  Now he and Matt were already set up in the courtroom. Tanner rubbed his eyes and knew that God alone had used that final preparation session to provide them the inspiration and ideas they would need to win the hearing. They were about to see if it would be enough to sway Judge Wilder.

  An hour passed, and Jade entered the courtroom. She wore black slacks and a soft, blue blouse. Tanner smiled in approval. It would not help her cause to show up in a skirt with her hair in a bun. That was often how women with Jade’s convictions were portrayed by the media, but Jade—like most women of faith—wasn’t someone who fit stereotypes. It was important for the jury to see that a woman could appear very businesslike and intelligent and still have a deep faith.

  The hearing was set to begin in twenty minutes, and when Jade looked at him, Tanner could see she’d been crying. He wanted desperately to go to her, hold her, and tell her everything would work out. But the reporters had begun to take their places, and every eye would be scrutinizing the two of them, looking for a chink in their very public armor of faith. They had dared to stand up for what they believed, and many members of the press would be anxiously looking for them to fall—in whatever way possible. A fall would mean conflict; and conflict made for breaking news.

  Tanner understood the press well. He didn’t believe they were in a conspiracy against people of faith so much as they held to a standard party line. An unfair portrayal in a handful of newspapers meant other editors would see the stories and run similar layouts. The media seldom seemed to report the truth on any topic. Rather, they gave a series of perceptions commonly held by the handful of people who assumed powerful editorial positions on newspapers and news stations across the country.

  He looked at the reporters gathered there and thought about what they would do to him—and to Jade—if they knew he was Ty’s father. It was something he would have to face eventually, but not until the time was right.

  Jade made her way closer and took the chair next to him. Their backs were to the members of the press, and Jade leaned over and whispered, “I feel like a criminal or something.”

  Tanner gave a slight nod but kept his distance. “In the eyes of some people here, you are. We both are.”

  Jim and his attorney appeared and took their seats at the table earmarked for the plaintiff. By the time Judge Wilder entered the courtroom, spectators and reporters packed the seats.

  Tanner had long since stopped relying on developing a rapport with the judges who heard his cases. He was openly conservative and an outspoken Christian. In other words, he was a marked man. The cases he won, he did so with the help of God and by leaning heavily on America’s founding fathers and the ideas they had expressed when writing the constitution.

  Today would be no exception.

  For the first hour, they heard testimony in favor of the current custody ruling. Jim’s attorney marched a handful of upstanding community members onto the stand, who one by one testified that Jade’s views were extreme and bound to have a negative effect on her child.

  “Why should a person’s religious viewpoint make her an unsuitable mother?” Jim’s attorney tossed out the question as if he were genuinely unsure of the answer.

  The man on the stand, a long-time member of the local school board, raised his chin and glanced at Jade in disdain. “When a parent teaches a child to steal or kill, we have no trouble recognizing that as abusive parenting, and we do the right thing as a society. We take the child away.” He paused and resumed eye contact with Jim’s attorney. “Mrs. Rudolph is teaching her son to be insensitive to the diverse nature of our culture. She is teaching him to hate. And that—whether we’re ready to recognize it or not—is abusive parenting.”

  Things couldn’t have been going worse.

  Matt took notes furiously while Tanner listened and provided cross-examination. As a rule, he stayed away from anything that might appear argumentative. They would not win this case by getting in a fighting match with the plaintiff’s witnesses. Rather, they would have to present their facts in a manner both calm and approachable, assuring the judge they had nothing to hide.

  Tanner knew too well that when a Christian flew off the handle or yelled out in court or showed up carrying banners with Bible verses, newspapers ran photos of the event across the top of the page. This fed the media perception that believers were extreme fanatics, which in turn fueled public perception. Tanner’s job was to show these reporters how different Jade was from the right-wing image they’d bought into over the years.

  The last bit of testimony presented in favor of Jim Rudolph was a journal entry written by Jim and dated just three weeks prior.

  Jim was called to the stand to read it and verify that it was an accurate portrayal of the events as he understood them.

  “Today I took Ty home from school after basketball practice. While we were driving, he asked me if I believed in God.” Jim paused and glared at Jade. “I told him I did not believe and that this was my choice. I told him everyone was entitled to his or her different beliefs.

  “At that point my son became alarmed and told me I was wrong. He said there was only one way to heaven and that was through Jesus Christ.”

  Jim practically hissed the last two words, and Tanner felt a stab of sorrow for this man who could so openly defame the one who had created him. At the same time Tanner was fiercely proud of Ty. And of Jade, for teaching him the truth.

  Jim took a drink
of water and continued reading his journal entry. “I told the child that not everyone needed to believe in Jesus Christ. Some people believe in other gods. Some people believe in themselves. I told him he should be tolerant of what other people believed because that was the best way for them.”

  Jim’s attorney nodded in agreement, and Tanner thought he saw the judge do the same. Clearly this was the accepted doctrine in U.S. courts today. The fact that Jim had tried to correct his son with this modern-day “truth” would make him nothing less than a hero in the eyes of too many government officials.

  Jim continued. “But Ty looked at me and told me again that I was wrong. He said he was worried that I would go to hell if I didn’t accept Jesus and believe in him. He said he knew Jesus was the only way to heaven because that’s—” he paused—“what his mother told him.”

  An almost imperceptible look of dismay crossed Judge Wilder’s face. Tanner held his breath. Dear God, let her be at least partially open to what I have to say. Please.

  He glanced at Jade, at her eyes filling with tears, and he mouthed a silent exhortation: “Pray.”

  She nodded and briefly closed her eyes.

  The attorney directed Jim to other slips of paper that contained additional journal entries. In each there was a reference to faith and the fact that Ty had credited his mother with teaching him to believe.

  When it was time for Tanner to cross-examine Jim, he decided to stick to the journal theme. “You brought lots of journal entries with you today, didn’t you Mr. Rudolph?” Tanner forced himself to remain calm, casting a smile in the other man’s direction.

  “Yes. I’ve been very careful about taking notes for the past few months.”