Page 101 of One Good Reason

When my pops passed, I used a family attorney and had everything set up for my mama. She was thorough so when this issue came up, that was the person I reached out to. If anybody could get me some solid answers, it was Corrine. Talitha had her own attorney, but I trusted mine just a little bit more.

Once I was able to get Talitha to calm down, I had her shower and get dressed so she could be ready for the meeting with Corrine. I wasn’t planning on leaving her side until this whole thing was resolved.

CHAPTER 24

Talitha

“Idon’t want to talk to anybody, Harvey,” I protested. I was already semi annoyed from the call I had with Betty Jo earlier and now Law was standing in the bathroom forcing me to shower and get dressed.

“I understand you don’t want to talk, Talitha. However, the sooner we get someone on this, the sooner we can bring Gema home.”

“I’m not ready,” I whined. I could barely say her name without breaking down and he was trying to force me to run down the whole story to his attorney. The only thing I was in the mood for was my bed.

“You don’t have a choice but to get ready!” Mrs. Jessie popped from my bedroom.

Slanting my eyes at Law, I frowned. “You called Mrs. Jessie?”

“Of course, he did. Bertha been gone for a few days, and you done slipped and lost yo’ mind. She ain’t raise you to cower away from nothing so get yo’ ass in the shower and come downstairs so you can sit down and talk to this lady who dropped everything to come help you out,” she fussed.

While Mrs. Jessie was in the other room fussing, Law stood in front of me smirking. I wanted to smack that smirk right off his face.

“Mrs. Jessie,” I stammered.

“Now, Talitha! And if I have to come in there, you gon’ catch another side of me. Handle your business and I’ll be downstairs waiting.”

The opening and closing of my bedroom door had me huffing. Stepping around me, Law leaned into the shower and turned it on.

“I’ll have your things on the bed when you get out.” He let me know before exiting the bathroom.

I knew Mrs. Jessie would make good on her words so instead of continuing to be defiant, I shed the camisole and pair of panties I’d worn the past few days and stepped into the shower. As soon as the hot stream pelted down my body, my shoulders slumped in defeat.

My mama had really accused me of allowing someone to beat on Gema. She knew just as well as the rest of ‘em did that I would murder someone with my bare hands if they even stared at Bertha Mae too long. I couldn’t understand her reason for being so vindictive. If I hadn’t of known better, I would’ve sworn Joe Lee put her up to it, but I knew that was way off base. Gemahatedhim and she never let a moment pass by without telling him just how deep that hate ran.

Jalitha’s mission was to hurtme,and she knew using Gema was a sure way of being able to accomplish her goal. Papa Joe had a lawyer on retainer who in return became mine and Gema’s by default, but he was back in Warner Robins. I was going to reach out to him the minute I got myself together; I needed to be able to handle my business without breaking down.

I begged Law for a few more days and he said no. Said the quicker we got somebody started on it, the faster we could getGema back. A lot of the paperwork I needed was back at home in the safe deposit box so before it was all over, I knew I was going to have to go home to retrieve it. Hopefully I could convince Law to take the trip with me. Out of fear of doing something to my mama, I needed someone there to keep me from going off the deep end.

While standing in the shower, I made a mental note to reach out to Rossi and Marsha. The two of them had texted with their concerns. I don’t know what Law had told my staff but from what I gathered, he let them know I would be out of office for an undisclosed amount of time.

Speaking of Law, the man hadn’t left my side since he showed up out of nowhere the day Gema was taken from me. In the past, any time anything happened I’d always felt alone. Like I had nobody on my side so the fact that he’s been neglecting his own businesses to be there for me made me feel special.

I know in the beginning I’d been super hard on him and gave him shit but in this moment, I was silently thanking him for being my Superman. Only God knows what I would have done had he not been here. After I finished with his attorney today, I was going to let him know how much I appreciated his effort.

“You good in there?” his gruff voice echoed from the other side of the door.

“Yes,” I yelled.

Shutting the water off, I stepped out of the shower and grabbed my towel. Wrapping it around my body, I went to the sink. Swiping away the condensation, I stood there staring at my reflection in the mirror. The bathroom door was pulled open and when I slowly started to breakdown, arms were secured around my waist. My back met his chest as Law held onto me and begged me not to cry.

“You said you were good.”

“I was until I saw my face,” I fretted. “I don’t know if I can air out my dirty laundry in court; in front of a bunch of strangers at that,” I admitted. “Gema told me to tell them what he did and if that’s what it’s going to take to get her back, I will. But I’ve dealt with public humiliation my entire life back in Warner Robins. This was my clean break so to have to relive all of that shit is disheartening to say the least.”

“That’s why I need you to meet with Corrine. Maybe there’s something that she can do to keep it from getting that far. You said you’ve got the paperwork from the incident so give it to her. They did a full work-up on Gema at the hospital, trust me if there were any signs of abuse, they would’ve called the cops that night.”

“The county didn’t even check, Law. They just took her word and came and snatched Gema up. Had they investigated, they would have found out her claims were baseless.”

“I know but the law doesn’t really get involved with family matters. They follow the paper trail once it’s signed off on. That’s what lawyers are for. You gotta come out of here and let Corrine work her magic, love. Trust me when I say, it’s going to be okay.”

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