Page 18 of Shaded Amethysts
14
Avery
The custody case left me with almost no time to worry about my love life, or rather, my lack of a love life. The hearing was in full swing and Scout’s birth mother, Angie, had hired a team of young, whip-smart lawyers to represent her. They were creating a compelling case that she had been an innocent, depressed single mother, who made a mistake by giving her son away, and had regretted that poor decision ever since.
The lead counsel representing Angie called Grant to the witness stand. I watched the gorgeous actor wheel himself to the front of the courtroom and get sworn in. We all knew that he was about to be grilled. I just hoped he was able to withstand the heat.
As we had suspected, the hotshot attorney went straight for the proverbial kill. “Is it true that you abandoned sweet little Scout at a fire station drop-box just days after taking custody of him?”
“Yes, but––”
The man cutoff Grant’s explanation with another question, “Is it also true that you were speeding on icy roads and nearly ran over baby Scout and the woman who was holding him just after you gave him up?”
“Yes, because––”
The lawyer jumped in again without letting Grant finish. “And the woman, who recklessly carried innocent little Scout into the middle of the road, without using the nearby crosswalk, is now your wife?”
When the lawyer used a hand wave to indicate Molly at the table next to me, Grant nodded his head.
“We need verbal answers, please,” the attorney informed him.
“Yes, it was my wife, Molly,” Grant said in a grim tone, obviously sensing that this was making them sound like unfit parents.
Molly shifted nervously in her wooden chair, so I reached over to take her hand within mine. Our palms were each clammy, but we ignored that as I tried to infuse love and strength into my grip and send both her way.
The ace attorney made a flourish of presenting some paperwork to Grant before he asked, “Do you recognize these papers?”
“Yes,” Grant answered.
“Please share with the court what these papers are,” the lawyer requested.
Grant’s face looked like stone as he said, “They are records from a recent emergency room visit after Scout fell through the ice on a local pond.”
The lawyer’s eyebrows shot up nearly to his hairline as if this was shocking news to him, even though it clearly wasn’t. The realization that the man could use some acting tips from Grant would have been laughable, if we weren’t facing such a dire situation.
“So, for a second time, Scout was placed in a perilous, life-threatening situation during the short time he has been in your care? My, my…”
The attorney shook his head as if deep in thought. “It seems to me, after these two tragedies involving ice that you would want to raise your son in sunny California, yet you chose to move to Maine where winter lasts… What? The entire year, except for July?”
A few people chuckled at his lame joke. No one on our side of the room cracked a smile. This proceeding was going too far in the wrong direction for us to see any humor in anything.
After pausing for the comedic relief, the lawyer continued. “Thank goodness you were able to pull Scout out of the freezing water before he sank into the abyss. Were you right there beside him, watching him closely when the ice cracked?”
The urge to kick this cocky man nearly overwhelmed me, but I knew that wouldn’t accomplish anything besides angering the judge and getting me thrown in jail.
Grant turned his exasperated gaze toward his wife before answering, “No, I was stuck on the shore when it happened. The path wasn’t cleared enough for my wheelchair to make it all the way out to where they were playing.”
“Oh, of course,” the attorney plastered on an expression of fake sympathy before he added, “So, your wife must have been right there keeping an eye on little Scout to make sure he stayed safe then, right?”
“No, she had returned to shore to check on me because I had received a disturbing phone call with the news that we were being sued for custody of Scout.”
“The two of you were both distracted by your cell phone while Scout was playing on thin ice?” The judgment dripped from the lawyer’s tone.
My heart broke into a million pieces as I listened to this attorney twist the situation to make it sound like Grant and Molly weren’t fit to raise their son. The defeated expression on Grant’s face as he grimly nodded his answer made me feel like screaming.
“Answer verbally, please,” the attorney reminded him as if they were old friends.
Grant leaned forward to say, “Molly and I were on the shore, yes, but––”
