Page 30 of Ashes of Us
David nodded as he stood up. “Yes, your Honour. We are requesting immediate authorization to collect and preserve Jasper Preston's reproductive material through a neutral, licensed third-party, which will then store it until your ruling is made, followed by permission to remove him from life support immediately after.” He picked up two folders and handed one to the Preston's lawyer and then one to the bailiff to give to the judge. “Our reasons for this are twofold. One, the collection and storage of the genetic material is much less expensive than keeping a medically deceased man's heart and lungs working inthe hospital. And two, we may already be outside the window to collect viable sperm.”
The judge opened the folder and began reading through the documents. Danica was more interested in the Preston's reaction and turned her head slightly so she could watch without it being obvious. Amy and Lucy went pale, and their lawyer's face flushed as he opened the folder and began going through the documents. “Could you expand on that, Counsellor?” The judge asked after a moment of silence, broken only by the sound of papers being flicked through.
“Yes, sir.” David nodded and glanced down at his notes. “According to Doctor Ned Whalen of Fenway Fertility and Wellness Clinic, sperm begins to lose its viability and motility immediately upon brain death. The ideal timeframe for collection is within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, with the second best being within seventy-two hours. The chances of harvesting viable sperm right now are very low and will potentially require a special in-vitro fertilization technique in order to be successful.”
The judge took a deep breath and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose as he let out a long, deep sigh. “Mr. Mathers,” He began, interrupting the intense, whispered discussion the Prestons were having with their lawyer. “Care to explain why the opposing counsel is the one making this request?”
Danica watched, barely hiding her petty glee as Ken Mathers cleared his throat and stood up, his face still flushed. “Your Honour, in our rush to get the emergency injunction filed to stop the removal of Jasper Preston from life support, we didn't look into what happened to sperm following brain death. We thought that if his body was kept alive, he would continue to produce sperm.”
The judge sat back in his chair, flicking through the folder again. “Do you have any objections to the motion as presented by Mr. Niehaus and his client?” Mathers shook his head.
“No, your honour.” Amy reached up and tugged on his sleeve, then handed him a note. Mathers read it quickly and then looked up at the judge. “My client would like to know if Mrs. Preston will still allow her to be in the room when she removes her son's life support.” Danica felt her whole body stiffen, and when David looked down at her, she shook her head slightly. She didn't want Amy anywhere near Jasper's body.
“Mr. Niehaus?” The judge turned back to their table, and David hesitated.
“Are you sure?” He murmured to her. Danica nodded firmly, and he shrugged. “No, your honour. My client will not allow it.” Amy immediately broke down sobbing, and it took everything in her for Danica not to roll her eyes at what she now saw as crocodile tears. The judge raised his eyebrow and looked at Danica.
“You're going to deny your husband's mother the chance to say goodbye to her son?”
Danica stood up and met the judge's gaze evenly. “Your Honour, after coming to the hospital last Monday, Amy and Cecil Preston left me to look after and schedule almost sixty extended family members who wanted to come say goodbye to my husband. They did not call or check in on me once, and any texts or calls I made to them were ignored. While I was making arrangements for my husband’s memorial and burial, they were meeting with a woman who claims she slept with my husband and was pregnant with his baby without any proof other than her word.” Danica glanced over and saw with a measure of satisfaction that Lucy's cheeks were bright red and decided to twist the knife a bit deeper. “And since she's the type of womanthat sleeps with men she knows are married, forgive me if I don't believe her.”
Danica looked back at the judge, clasping her hands together in front of her to hide the slight tremble. “While I can empathize with what his mother is going through, I no longer feel comfortable or safe having my mother-in-law in the room when I remove Jasper from life support. Since they have put their wants over my mental and emotional health, I'm putting my needs over theirs. The only people who will be present when my husband is taken off the machines are me and the doctor.” She paused, an idea occurring to her. “If my in-laws want to drop the case and publicly apologize for putting me through this, I will reconsider her request to be in the room.”
The judge held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded and turned back to the Prestons. “Well? Are we going forward with the motion or dropping the case?” Danica had a feeling the judge was regretting his decision to allow this to go to court. He appeared to be over the Prestons and the incompetence of their lawyer.
Mathers and the Prestons had a brief discussion, and then he stood up, clearing his throat. “We're, uh, we're going forward with the motion.”
Judge Perella looked surprised, then shook his head. “Very well. Motion granted. Collection of Jasper Preston's reproductive material must be completed by the end of today by Fenway Fertility and Wellness with both lawyers present, then stored in the clinic until I've made my ruling in three weeks.” He banged his gavel. “Is there anything else before I dismiss everyone?”
“Yes.” David nodded. “I would also like to request a forensic examination of Jasper Preston's phone to recover any potentially deleted texts or messages.”
The judge thought it over for a few minutes, then nodded. “Granted.” He banged his gavel again and stood up. “Court dismissed. Counsellor Niehaus, I'll have the order for the forensic examination sent to your office by the end of the day.”
“Thank you, sir.” The judge swept out of the courtroom, and Danica turned to Alex while David went to speak to the Prestons' lawyer about arranging a time to meet at the hospital.
“You did great.” He smiled at her. “That little twist of dropping the case at the end was brilliant and really showed what their priorities are.”
“Yeah, that came to me in the moment.” Danica ran a shaking hand through her hair. “I'm aware it probably made me come across as petty and vindictive, but I've been wanting to say those things to them since last Friday.” They fell silent, watching as Amy, Cecil, and Lucy left the courtroom. Amy and Lucy shot Danica dirty looks as they passed, while Cecil walked, hunched in on himself and in pain, staring at the floor.
“Looks like Jasper's father isn't as on board with all this as his mother wants him to be,” Alex murmured as David came back. Danica had to agree. Knowing Cecil as well as she did, she knew this was probably killing him.
“We're meeting with a doctor from Fenway Fertility and Mathers at four this afternoon.” He informed them both as Mathers left the courtroom. “What happened when I asked for the forensic examination of Jasper's phone?”
“Lucy's face went from tomato red to paper white in about three seconds,” Alex told him as they started the walk out of the courtroom. “I couldn't see Jasper's mother's face, but she sort of froze a little.” Alex frowned, pursing his lips as he thought about it. “Her whole body just tensed up for a moment, and then she went back to crying.”
David smiled. “Isn't that interesting. Did you bring Jasper's phone, Danica?”
“Yeah.” She dug through her purse, found it, and passed it to him.
“I'll have this delivered to the company we normally use this afternoon.” Outside the courthouse, they shook hands, with David reminding her to be at the hospital for four, then said their goodbyes. Danica told Alex she would see him back at the hotel, then climbed aboard her Impala.
Starting the car, she shook her head, unable to believe they hadn't done their research prior to filing the emergency injunction or the fact that instead of letting it go and being there when she turned off the machines, they were doubling down and still going to try to harvest sperm.
“Idiots.”
Chapter Twenty-Four: International Pain in the Ass
Danica was finishing up a phone conversation with the hotel's social media manager when she got another call. Glancing at the ID, she saw it was an international call and recognized the number of Alex's ex-wife. Internally groaning, she quickly finished her call and then answered the other line.
