Chapter Nineteen—Linc
Family Court was just like I remembered, but for the first time since I’d first appeared there, I actually felt at ease—at least a little bit. I knew that I’d done everything humanly possible to guarantee the best results, so now I was going to have to depend on Carol to do her job. I did trust her. That was why I kept going to her time after time. I just hoped this time would be the last on this particular matter. I was going to make sure that Lisa regretted the shit she’d put me through. I was going to get custody, I was just sure of it.
The judge came out and everyone stood up. I knew the drill, having done this many times before. The judge was the same guy we’d fought in front of before, too. Either he’ll be as tired of her shit as I am, or he’ll be pissed at me that she feels the need to put us all through this again.
“I can’t say that I’m happy to see the two of you in here again. How old is your daughter now?” He was looking at me, but he didn’t say my name, and Lisa answered first in a haughty voice. The judge glanced at my ex-wife, and I could tell he was less than pleased to have to pay her any attention at all. That made two of us. “What’s this about today?”
Lisa’s lawyer started his statement about the motion that she’d filed trying to establish full custody so that Lisa could leave the state with Jazmin. As far away as she wanted to go it might as well have been leaving the country. Lisa wanted to go over a thousand miles away, knowing full well that that meant I would never get to see our daughter. After a few minutes of the man’s droning, Judge Bryan put his hand up to stop him from talking. “I want to hear from the mother and father, not the lawyers. I’ve heard enough from you two already. Why are you here, Ms. Hayes?”
“It’s Sprague now,” Lisa said, and I forced myself not to look at her; if I did I would lose it. I was almost losing it just from the tone of her voice.
“Of course it is. So what are we here for?” Lisa wasn’t prepared to speak, and when I took the risk of glancing at her, I could tell that she was a little put off that she was being asked to. That was what she paid the lawyer the big dollars for, so she wouldn’t have to do it herself.
“I think that everything is spelled out in the motion, your honor.”
He didn’t even glance down at the paperwork in front of him, and I bit back a laugh. “I want to hear it from you. Why are we here again, Mrs. Sprague? What have you brought this man back to my courtroom for?”
Lisa was thrown off, which gave me a small, smirking satisfaction. For once, I might get to see her get her ass handed to her, instead of taking the spanking myself.
“I want to move to California with my new husband,” she said, and I wondered if she could hear the shrill tone of her own voice. “He has businesses there, and we would like to go back there to the West Coast. I want full custody so I can move as I please.”
That was the wrong thing to say to Judge Bryan. He held up a hand for her to stop. “Where does your daughter fall into all this? It’s the middle of the school year and you want to drag her across the country, away from her father and all her friends, all her ties?”
When he put it like that, I didn’t feel so guilty about feeling the way I did. She was making it hard on Jazmin as well as on me, and I don’t even think that she’d ever really thought about it until that moment. She thought only of herself, just like she always had.
“You’re twisting my words, your honor!” I was shocked that she’d say that to the judge, but this wasn’t the first time the two of them had gotten into a heated discussion in the courtroom. I’d learned long ago to just keep my mouth shut and see how everything played out.
“I’m married to a wonderful man, and Jazmin will have all her needs taken care of. We’re stable, and that’s something that she’s not going to get from her father. He leaves on covert missions for the military and works every single day when he’s here. A single man does not have the stability that we can provide.”
Carol started to say something, but I stopped her. For once, I was ready to speak for myself. And I was going to do it, come hell or high water. “That’s all false,” I began. “I retired two years ago, got my discharge certificate here to prove it, and I’ve since gotten married. I live with my wife. Our home is stable, and Jazmin has everything that she needs at my place, including her own room.”
Judge Bryan smiled, and I knew that he was happy I’d spoken up.
Lisa wasn’t. “What do you mean you got married? To whom?” Her lawyer tried to shut her up, but she kept going. “No—I want to hear him say who he got married to. He hasn’t even been dating!” The judge didn’t seem to care, though, and he didn’t ask me to show any proof, although I had it waiting just in case. I was ready for Lisa today, and she obviously wasn’t ready for me.
“Your honor, he told me nothing about this, and surely as a co-parent, he should keep me in the loop!” She was getting pissed, and Carol smiled at me. If Lisa got in the right mood, she would do everything for us. She was already losing her shit, and it wouldn’t be long before even Judge Bryan would know exactly what she was about. Lisa was all about herself and anything that got her what she wanted.
“Mrs. Sprague, you’re going to have to control yourself a little bit better. By your actions here today in this courtroom, I have to agree with the response motion that you’re a little unstable. I think that we need to have some evaluations done.”
“What? Your honor, that’s absurd!” Lisa was incredulous, and I had to admit that I was a bit shocked as well. I’d never thought about this before, but how good of an idea was that? Sure, alleging that she was mentally ill was kind of underhanded, but if she could play dirty, why couldn’t we? I hadn’t even known that Carol was going to take that tack—but it made perfect sense. And it made sense that she hadn’t told me about it; she hadn’t wanted me to tip her hand.
“I’ve warned you once. If I have to warn you again, I’ll slap contempt charges on you. I’ll not have you making a mockery of this court.”
The judge paused then, and I saw Lisa’s lawyer pushing down on her shoulder, holding her in place even as he whispered furiously in her ear. When Lisa didn’t try to say anything more, Judge Bryan continued. “I’ve personally seen enough of you, and I’m ready to make my ruling. I’ve read your motion and I’m denying it. I don’t know why in the world you think separating your child from her father—a good father, I might add, with an honorable record of service to his country—is going to be better for her. It’s not, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting such a thing.”
Lisa was still sputtering, but the fear of going to jail had her doing so in a way that wouldn’t offend the judge. She’d been put in her place, and for once I think she realized that she’d have to stay there. The judge turned and looked at me. “As for the other motion; sir, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“Well, your honor, Lisa is making it impossible for me to see my daughter. This is only the last in a long line of acts and provocations from my ex-wife. Last week, while it was my weekend, she refused to let me see her Friday night as per our agreement. Then she came to my house a day later to drop Jazmin off. She’s erratic, and getting remarried hasn’t helped.” I paused and took a breath. There: I’d said the things that I almost wouldn’t have dared to say to the judge at any other time.
“And so your petition is for?” I could almost see a glint in Judge Bryan’s eyes.
“I would like to take a bigger role in my daughter’s life, and I’m asking for joint custody with equal visitation. I live close enough to her school that it wouldn’t be affected, and I’ll always be home when she gets home. She won’t need to be left with hired help like she is with Lisa. I just want to be a bigger part of my daughter’s life, your honor.”
The judge turned to Lisa and asked her if she saw the difference.
“The difference?”
“He’s trying to do what’s right for Jazmin. If you don’t go to California, what will happen?”
“What do you mean?” Lisa looked both confused and frightened, and a part of me—a petty part of me, I had to admit—was pleased.
“Will not going harm you in any way?”
“No, your honor,” she replied.
“Good, then it’s settled. I’ll deny your motion to leave, as well as sole custody. These are not in the best interests of your daughter, which are always foremost in this court.”
I blew out some breath with a huge sigh of relief, forgetting for a moment that it wasn’t all I’d asked for. I had asked for more rights, and he hadn’t ruled on that yet. But at least now Lisa couldn’t take Jazmin away from me.
“As for your motion.” He was looking at me now, and he had a damn good poker face; any glimmer of amusement that had been there was gone.
“Yes, your honor?” Only grueling experience responding to superior officers without breaking discipline as they shouted in my face made it possible for me to say it with my voice level and calm.
“I’m granting your motion. It’s best for Jazmin to see more of you. It would also help if you two could somehow manage to get along. That little girl shouldn’t have any part of the problems between the two of you, and I think you both know it.” But he was looking at Lisa when he said the last part, not at me.
I sat back in my chair and let the relief wash through me. There were some legal technicalities to be ironed out, and the lawyers argued about when the new arrangement would start, and where to meet at, but none of that mattered. I was finally going to get what I wanted, and I knew that it was going to be for the best all around.
“Linc?” Carol was talking to me, but I hadn’t heard a word she’d said. I gestured for her to repeat herself. “The judge wants to know if there’s anything else.”
“No, I couldn’t ask for more,” I said.
Carol smiled and went to conference with Lisa’s lawyer. I was left standing slack-jawed. Had that really just happened? I had to get home and tell Sky about it right away; there was no one else I wanted to share that news with, not in the entire world.