Destiny by chance: A Contemporary Romance Fiction Novel (32 page)

The conference room was simple, functional.  There was nothing ostentatious about it.  Nothing showy that proved tax dollars recklessly spent.  The conference table was large enough to seat twelve, which was perfect for this meeting because there were twelve present.

Destiny had asked for the meeting, so her attorney was present.  Lisa and Jessie were allowed in as they were considered part of the legal team—a stretch, but considering what they brought to the table, the Assistant District Attorney allowed it. Then there was the prosecuting attorney and three of his legal team—two of them there out of sheer morbid curiosity.  And lastly, Winston was there with his legal team, which rounded out the table.

Destiny had already spoken to the Assistant DA about a face-to-face meeting with Winston.  “It’s never been done, before,” she had said, then added, “but, what the hell.”  Destiny’s attorney didn’t argue with her on this one; once she presented to him what she had.  In fact, he applauded her for her bravery.

The Assistant DA, dressed in a slimming blue suit, over a pin-striped blouse, a non-intimidating smile on her face, looked at Destiny.  “This is your meeting.  We’re here in an unofficial capacity.  So you go first.”

Destiny drew in a deep breath for courage and then exhaled.  “I’m not dropping my civil lawsuit, but I’m willing to settle for five million in damages, simply to keep this from going back and forth any longer.  I’ll settle based on the following conditions,” she began.

Winston leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands behind his head and smirked, scoffing before she had even started.

“Number one,” she began.  “All proceeds are put into a fund that’s used exclusively for programs that help victims of rape and sexual assault.”  No one said a word, so she continued.  “Second, Winston drops the lawsuit against Mr. Ireland for assault.”

“There’s no lawsuit,” his attorney interjected.

“Yet,” she stated.  “You and I know that he’s probably already asked for one, and that goes away.  Now.”

Winston leaned forward onto his arms, chuckling to himself.

Destiny’s eyes moved from each attorney back to Winston, who lowered his head, still chuckling to himself, before looking back up at her, very pleased with himself.

“Number three:  In a perfect world Winston would serve the maximum for every charge of rape, but, if he serves, at least, three years for every rape that he’s committed—”

“What is this?  Law and Order?  Why is she doing all the talking?” his attorney asked.

“It’s her meeting,” she reiterated.  “We’re
all
here because we were invited.  Unofficial, remember?”

“This is crap, and you know it,” his lawyer said to the Assistant District Attorney.  He stood, followed by the defense team.

“So, what did you get all dressed up for, Fred?  Why did you come?  To pontificate?”

“Sheer morbid curiosity,” the attorney replied.

“Then, sit down,” the Assistant DA said firmly, confidently.  “Please.  Just pretend like this is mediation or better yet, allocution that’s not in front of the media.”

“We’re leaving,” Winston’s lead attorney said. 

“Fine.  We’ll see you Tuesday when the grand jury convenes to hear your client’s case.  Based on the preponderance of evidence against him, he
will
be indicted.”

“We’ll see about that,” Winston’s lawyer retorted.

Jessie slid a file across the table to him.

“What is this?”

No one said anything as Winston’s attorney looked down at the file.  His team stood around him expectantly.  He glanced at the Assistant District Attorney before opening it.  Everyone on his side of the table including Winston, leaned around him, peering at what he held in his hands.  The color from his face drained, and he stood there with his mouth agape.  He glanced across the table at Destiny, then the District Attorney, before sitting back down, followed by Winston’s other attorneys.

“Where’d you get these?” he asked, looking face to face on the opposite side of the table.

Jessie shrugged and smiled wryly.

“Anything else?” his attorney asked.

Winston suddenly sat upright.  “What?” he argued.  “I’m not agreeing to any of this.”

“One year for each case,” his attorney stated, holding his hand in front of Winston to silence him.

“No,” Winston snapped angrily, as he stood and stared at his lawyer.  “Those are sealed records.  They can’t use any of that against me!” he screamed in a rage.  Then he projected his tirade at the Assistant District Attorney.  “None of it is admissible,” he smiled smugly.  Only, the fear shone in his eyes.

“We might consider two.  Unofficially,” the Assistant DA said, holding firm.  “And that
includes
the ones that we now know about in Oklahoma City, Seattle, and Chicago.  By the time we go to trial, who knows how many more we’ll find.”

“This is BS!  I won’t plea out on these, these false accusations!” Winston yelled at the Assistant DA, before turning back to his attorney.  “I pay you to do what
I
tell you to do.”

“No, Mr. Sawyer.  You pay me to put up the best defense.”

Destiny sat quietly, watching him hang himself.  Lisa and Jessie sat on either side of her, holding her hands.

“Bob, I,” Winston began.

His attorney turned to him.  “‘Winston, please sit down and
shut up
,” he said, visibly shaken.  He turned back to the Assistant DA.  “May we have the room for a few minutes so that I can confer with my client?”

She nodded, then rose with everyone from her office and headed for the door.  Destiny, Lisa, and Jessie stood up.  Destiny began to turn but then she stopped and looked back across at Winston, surrounded by his legal team.  He glanced at her, if only for a moment, but at that moment, she saw the rage in his eyes.  His rage quickly turned to confusion when he saw the defiance in her eyes.  The victory. The relief.

Destiny smiled as she walked from the room with Jessie and Lisa.  As the door closed behind them, they could hear Winston yelling and arguing.

“I don’t know how you ladies did this, but, thank you,” the Assistant DA said, shaking their hands, one by one. 

“It was all her,” Destiny said, pointing at Jessie.  “She’s a retired US Marshall.”

“Twenty-five years,” Jessie said, shaking his hand.  “That’s where me and Charlie met.  A match made in hell,” she quipped.  “God love him.  We’re a good team.  In twenty-five years, you meet a lot of people, and you make a lot of friends.”

“And a lot of enemies,” she observed.

“That too,” Jessie raised an eyebrow.  “But there’s a lot of people out there that don’t mind helping you out when you’re in a pinch.”

“Well, if you ever want to do a little investigating for the DA’s office, just let me know,” she said.  “Ten confirmed women.  That’s phenomenal,” she added, turning to her team.  “With all our resources, we only knew about four.  Who knew how far back this went.  The Assistant DA shook her head. 

One of the female members of her team grimaced.  “Yeah, sadly, some schools have become hunting grounds for rapists, and they don’t investigate rapes and sexual assaults reported on campus as well as they could or even
should
.  Or they
could
have stopped him there.”

The Assistant District Attorney added, “Now we understand why he moved states every couple of years. He was trying to stay ahead of the charges. How’d you find the two women who disappeared?”

“Remember, I was in the business of
helping
people disappear.  They weren’t really that hard to find,” Jessie said.

“Yeah, wait until he realizes that even if he settled with them for millions to disappear a subpoena usurps his legal agreement.”

“I’d give anything to be a fly on the wall right now,” Lisa said.

The door opened, and one of Winston’s legal team stepped out.  “We’re ready.”

The Assistant DA turned to Destiny.  “You ready?”

Destiny pursed her lips and shook her head.  “I don’t need to.  I did what I came to do.”  She turned to her friends.  “He knows that I stood my ground.  That’s all I care about.  As long as dropping the charges against Bill and preventing any civil suit against him are part of the deal, I don’t much care about all the rest.  I know you’ll do what you know is right,” she said, looking the Assistant District Attorney in the eyes.

“You’re a brave woman,” she said once more, shaking Destiny’s hand before leading her team back into the room.

Destiny looked at her friends and smiled.  “Thank you both so much,” she said, taking their hands.  “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“We’re so proud of you.” Lisa hugged her.  “You stood up to him.”

“Yeah, but I was shaking like a leaf.”

“Me, too,” Jessie said.  “It was cold in there.”

Destiny grabbed Jessie and hugged her tight.  “You were amazing,” she said.  “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“You are family,” Jessie smiled.

“Not quite yet,” Destiny reminded her.

Jessie winked at her.  “You will be, Sweetheart, if we have to beat it into him.”

They all laughed.  Then Destiny turned to Lisa.  “Thank you.”

“Are you kidding?  This is the most fun I’ve had all week.” Lisa took her best friend’s hand.  “Where to now?” she asked.  “I feel like I could take on the world!”

Destiny smiled at each of them.  “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to go see my family now.”

Lisa took one of Destiny’s arms and Jessie the other, as they smiled at one another.

Jessie started walking first, pulling the others behind her.  “Come on, Girls.  Let’s go home.”

Christmas morning came, and the Kemper House was about to be alive with warmth and laughter, though not from paying guests.  Bill never booked anyone on Christmas Eve, so that he and Sydney could celebrate Christmas without attending to patrons.  Yet, this morning, many of the rooms were filled.  Jessie and Charlie had the biggest room with the nicest bathroom.  Lisa and Andy and Bill’s mother each had their own rooms.  Destiny slept in her tiny room, with the door locked firmly.

Sydney long ago stopped believing in Santa, having one morning caught her father placing a new bike by the tree when she got up for a drink of water.  The tree was grand enough that passersby on the street could see it, the colored lights shimmering against several clear glass ornaments, new additions to the tree, mixed in with the ones that Sydney and Bill had previously placed there.

Destiny shuffled to her small bathroom after her alarm went off at four o’clock.  She brushed her teeth and dressed, and slowly made her way downstairs.  She could hear Bill and Sydney already in the kitchen, banging around as they retrieved pots and pans to prepare a full Christmas morning breakfast for their special guests.  The moment that Destiny arrived at the bottom step, she could see the fire roaring in the fireplace in the center of the wall in the library.  It was so warm and welcoming.  Several stockings hung on the mantle filled with an assortment of goodies.  There was one for Bill, one for Sydney and they had added one for her.  Her hand moved over the felt material, tracing it, bringing a small smile to her face.

As she turned, a glimmer caught her eye, and she slowly moved toward the tree.  Something was different, so she stepped closer to investigate.  As she drew nearer, she saw additional ornaments that weren’t there before.  Destiny leaned closer, and suddenly her heart raced, and her eyes began to fill with tears.  Her eyes traveled from ornament to ornament, her hand delicately handling each one.  She heard the door swing open from the kitchen, and she turned her head.  Bill and Sydney were standing there, looking at her.  Her hand continued to follow her eyes all around the tree until she had found almost two dozen ornaments they had added.  When she turned back, they were suddenly beside her.

“How?” she managed to say weakly, as tears rolled down her face.

“It was Sydney’s idea.”

Destiny looked at Sydney, who was looking up at her, confused.  “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“No, Sweetie.  This is a good cry.”  Destiny knelt beside her, hugging her, and wiping her tears.  Then she turned back to the tree, pointing at the orb that was closest to them.  “This was the picture we took when Rhett first learned how to walk.”  She smiled and turned back to Sydney.  “How did you get these?”

“That would be Lisa and Andy.” Bill put his hands on his daughter’s shoulders.

“They are beautiful.” Destiny sniffed.  “Absolutely beautiful.”

“I thought you should have pictures of your family to see, especially at Christmas.”

“Oh, Honey, they are perfect.”

“Did you find them all?” Bill asked.

“How many are there?”

“Twenty-four.” Sydney beamed.  “Aunt Jessie helped me make them when I was staying with her.”

“Here, you can help me count them to make sure we’ve found them all.”

Destiny and Sydney counted them as they walked around the tree.  “I counted twenty-three.”

“Then there’s one more.”

Destiny and Sydney looked through the tree again, where they finally found one hidden deep within the branches.  Destiny reached in, carefully unhooking it so that she could get a better look.  As she drew it nearer, she stopped.  Inside was sand, a picture of Bill and her at Sydney’s birthday party, plus two novelty wedding rings, hooked together.  Destiny looked up.  Immediately Bill knelt before her.  Sydney giggled and danced in place.  Destiny’s hands flew to her mouth as she gasped.  He took her left hand and looked up at her as he slid a simple ring with a simple stone setting onto her finger.

“I always believed in destiny, but I never thought I’d find my Destiny by chance.  I love you, Destiny, and I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you and making new memories.  Showing you just how much you mean to me.”  He looked to Sydney and back to Destiny and smiled.  “To us.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sniffed again.  She nodded her head.

“Yes!” Sydney screamed as she jumped into her dad’s arms, knocking him over.

They all laughed as he crawled back up and stood beside Destiny.  He took her hands in his and pulled her to him, kissing her gently.  When they parted, she lowered her head, and he kissed the tip of her nose.  Sydney wriggled her way between them, and they included her in the hug. 

“We have a breakfast to cook,” Bill said, dragging them into the kitchen.

Three hours later, when it was ready to serve, Sydney took a wooden spoon and a pot and banged on its bottom, walking up and down the stairwell, noisily announcing it was time to eat.  Slowly, everyone woke and reluctantly left their warm beds in their complimentary bedrooms, yawning and stretching, still in pajamas, making their way downstairs.

“Merry Christmas!” Sydney said to each one as they arrived at the bottom step.

“Merry Christmas,” they each said in return, some followed by hugs or pats on Sydney’s head.

They arrived to a feast of fried ham, biscuits and gravy, German fried potatoes, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit.  They all sat down in front of place cards that Sydney had personally created for each of them.  Destiny poured each guest their choice of milk, juice or coffee before handing Lisa a teabag for her small teapot of hot water.

Bill looked around the table as he sat.  Without a word, he held out his hands to Destiny and to Sydney, who sat on either side of him until everyone was holding hands.  He had to catch himself from the emotions he was feeling, but he mouthed a beautiful prayer, thanking God for the blessings of those seated around him. 

Destiny looked around the table and smiled.  As she slowly closed her eyes, for the first time in a really long time, she thanked God for the good
and
the bad.  For it had all brought her to where she was now.  And she knew now, that all the times she was alone, that He had never actually left her at all.

And for the first time in a really, really long time, she had peace.