Over the Fence: Lyssa Layne's Baseball Romances (69 page)

Jace

Shit!
I pick up the pace as I jog down the hallway of the courthouse and straighten my tie. I slept through the alarm this morning and am just praying I can slip into the courtroom without drawing any attention to myself. Funny that I overslept since the only actual sleeping probably took place during the five minutes before the alarm and the ten minutes I slept through it. After Sam fell asleep last night, I spent three hours searching Elliott Ash before deciding to go to bed myself. Of course, I just tossed and turned, way too anxious for the case to continue and hopefully be over today.

There isn’t much on the Internet about Elliott Ash, but what I gathered is that he was some sort of real estate tycoon and now resides in one of the state’s finest correctional facilities. I didn’t find anything that linked Elliott and Adam together but since Adam works in the same profession, I’m sure the connection is obvious. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in court this morning and I just pray like hell that Laurel’s case ends soon so we can all be together again. Not to mention the time frame to file for Sam’s adoption is only a week away and she still knows nothing about it.

Only a few steps away from the door, my phone rings. Pulling it from my pocket, I glance down, ready to send the call to voicemail when I see it’s Camila. My pulses picks up and I hit answer without saying a word.

“Jace?” Camila’s voice on the other end of the line tells me she has news.

“Yeah…”

She giggles before going on. “I sent the recording to the commissioner months ago and he never responded. Then yesterday, I received a phone call from his office requesting a meeting with you in New York today. Apparently, you know how to keep your enemies close because his secretary mentioned that Grant Adamson was the reason he finally listened to the recording.”

My eyes burn at the news and a frenzied rush of emotions take over until her words set in. “Today?”

“Yes, today! Your flight leaves at noon so you need to leave for the airport
now
. Jace, you might actually be playing at spring training next year!”

She doesn’t try to hide her own excitement which is only going to make this that much harder. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Gone is the giddiness, replaced with irritation.

“Look, Camila, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Seriously, you have no fuckin’ idea how much you saved my life, but if today is the only day he can meet with me, then I’m out.”

Camila’s voice goes up an octave as she squawks on the other end of the phone, trying to convince me to change my mind. I hit end on the call, I’m already late enough. Camila’s just going to have to be pissed at me, not to mention Evan Purser will probably kill me for so much as looking at Laurel, much less falling in love with her so I probably just screwed myself out of any more of their help.

I push the door open and slip inside without anyone noticing. As I take my seat beside Laurel’s parents, I note that the judge isn’t even in the room yet. Laurel looks stunning as ever with her hair pulled up into a tight bun. She’s wearing a straight, black pencil skirt and white blouse that makes me wish she dressed like this every day but then again, I really don’t because then she wouldn’t be the Laurel I fell in love with. While I’m busy checking her out and trying to convince myself I made the right choice, the judge makes her way into the room. We all stand until the bailiff tells us to take a seat and the judge begins the proceedings. Even from behind, it’s obvious that Trevor is giddy to get started, but Adam’s lawyer stands up before he can.

“Your honor, my client, Mr. Adam Darbis, would like to make a motion to grant full custody to his ex-wife, Ms. Laurel Darbis.”

Both Laurel and her mother let out loud gasps that can be heard over everyone else’s whispers. Mrs. Greyson reaches over and takes my hand, squeezing it tightly. Her other hand is tightly grasped around her husband’s. I smile, finally understanding what a parent’s love is all about, which is something I’ve never experienced until this moment.

“If Ms. Darbis agrees to relinquish all future alimony and child support payments from my client, he will sign over his parental rights.”

The courtroom is silent. Adam sits statuesque, not even looking in Laurel’s direction for any sort of an explanation. Mrs. Greyson’s grip gets tighter around my hand and I squeeze back, not sure what to expect to happen next. Trevor leans over, whispering to Laurel and shaking his head. Laurel leans away from him, obviously disagreeing and not wanting to further the conversation. Trevor lets out a sigh and stands up to address the court.

Very reluctantly, he nods. “Ms. Darbis agrees to the conditions.”

The judge purses her lips, thinking for a second before speaking to Adam. “Mr. Darbis, you are aware that by giving up your parental rights to your son that you cannot come back at a later date and try to gain any kind of custody.”

Adam’s head moves up and down but he doesn’t talk.

“If I allow this, you will not be able to see your son again unless his mother approves and if you try to make contact with Greyson without her permission, you will be subject to legal action. You understand all of this?”

Another quick nod of his head and the judge picks up her gavel. “Very well. I hereby grant full parental custody of Greyson Brody Darbis to his mother, Laurel Darbis. His father, Adam Darbis, is to have no contact with his ex-wife or his son unless it is through the court system. Ms. Darbis, you hereby waive any future alimony and child support payments from Mr. Darbis. This new agreement is effective immediately.”

The gavel slams down on her desk but not a single person moves. Despite the verdict that both Adam and Laurel agreed on, their lawyers both hang their heads in defeat. Adam continues to sit stoically, not making any movement to get up. I could do a fuckin’ backflip right now I’m so excited, but Laurel’s actions have me staying put. She sits still, only the shaking of her shoulders lets me know she heard the judge’s verdict. Coach gets out of his seat, moving to his little girl while Mrs. Greyson turns to hug me, tears flowing down her cheeks. I hug her close, wanting to celebrate with her but I keep my eyes on Laurel. No way in hell I’m letting her out of my sight with that asshole across the aisle.

The judge doesn’t hurry anyone along as she watches the scene unfold in front of her. I imagine it’s not a regular occurrence that a parent of Adam’s status voluntarily relinquishes his rights to be a father. Coach is just a few steps away from Laurel when Adam finally makes his move and closes the short distance between him and Laurel. I let go of Mrs. Greyson and move around her, walking quickly toward the tables myself.

Ready to beat his ass if he tries anything, I pause when he sets his hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. Laurel moves her hand on top of his and looks up at him. The two meet eyes and Laurel mutters thank you. Adam simply nods before walking down the aisle and stopping in front of me. My body tenses and I straighten my shoulders, ready for whatever he wants to throw at me.

“Take care of them,” he says and extends his hand.

Nodding, for fear of what I might say, I simply shake his hand and watch him exit the courtroom and Laurel’s life forever. When I turn around, Laurel’s back is to me as she hugs her father and lets all of her emotions from the past few months out. Coach looks up and lifts his chin, giving me permission to interrupt their moment. He whispers in her ear and she slowly turns around to face me. Even with mascara running down her cheeks, she is still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She takes three quick steps toward me, flinging her body against mine and even more tears appear as I hold her close.

With one hand on the back of her head, I lean down and give her tiny kisses across her forehead to her cheeks then her chin until I reach her lips. The wetness dripping from her eyes rubs against my skin and my thumbs run over her cheeks, wiping them away as quickly as they come. In between my kisses, I whisper over and over, “I love you, Laurel. It’s over, he’s yours.” My words don’t calm her like I want them to. Instead, she only sobs harder and I hold her closer.

Behind her, the judge taps her wrist and I pull away, kissing Laurel’s forehead before I speak. “I hate to end this but I have to go, I have somewhere I have to be.”

Laurel nods, wiping at her mascara and tear stained face. “What do you have to do?”

My gut clenches and I don’t want to do it, but I have to so I lie to her. “Finalize a deal.”

Her entire face drops and the hurt doesn’t hide. No, it’s in every one of her features and I vow to never see her make that face again. A hand on each of her cheeks, I press my lips against hers and whisper, “I’ll explain everything.” Then, before she can ask any more questions, I turn and walk out of the courtroom.

Laurel

I stare at Jace walking away from me and my heart is confused. Grey is mine, now and forever, or until he finds another woman who can take care of him. I should be elated, overjoyed, doing cartwheels or something, but instead, I’m frozen in place as the one person who holds the other half of my heart leaves me to celebrate my victory alone.

The past twenty-four hours have gone from crazy to pure insanity. I went from almost losing Grey forever to getting him full-time and not having to deal with any more of Adam’s dramatics. Money always controlled Adam and even now when it involved his son, he wasn’t willing to give it up. From what Trevor’s told me, after a little bit of digging, a private investigator discovered that Adam was somehow involved with a real estate scheme that Elliott Ash concocted and the two of them stole millions of dollars from investors. Elliott took the fall for both of them, but the P.I. said that he offered Mr. Ash enough money that he was willing to come forward with information on Adam to indict him and have a new jailmate. As it stands, I imagine that Adam has offered him some type of money upon his release in return for his silence.

When Trevor first explained everything to me, I freaked out because there’s no way I can afford the dollar amounts that were being thrown around. Jace has already covered all of Trevor’s legal fees, I don’t know the total since Jace made Trevor agree to a confidential agreement, but the man has been working non-stop for almost three months and I know Jace’s stream of money isn’t neverending. As easy as things will be now with Adam out of the picture, it still breaks my heart that he just gave up on Grey so easily, although to be honest, I think he gave up long before we ever got divorced.

My heart is already aching from Adam’s selfish decision that will effect Grey more than he realizes, but now it hurts even more that Jace is walking out on me too and I feel like a horrible mother. I got what I wanted, I have Grey so I should be happy, but at some point during the last day, I started envisioning this exact moment, when I would be awarded full custody except that I would go home to Grey along with Jace and Sam and we’d be that family that Jace promised.

Tears well up in my eyes again and my father places his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Laur. The next case is about to start, let’s take a seat and we’ll catch Trevor when they recess.”

I nod, following my father on autopilot as I sit between him and my mother. Running through a gauntlet of emotions, I don’t pay attention when the doors open and the people take their places. The judge raps her gavel and I finally look to the front of the room.

“This should go fairly quickly. After reviewing the paperwork, it seems as though everything is pretty cut and dry so let’s go ahead and move forward with the finalization of the adoption of Samuel Nolan Pruitt.”

My stomach sinks and I look at my parents for any sort of explanation. My mother has a grin the size of Texas on her face while my father pats my legs.
How the hell can they be some calm about this?
Jace Richards just totally fucked me over by pretending to care about me and my son while he just turned Sam over to be adopted. I take a deep breath and try to steady my nerves. I shouldn’t blame him entirely. I’m the one that was foolish enough to think he could change his ways. I’m the one that gave him Sam and while I might have saved Grey, I just lost Jen’s son. My body quivers and I think I might be sick until my father points to the front of the room and I see Sam standing beside the person ready to adopt him.

“Mr. Richards, I understand that Sam has been in your foster care for the last few weeks. Is that correct?”

Jace moves his hand to Sam’s shoulder. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’ve taken the education courses that are required for this adoption?”

“Yes, ma’am. My lawyer and I have reviewed all of the requirements and fulfilled each of them.”

Watching Jace stand before the judge and speak, his confidence that he used to carry on the field is back and his love for Sam is evident. My heart beats rapidly and I clutch my chest, afraid it might beat out of my chest if I don’t hold it in place. Sam looks up at Jace and the two share an intimate moment that only a father and son can have together.

“You know, Mr. Richards, raising a child on your own is very difficult…”

The judge trails off and looks over Jace’s shoulder, locking her eyes with mine. Jace glances in my direction quickly then looks forward. “Yes, ma’am, I understand, but I believe that I will have plenty of support in this journey and Sam will never go a day without knowing he’s loved.”

“Very well. In that case, I declare that Jacen Patrick Richards is the official guardian, and father, of Samuel Nolan Pruitt.”

Sam cheers and jumps into Jace’s arms. He laughs at the boy and holds him on his hip. Jace turns around to face me, a soft smile on his face, trying to hide his excitement. His eyes narrow and he silently asks for my forgiveness at the same time. I laugh and wipe the new tears that have appeared. Making my way to the front of the room, Jace sets Sam down who runs down the aisle to my parents.

Jace holds out his hand. “Pissed at me?”

I shrug. “Maybe a little…”