Road to Reality (21 page)

“You look like hell,” Brooke told Mac when she and Lucas walked into the ER an hour later. 

Once Beth was settled, he’d called Brooke, right after he called the office to let them know he wouldn’t be in.   Not that he needed to worry about that, it was most likely making the rounds of the entire hospital at this point. Which was another reason he needed to tell Brooke, before she heard from someone else.

Mac stood up and ushered both of them to a private area restricted for staff.  “Sorry to call so early,” he said. “But I wanted you to know.”

“Mac, don’t apologize.  I wish you had called earlier.” She went to him and gave him a hug. “What’s going on, does she have some type of a stomach bug? Food poisoning? She didn’t look good at all.” Brooke hadn’t done a good job hiding her gasp when she walked in and saw Beth sleeping with the IV attached to her arm. 

“No, not a stomach bug. Or food poisoning.” He felt himself starting to smile.  “Let’s say she isn’t handling things as well as you right now.”

Brooke looked confused. Lucas seemed to catch on, if the tilt of his head was any indication.

Mac looked at Brooke’s tiny belly, still not really showing, even though she was wearing looser fitting clothing, more for her benefit than anyone else’s.  “There is another Malone on the way,” he said, pride showing in his eyes.

Stunned speechless, an O formed at Brooke’s mouth, as she tried to digest the news.  But Mac’s smile told her it was OK, so she reached up and gave him a teary eyed embrace. “Wow.  You said
I
worked fast,” she said with a laugh.

Mac knew his sister by now, and saw her brain processing the information. “Not far behind you, a little over a month.  Let’s say that fireworks show is going be a lasting memory in my mind.”

Lucas shook Mac’s hand, but couldn’t help to push his buttons. It’s not like Mac hadn’t pushed plenty of Lucas’s over the last year, so he expected it in return. “Guess you were never a Boy Scout.”

Mac slapped his brother in law on the back and laughed. “Always a Boy Scout.  Unfortunately being prepared doesn’t always mean the equipment works as it should.”

“Seems the equipment worked fine to me.” Lucas laughed back.

“Enough, you two,” Brooke interrupted.  “How is Beth doing?  Everything OK with the baby? Obviously she isn’t feeling well.”

Mac sobered. “Baby’s fine. Beth’s dehydrated right now.  They want to keep her for the day, maybe overnight, for observation. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind bringing Zoe over later on your way home from work? I’m sure she is upset right now, but I don’t want to leave Beth alone either.”

“Of course we will,” Brooke said. “I have a light day.   Just my weekly staff meeting with the Legal Department,” she said, pausing to grin at her husband, who was the head of that Department at Albany Medical Center. 

Lucas grinned back. “We’ll take off a bit early, pick up Zoe and bring her over mid afternoon. After her nap, how does that sound?”

“Good, thanks.  I need another favor, too.” Mac said and reached into his pocket for the letter that caused most of the trauma over the last twelve hours.

***

Lucas scanned the letter, looked at Mac and sighed.  “I’m not the best person for this, but I know who is.”

Mac replied, “Yeah, I thought so. But I wanted your take right now. I want to be able to tell her something to calm her. What time is your meeting? They should have her in a room shortly if you don’t mind talking to Beth yourself.  She isn’t going to believe me if I’m relaying the information.”

Looking at his watch first, Lucas replied, “We’ve got two hours before we need to be on the road.”

“Let me see where we stand right now with a room.” He led them back to the ER. 

After another thirty minutes of finagling, Beth was finally awake and in a private room, embarrassed over the whole situation.  “I’m sorry,” she said, apologizing to Mac once again.

“Will you stop apologizing to me? None of this is your fault.” He fought not to snap at her.

Brooke and Lucas watched on with humor as Mac lost his temper. He was always known to go with the flow, stay calm, and usually got his point across that way. Or shrugged it off with a laugh. But he was losing his finesse, and clearly didn’t appreciate that Lucas found the whole situation funny.

“Congratulations,” Lucas said to Beth.

“Ah, thanks.  It’s still a bit of a shock,” Beth said.

“Beth,” Mac started. “Do you feel up to telling us everything? Don’t leave a single thing out regarding this letter. I’m assuming Derek is Zoe’s biological father.” He struggled even to say that much about the guy who’d left Beth high and dry during her pregnancy to raise Zoe on her own.

“Yes, he is. I don’t understand.” Beth started to cry. Thanks to the anti-nausea medicine, no one was too worried about her being sick again. “Why now? Why after four years does he want to see her?  He told me never to contact him again and I haven’t.  I kept my end of the deal,” she sobbed.

Lucas frowned. “What deal? What are you talking about? Tell me everything you remember.” He opened his laptop that he had retrieved from his car when Beth was being transferred to her room.

After Beth relayed everything to them. All the details of her brief relationship, how Derek told her she meant nothing to him, how he was engaged to another woman the entire time and how he paid Beth off to keep quiet, Mac was more enraged than ever before.  “We are going to fight this,” he told her.

“How?  His lawyer said he has a legal right to visitation and even custody if he is paying child support. If I stop the support he can fight it, can’t he?”

“You said his name isn’t on the birth certificate, correct?” Lucas asked.

“Correct, but he can ask for a DNA test. He even stated that in the letter, too,” she pointed out.

“Yes, he can, but he won’t win. We have the upper hand here,” Lucas stated.

“I need you to trust me, Beth,” Mac interrupted.  “I love Zoe, too. I won’t let anything happen to her. You know that, don’t you? You believe me, right?”

“I know you love her. And I know you won’t let anything happen to her, but I don’t see how I can win this.”

“Don’t worry about that right now. I want to hear you say you believe me—believe in me, and trust me to protect you and Zoe.”

The tears were running unchecked down her cheeks at this point. “I trust you.  Please don’t let them take my baby from me,” she cried as he pulled her into his arms.

Derek Whitfield looked over at his wife sitting in the first row of the courtroom, dressed in a pretty little navy dress beaming with anticipation of what was to come. While he stood there seething and trying to figure out how he got in this mess.

He hated kids. Never wanted them, and even went so far as to get a vasectomy four years ago when he found out he fathered one.

Unfortunately he let that little bit of information slip out to his fiancée at that time and she wasn’t too happy.  Said she wanted kids and didn’t want to be with someone who disliked kids as much as he did.

His dreams of becoming of the owner of the restaurant he worked at vanished.  The owner, his fiancée’s father at that time, sided with his daughter, not even caring Derek was the best chef in the area.  So not only did that mean the end of his engagement—which he really wasn’t heartbroken over since she was so lousy in bed—but the end of his job as well.

So he moved on to another target, and was finally married. Christine, currently sitting in front of him, was anxious to see the little bastard he sired.  Some fifteen years his junior, Christine was the perfect wife for him.  Beautiful, rich, and her father owned the restaurant he was hoping to own some day.

Plus, Christine was dumber than a box of rocks.  He had been able to sweep her off her feet, tell her everything she wanted to hear and sway her enough to convince her father he was the perfect guy for her.

Only, once again, children became an issue. He learned his lesson though, and wasn’t about to tell her about his vasectomy.  Now after two years of marriage and failed attempts at conceiving, Christine had started to talk about getting tested for fertility issues. And of course that meant he would need to be tested, too. 

Fear of his secret being discovered, he did the only thing he could think of.  He told her he had a child already in hopes she would think the problem was hers, and not push the issue of his testing.

Unfortunately, that backfired on him. As much as he tried to play the victim, that Beth was an evil bitch who refused to let him see his child and only wanted his money, Christine came to his defense.  She got angry
for
him. 

In another moment of weakness—in bed this time—because Christine was the best he ever had and she knew it, she managed to get the name of the lawyer out of him that handled his case before. 

So now, here he was, exactly thirty days after Beth received the official letter from his lawyers, waiting for her appearance in court. 

He hadn’t heard a word from Beth, not one peep.  If she didn’t show up today with a lawyer, by default he would get his visitation with his child. He couldn’t even remember if it was a boy or a girl. Somehow he would have to find a way to stomach his way through them, for the sake of keeping this marriage and his dreams of owning his own restaurant.

“Derek.” Christine interrupted his thoughts. “If she isn’t here in fifteen minutes we get visitation rights automatically. Why wouldn’t she even attempt to contact you?”

“Who knows,” he told her with disgust. Maybe Christine would think he was repulsed over Beth’s lack of communication rather than this entire situation. “I told you what a bitch she was.  She’s probably going to drag this out for years.  Are you sure you want to go through with this? Wouldn’t it be easier to keep trying to have our own child?” He hoped that sounded sincere.

“But it may never happen, and I want a child so bad.  A child of yours is the same as mine, right?” she asked.  “I mean I would still be a mother then, a stepmother.”

He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes, then turned to address his lawyer. Thankfully Christine’s father was footing the bill for all of this.  That would have been another needle in an open wound if it came out of his wallet.

***

Mac looked over revolted at the man who fathered Zoe.  In the past thirty days they had dug up all sorts of dirt on the guy. It seemed Derek had a fondness for young innocent girls, some even of a questionable age and profession. Must make him feel like a man. 

When Derek’s first engagement failed four years ago, he made his way through two more women. Both were related to his employers at that time. And both times he had women on the side, therefore ending those relationships when he was caught.

By all appearances he seemed to be faithful to his wife. Mac didn’t think Derek had a sudden change of heart and decided to be devoted to his wife; no it was just that he got smarter.  So it took a bit more digging, but they finally found the string of women Derek had been paying for over the last two years.

Too bad for Derek, those women weren’t smart enough to keep their mouths shut. They were more than willing to throw him under the bus, since it seemed he didn’t treat them well, either.

He was trying to see what Beth saw in Derek. About the same height as her, and same build, probably even weighed the same. Mac supposed Derek was good looking, in a sleazy kind of way, with dirty blonde hair, light colored eyes, and dressed immaculately in a suit.  But all he did was turn Mac’s stomach. 

When he heard Derek refer to Beth as a bitch, he had all he could do not to stand up and make his presence known.  However, he had a plan and he had to stick to it. He had been here for over thirty minutes, in the courtroom dressed in plain street clothes, seemingly fitting in. 

Since he had arrived before Derek did, they didn’t pay any attention to him or the other people in the courtroom. That also worked to his benefit.

He watched as Derek looked at his watch and addressed the judge, “Can we assume she isn’t showing up and get on with it?” he snapped, agitation clearly evident.

The judge looked at Derek with disdain, frowned and stated, “There is still one minute left for the other party, or her legal representation to show.  Until such time, have a seat,” she ordered him.

Another minute passed and the judge announced the case and asked if anyone was there to represent Beth Campbell. 

Ryan Mathews stood up. He had been seated next to Mac the entire time, with his face turned away in hopes of not being recognized. 

“Your honor, Ryan Mathews of Mathews and Mathews, representing Beth Campbell.”  

***

The gasp could be heard in the courtroom. Even a few hours distance from Albany, where the Mathews firm was located, people knew and recognized his name.

“Approach the bench.  You took your time making your presence known,” the judge said with a sly smirk.  

Everyone knew plenty about the Mathews law firm and the clients they represented.   Always defending the true victims, even if they were guilty of the crime, didn’t mean they were criminals. Most of their clients were on trial for self-defense, or unintentional crimes.  The Mathews firm had a way of getting the clients lessor time served, if any at all, and preserving their client’s reputation in the process, often showing who the true victims were.

As a judge, she had seen her fair share of untrustworthy plaintiffs over the years. She could pick them out of the crowd and her judgment had never steered her wrong. She hadn’t liked Mr. Whitfield four years ago when she presided over the child support hearing and she liked him even less now. 

At that time, Ms. Campbell had a lawyer appointed free of charge from a local not-for-profit. This time around she was coming in strong.  She couldn’t help but wonder what Ms. Campbell had made of herself over the years. Seemed she landed on her feet just fine.

“Sorry, your Honor,” Counsel Mathews said, his lips twitching just a bit. She knew he would have done his homework and knew she was the judge that awarded Ms. Campbell the highest level of support before.  “Just biding my time and gathering the rest of my information.  I would like to request a meeting in your chambers, please, with both lawyers and Mr. Whitfield?”

“What is this about?” the judge asked.

“I assure you all questions will be answered at that time. I’m positive Mr. Whitfield would like his lawyer, and only his lawyer, present at that time.”

“Derek,” Derek’s wife whined. “What is going on?”
              “I don’t know.” He looked helplessly at his own lawyer, who appeared to be nervously twitching in his seat since Ms. Campbell’s lawyer made his presence known.

“Counsel?” the judge addressed Mr. Whitfield’s attorney. “Is this acceptable?”

With a nod of his head, his attorney stood, as did Mr. Whitfield and another man, and approached the bench.

“Who are you?” Mr. Whitfield asked the other man. “Another attorney of Beth’s?”

A stupid question since the man with Counsel Mathews was dressed in jeans and polo shirt, the judge thought.  Counsel Mathews answered, “Mac Malone, he is here on behalf of Ms. Campbell.”  Mr. Whitfield’s poor excuse for an attorney accepted that answer without question, so the four men made their way to her chambers.

Once the door was shut she turned to address Counsel Mathews, “Present your information.”

He pulled out a thick legal envelope.  “Inside this envelope is the history of Mr. Whitfield and his past relations.  I called this private meeting assuming he wouldn’t want his wife to be privy to what was uncovered.”

Mr. Whitfield’s face turned red as he ripped the envelope out of Counsel Mathew’s hand. Opening it quickly he scanned the contents, some ten pages long detailing what looked to be every woman he had been with in the last twenty years. 

“In exchange for that information to disappear from Ms. Campbell’s memory, Mr. Whitfield needs only to drop his visitation and custody case.”

Mr. Whitfield continued to scan the files as his attorney glanced over those pages that were handed to him.  “A word with my client please?” Mr. Whitfield’s attorney asked and pulled him to the far corner.  A few minutes later they returned and offered a compromise.  “Mr. Whitfield has agreed to drop the case in return for updates on his child throughout the year.”

“No,” Mr. Malone stated plainly.

Counsel Mathews placed a hand on Mr. Malone’s chest.  “No.” Then he pulled out a notarized statement.

The judge read the document from Ms. Campbell explaining the conversation Mr. Whitfield had with her when he handed over the check for ten thousand dollars, along with a copy of the cashed check to the judge. She glared at him.  “I can’t make you drop this case. It’s within your legal right to proceed, but this won’t help your case at all.”

“If I’m paying support then I have a right to information on my child,” he demanded angrily. The judge raised an eyebrow at him, sensing he was getting desperate.

“Beth doesn’t need your money,” Mr. Malone informed him.  “Zoe—that’s her name by the way—has never been your child.  And she never will be.”

Counsel Mathews pulled out another piece of paper and handed it to Mr. Whitfield and his attorney to read. “Ms. Campbell is waiving her right to child support as of today.  In agreement that you drop all attempts to contact her or her daughter.”

The judge reached for the document, scanned it and handed it to Mr. Whitfield’s attorney.  “Looks like it’s a good deal all around. Ms. Campbell has already signed and notarized it, you need to fill in the rest and we are done here.”

Mr. Whitfield snatched the paper out of the judge’s hand, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him again.  He grabbed the pen out of his lawyer’s hand and scribbled his name and handed it back.   He turned to leave and stopped to address Mr. Malone, “Who’s Beth to you?”

“Mine.”