Page 86 of Finding Home

“Does that mean you havesecond-handknowledge about even more violence perpetrated by Caleb?”

Yep. That.

Paula objects before Miranda responds, thankfully, and much to my relief, the judge sustains the objection and instructs Ralph’s lawyer to move on.

“Your honor,” Ralph’s attorney whines. “Miss Baumgarten is well known to be close friends with a woman whose husband got punched in the face by Mr. Baumgarten?—”

“Move on,” the judge says firmly. “Mr. Baumgarten’s propensity to play superhero is now clear and well-documented. I’ve got the gist.”

“No further questions,” Ralph’s lawyer says, looking annoyed.

As Miranda leaves the stand, I look down at my handson the table again, rather than making eye contact her. That was rough, dude. But, hey, at least, Miranda won’t be forced to yammer on about me punching Violet’s then-boyfriend/now-husband, Dax. So, I guess that’s a good thing. Unlike the other stories Miranda told about me, I can’t honestly say that punch to Dax’s face was justified. In fact, I was dead wrong to do that, as Miranda emphatically told me at the time. In fact, my sister was so furious with me about that punch to her best friend’s boyfriend’s face, she wouldn’t speak to me for weeks.

“Our next character witness is Amy Beretta,” Paula announces.

I take a deep breath.Come on, Amy.After Miranda’s so-called support, I’m going to need Amy to do some serious damage control.She’s my only character witness today, other than Miranda. Amy’s husband, my good friend, Colin, the drummer for 22 Goats, also wanted to testify; but Paula said having a musician from a hugely popular band on the stand would make it seem like I’m throwing my celebrity weight around. Not to mention, Colin was there, personally, unlike Miranda, when I stupidly punched his bandmate, Dax, so putting Colin on the stand and subjecting him to cross-examination about that would be a big mistake for that reason, as well.

My three bandmates, Dean, Emmitt, and Clay, also wanted to testify today, by the way. But they’re even more famous than Colin, so Paula said no way. Plus, they’ve all personally witnessed me being a hotheaded prick too times to count over the years, so whatever good things they might have to say about me probably wouldn’t have been worth it in the end.

“How do you know Mr. Baumgarten?” Paula asks Amy.

“We met when I was assigned to Caleb as his personalassistant during Red Card Riot’s world tour, about six years ago. We’ve been close friends, ever since.”

Under questioning, Amy describes me as loyal, kind, protective, and generous. Someone she knows she can turn to for anything. Someone she trusts completely.

“Have you seen Caleb interacting with his daughter?”

“No, not yet. But I’ve got no doubt Caleb is a wonderful father to her, given how great he is with my son, Rocco, who’s the same age. They were born about a week apart.”

“You mentioned Caleb is protective,” Paula prompts. “Can you elaborate on that?”

“During the time I worked for Caleb, some crew guys got out of line with me, and, unbeknownst to me at the time—I found out later—Caleb came to my rescue and made sure nobody harassed me in any way for the rest of the tour.” On and on, Amy goes, alternately making me sound like her white knight and the second coming of Mr. Rogers. Seriously, it’s all I can do not to stand and shout, “Don’t overdo it, Amy! For fuck’s sake, we have to make this sound believable!” Man, if she truly believes even a fraction of the shit she’s saying about me today, then I guess I’ve been doing something right as a friend, unbeknownst to me.

“No further questions,” Paula says, and surprisingly, Ralph’s lawyer decides not to question Amy himself. Probably, he realizes he can’t dim or besmirch the human ray of sunshine sitting on that witness stand, so why even try?

“Our final witness is Caleb Baumgarten himself,” Paula announces.

“Mr. Baumgarten,” the judge says, gesturing for me to take the stand. And so, after inhaling deeply and sharing a pointed “here we go” look with Aubrey, I rise from the table, button, unbutton, and then button again my sportcoat, and stride to the witness stand with confident, long strides designed to camouflage the current of anxiety throttling every inch of my body.

So far, all Paula’s questions have been softballs, as expected. The same ones we’ve practiced. So, naturally, I feel like I’m killing it.

“What’s your goal here, Mr. Baumgarten?” Paula asks.

We’ve practiced this. “I want custody of my daughter, so I can be the father she deserves.” It’s all I’m supposed to say in response to that question. But in light of the long list of violent episodes Miranda recounted about me, I feel the need to improvise and add something else. “But even more than that,” I add, much to Paula’s visible surprise, “I want my daughter to be safe, happy, and loved.” I look at the judge. “Your honor, if you decide I’m not a fit father for her, then I beg you to give full custody to Aubrey.” I swallow hard. “To be clear, I very much want full custody for myself. So, so much. But I want what’s best for my daughter, even more than that, and there’s no better person in this entire world than Aubrey Capshaw.”

“Thank you, Mr. Baumgarten,” the judge says.

“I’m done with my questions,” Paula says, before turning toward the table again.

“One more thing,” I say, halting Paula’s movement. “Sorry.” I look at the judge again. “I feel like I need to add something to one of my prior answers. Remember when I said Aubrey is my nanny and friend? That wasn’t the whole truth. Since I’m under oath, I feel like I should admit that . . .” I exhale. “I’m in love with Aubrey. Madly in love with her.” I peek at Aubrey and her mouth ishanging open. Same with Paula’s. “I haven’t told her that yet. I haven’t told anyone. But I feel like you need to know that, your honor, to understand just how highly I think of her. Aubrey’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. The great love of my life. If something happened to me, she’s the only person I’d ever want to take care of my daughter.” I look at my sister in the audience. “Sorry, Miranda.” Miranda smiles. “So, please, if you decide against me having full custody of my daughter, then Aubrey is one hundred percent where my daughter should be placed.”

I peek at Aubrey again, and the look on her face makes my heart explode in my chest.She loves me.That’s what Aubrey’s dark, glistening eyes are confirming in this moment. And, man, it feels fucking incredible.

“Thank you, Mr. Baumgarten,” the judge says softly, forcing me to wrench my eyes off the great love of my life. “Are you finished and ready for cross-examination now?”

“Yes, your honor,” Paula says. “Thank you.”

Ralph’s attorney gets up and clears his throat. “You had zero interest in meeting your child before six weeks ago, correct? In fact, you only stepped up to avoid paying child support to Ralph Beaumont.”

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