Page 87 of Finding Home

“Not true. I admit I dragged my feet as a father for six months. But then, I emailed Claudia and expressed extreme regret for my prior lack of involvement in my child’s life. I begged Claudia to let me meet my baby, but Claudia refused.”

Ralph’s attorney looks flabbergasted. Thoroughly shocked. “There’s . . . zero evidence of any of that,” he stammers out.

“I’ve got the email exchange on my phone to prove it, if you want to see it.”

“Yes, please,” the judge interjects, as Ralph’s attorney chokes on his words.

I bring up the emails and hand over my phone to the judge, who studies the messages with great interest. Once she’s done reading, she hands my phone to a bailiff and asks him to show it to all attorneys and parties, which he does. And, finally, when the phone comes back to me on the witness stand, the judge instructs me to read the whole email exchange, word for word, out loud, for the court reporter to take down.

I do as I’m told, and when I’m done reading, I address the judge. “I found out recently Claudia didn’t write that reply to me, even though it came from her account. In fact, it turns out Claudia never even saw my email.”

Ralph’s attorney is beet-red. “And you base that conclusion onwhat, exactly?”

I share a secret smile with Paula, the best, most kick-ass attorney and friend who ever fucking lived, before replying with, “I base it on what Claudia’s ex-boyfriend, Ricky Schaeffer, confessed to my attorney about a week ago.”

“Yep. It’s true. Claudia never saw C-Bomb’s email.”

That’s what Claudia’s ex-boyfriend, Ricky, testifies, when he gets on the stand, and, thank God, tells the fucking truth.

“How do you know?” Paula asks calmly, even though her heart is probably beating a mile a minute underneath her cool exterior, the same as mine.

“‘Cause I’m the one who replied to C-Bomb’s email,” Ricky answers. “After I replied, I deleted the email, so Claudia would never know about it. And then, Iwent ahead and blocked C-Bomb’s email address and social media accounts, too, so Claudia wouldn’t get another message from him.”

“How certain are you that Claudia never saw Mr. Baumgarten’s email?”

“One hundred percent. Trust me, if she’d seen it, she would have been on the first plane to LA. Not to mention, she would have let me have it for answering that email for her.”

A low din erupts in the courtroom among the few people in the gallery, and the judge tells everyone to be quiet.

“Why did you hide that email from Claudia?”

Ricky shrugs. “Jealousy, I guess. I’d been pretty obsessed with the idea of Claudia cheating on me for months by then—which she never did, by the way; so I watched her putting in her password on her phone one night, and then I started checking her phone every night, after she fell asleep.” He looks at me apologetically. “When C-Bomb’s email came in, I happened to be on Claudia’s phone at that moment; so while Claudia slept next to me, I replied and blocked him.”

“Why didn’t you want Claudia to receive that email, Mr. Schaeffer?”

Ricky motions to me. “Look at him. He’s rich and famous and looks like a tattooed god, and I’m just a regular guy. I knew C-Bomb was Claudia’s celebrity crush and she’d already had sex with him once. Now, he wanted to fly her and her baby to his fancy mansion in LA for a family reunion? Hell no. I knew the chances were high Claudia would fall in love with him in California. And what guy wouldn’t fall in love with Claudia in return? She was a dream girl. Sweet and pretty and super smart. And let’s notforget, she already had a baby with C-Bomb, so why wouldn’t he give her a real shot, if she came to California?” He shrugs. “So, I answered the email, blocked him every which way, and never looked back.”

“Meaning you never told Claudia about the email?”

“That’s right.”

Paula sighs, as I do the same behind her. We’ve struck gold here, thanks to Paula’s dogged persistence at finding this guy, and I’ll never be able to thank her enough.

“Thank you, Mr. Schaeffer,” Paula says somberly. “I’ve got nothing further.”

At the judge’s invitation, Ralph’s attorney gets up. “Mr. Baumgarten has promised to pay you a whole lot of money, if he gets custody here, hasn’t he?”

“Nope. C-Bomb didn’t promise me anything. I mean, yeah, he paid for my flight and hotel to come here. But that’s it. I came here to do the right thing, that’s all.”

“Why now?”

Ricky twists his mouth. “When Claudia died, I started feeling guilty about what I did. Claudia told me about how her dad repeatedly raped her as a kid, so I knew?—”

“Your honor!” Ralph’s attorney screams, along with whatever his client is simultaneously shouting. Mayhem ensues, during which a bailiff steps in to keep Ralph at bay. In the end, however, even after Ralph’s lawyer continues his questioning, he only winds up giving Claudia’s ex-boyfriend yet another opportunity to repeat his firm belief that Claudia’s child shouldn’t go anywhere near Ralph Beaumont because of “the bad stuff” Claudia told him about her father.

“The kid should go to Aubrey or C-Bomb,” Ricky insists. He looks at Aubrey. “More so, Aubrey, probably, since I personally witnessed her being a really good auntie.” Heshrugs. “I mean, if Aubrey thinks C-Bomb is up to the job, then I trust her judgment, and I know Claudia did, too. But my vote would be Aubrey. She’s a solid citizen, that one.”

“I have nothing further,” Ralph’s lawyer says, his shoulders drooping and his tone dejected.

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