Page 81 of Brother to Brother

“There he is! Hi Noah!” I stiffened and turned slowly, a man I didn’t know stepping between my mother and my son, putting a hand up.

“That’s far enough,” he stated, “You’ll be able to see him pending the result of the hearing, and that’sifhis parents permit you to see him.”

“Who are you?” my mother demanded coldly, “That is mygrandson!”

I took a step forward, incendiary rage building and threatening to spill from my mouth, but Archer stepped in front of me, a wall of muscle in his off-putting suit; he looked down at me, eyes solemn and murmured, “Easy, Baby. Don’t let ‘em rile you up. Not now; now is the worst possible time to lose your shit and show your ass.”

I nodded, and breathed slowly, in through my nose and out through my mouth, tuning back into what the man was saying to my mother.

“…name is Jonathon McNulty and I’m your daughter’s attorney.”

“Here, Logan. It’s about time we went inside, I’ll take Noah for the time being,” Carina said to Rush, and Rush nodded grimly and handed Noah over to her while Phillip, my stepfather, was reading into my lawyer about what an awful, godless mother I’d been to Noah. How I’d never been home after he’d been born, and how he and my poor mother had done the Christian thing, and had cared for my son when it’d become obvious thatIhad had no interest.

I was soangryI couldn’t speak, and I could tell my lawyer was non-plussed by what they had to say, even Carina was looking at Phil like he was off his nut, behind his and my mother’s backs as she went up the steps. Noah was looking at Phil as if he were troubled, and I wondered if he remembered my stepfather. If he remembered the yelling, and screaming, and the threats…

I closed my eyes and drew strength from Archer, and did the hardest thing I haveeverdone in my life. I kept my mouth shut, and walked past my parents as if they weren’t even there. I kept my mouth shut, when what I really wanted to do was burn down their whole world around them.

We filed into the hearing room and the first three rows of Archer and my side of the hearing room was packed; which made my parents exchange a look when it was just them, and one or two people from Phil’s congregation, just as stringent and hateful as the man himself behind them.

I stood beside Archer, our hands entwined, as he introduced me to Mr. McNulty, the family lawyer that he’d hired.

“We have Judge Mathers, that’s good,” he assured me. “Just stay calm, and keep looking like a deer in the headlights, Mrs. Turner.” I felt my eyes widen and Archer suppress a chuckle, andagainI suppressed the urge to justscreamat them. I’d never experienced anxiety like this before in my life. Never, ever.

I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted before I even had the chance to get started when the courtroom clerk said loudly, “All rise!”

I faced forward as an older gentleman in stately black robes appeared from a doorway in the back.

“The honorable Judge James Mathers now presiding.”

The older man sat creakily into the big leather chair behind the court bench and banged his gavel, “Sit down, the lot of you,” he ordered and sounded annoyed. I sank into my seat, my hand automatically groping for Archer’s. He gripped it and I felt my heart go into my throat.

“Not very often I preside over cases quite like this,” the Judge drawled, polishing his glasses on the sleeve of his robe before putting them back on, “and I have to say, after reading through everything presented, I am most heartily disturbed.”

I felt my heart sink, and saw my mother and Phillip sit up straighter in their seats. The Judge’s mouth set into a thin line as he looked from my side to my parent’s side. He looked over to the little box off to the side of the older courtroom where Carina Washington sat bouncing Noah. The Judge smiled fondly over at my son and I felt some of the tension in my chest ease. The very real, very kind look that he bestowed on my son telling me silently, that this man did, indeed, have my child’s best interest at heart.

“I’m not usually one to drag things out unnecessarily in here, but Iamcurious, so I would like to hear character witnesses, starting with you,” he said indicating my mother and step-father’s lawyer. Phillip was, of course, called up first.

He had a lot to say about how difficult I’d been in high school. How I’d been caught skipping class, sneaking out, and how the one time I’d been dragged out of a party drunk and reeking of marijuana when I was seventeen, which wasten years ago. He went on to say about how reckless I was, getting pregnant in the first place and by a biker and felon, no less.

I sat biting my lips together, eyes glued to the Judge who had his glasses perched on the end of his nose, holding a file out in front of him, scanning what was written there, half listening to what Phil was saying. He dropped the file flat to his desk and peered down his nose at me.

“Mrs. Turner,” he said.

“Yes?” I asked and my attorney gave me a gentle shove. I got to my feet, awkwardly, and felt like I was gonna faint.

“Now I know I’m not supposed to ask a lady her age, but how old are you ma’am?” I blinked.

“I just turned twenty-eight this last April,” I said.

“Twenty-eight,” he said thoughtfully, nodding to himself. He turned to say something to Phil, and turned back to me, “You can sit down now,” he said and I dropped like a stone.

“Do you think you can get to anything she’s donelately, sir? I do believe I said I don’t like dragging things out unnecessarily.”

Phillip stammered, and a lot of what he had to say after that was just sounfairthat it was just about everything in my powertostay seated and keep my mouth shut. I gripped Archer’s hand under the table and was squeezing it so hard my knuckles were mottled red and white. He didn’t protest, or pull his hand away, he simply endured my panicked GI Jane Kung Fu grip in silence as if nothing at all were amiss.

The Judge listened to everything Phillip, my mother, and her cronies had to say and sat back, fingers set in a steeple in front of him.

“Right, okay, Mr. McNulty, I think I’d like to hear from your character witnesses now.”

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