Are You My Husband? Pt. 02

On cross-examination, Elizabeth, got him to admit that he had never seen any actual inappropriate touching. The most intimate thing he had actually seen was a short French kiss and a playful slap on her bottom.

That ended the first day of the trial.

His attorney told them that they had a very good day. She asked, "Did you know about Marco being in jail this weekend? I would like to have known about that in advance."

He replied, "Honestly, I didn't know. You know everything I know."

She spent a little time with Scott, Janie, and Kathleen reminding them of their preparation for the next day.

They found out later from Blake that someone had heard screaming coming from inside Marco's house on Friday night. When deputies arrived, they smelled marijuana and decided to investigate. Apparently, he had a habit of picking up enough on Friday afternoons to party through the weekend with his friends. Of course, Dina knew this. Unfortunately, that meant he still had enough to land in jail for the weekend.

His one call to Stennis couldn't get him out until after his arraignment on Monday morning, which led to his being unable to appear in court until much later in the day.

__________

The next morning, the DA called Janie as a witness. She admitted that it was unusual for her to want Scott to impregnate her sister, but on cross-examination, Scott's attorney produced the medical reasoning behind it. Janie also explained how expensive various forms of fertilization were and given how little Kathleen was making at the time, how anxious she was, and how much business debt the Parkers were still paying off, Scott doing the deed seemed the most cost-effective and expeditious route.

Kathleen was exceptionally nervous, and the DA hoped to use that to his advantage. He began asking questions in a rapid-fire manner, hoping to rattle her. It was partially effective.

He asked, "Ms. Winter, do you love Scott Parker?"

"I do. He's the father of our son."

"Ms. Winter, are you IN love with Scott Parker?"

"I...uh...I love Scott, deeply. He means a great deal to me."

"That wasn't the question."

Elizabeth interrupted, "Objection, your Honor. 'In love' is a very broad term. The prosecution needs to be more specific."

"Sustained. The prosecution will ask more narrow questions."

Irritated, the DA continued, "Ms. Winter, do you plan to marry Scott Parker?"

"No. He's already married."

"Ms. Winter, do you wish you were married to Scott Parker?"

"What? He's already married."

He continued, "Let me ask that a different way. If something awful happened to your sister, or if he and your sister divorced, would you attempt to marry Mr. Parker?"

"I...Uh...I...That's horrible! I would never wish anything like that to happen. No."

"Ms. Winter, do you and Mr. Parker still have intercourse."

"No."

"Ms. Winter, do you still have intimate contact with Mr. Parker. Do you allow him to touch your breasts or your genitals?"

Gulp. "Um. No. No. Only while we were trying to impregnate me."

Kathleen was beginning to sweat.

He asked, "Ms. Winter, do you and Mr. Parker kiss each other?"

She replied, "Some, but it's no big deal. He's the father of my son."

"Mrs. Parker,"

"Objection!"

The judge was irritated, "Counselor! Restate. Remember, I'm not a juror but a judge."

He chuckled, "I'm sorry your Honor. Ms. Winter, so you are saying that you only had intercourse during the time while you were trying to get pregnant?"

"That...that's correct."

"...and that you and he no longer have intercourse nor any type of intimate contact."

"Correct."

"Ms. Winter, if you had to estimate, how many times did you and Mr. Parker have intercourse."

"I...I...I don't know."

"More than one hundred?"

"No."

"More than fifty?"

"I...I...I don't know."

"How about more than twenty?"

"Maybe. We were trying to make a baby. It doesn't always happen the first time. We provided the file. You know I had to get pregnant."

He asked her again, "Do the two of you still have intercourse?"

She replied, "I already told you, no."

He argued, "Oh, come on Ms. Winter, or should we really call you Mrs. Parker. Based on all the testimony that has been presented here, do you really expect the judge to believe that you and he don't regularly have intercourse like husband and wife?"

She didn't answer the question.

"Ms. Winter, answer the question."

She still didn't answer. She looked like she was lost and had faraway look in her eyes.

Scott became concerned immediately. He whispered to his attorney, "I think she's having a hallucination. You need to get her excused right now, right this second."

Elizabeth stood, "Your Honor, I believe the witness is having a hallucination, like the ones described in her psychiatrist's statement. She needs to be excused to seek medical attention."

The DA was incredulous, "Oh, come on. Do you really expect..."

The judge interrupted him, "Ms. Winter? Ms. Winter!!"

When she didn't respond, the judge waved toward Scott and Elizabeth, and they rushed to her side.

Scott knelt by her. "Kathleen? Kathleen? Kathleen!!"

It took her a while, but she eventually came back from wherever she had been and instantly burst into tears. "Oh, no, Scott. They've started again. I thought we had stopped them." Then she lost it to the point of being inconsolable.

Elizabeth asked, "Your Honor, we'd like Ms. Winter to be excused until we can ascertain her ability to return."

"Granted!"

The DA was incensed, "Your Honor, you don't believe these courtroom theatrics are real, do you?"

She glared at the DA and replied, "As long as it's my courtroom, then I get to make that decision. People, we are at lunch. We'll reconvene in ninety minutes," and she banged her gavel and left through a back door to return to her chambers.

Everyone else also left except for Kathleen, Scott, and Elizabeth.

Janie was still outside, and Elizabeth fetched her to help see after Kathleen.

Kathleen cried, "I thought I was cured. Oh, God, what am I going to do?" The woman felt like her entire world was coming undone.

Scott and Janie were both hugging her and kissing her, trying to soothingly tell her that it would be okay.

Then Scott had an idea that he hoped would work, though he wondered if it would be only temporary. He whispered into her ear, "I guess we're just going to have to make another baby."

It took her a second to process what he said, but slowly, she began to calm down. The anguish-driven, racking sobs calmed to simpler sniffles and tears. Then she just stared at him.

She asked, "Did I hear you correctly?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "You were crying kind of hard. I wasn't sure you could hear me at all."

"Please say what I think you said."

He replied, "You and I are going to make another baby."

Janie perked up at hearing that. She loved the idea of Kathleen having another one. Franklin was happy and doing so well.

Kathleen looked at Janie who was practically glowing at the suggestion.

She asked Janie, "You're okay with this?"

She whispered in her ear, "You don't need my permission sister. He's as much yours as he is mine," which was quite ironic given where they were sitting and why.

Kathleen hugged her sister. She had felt that was true since Franklin was born, but she didn't dare believe it. Given the trial, she had seriously questioned whether she should even stay with them. Hearing her sister say that gave her tremendous strength.

She looked at Scott and asked, "Do you remember not long ago when you said you would do it all over again?"

"I do. I meant it then, and I mean it now."

She loved this man...and her sister. They, the three of them, would figure it out, together.

They went outside to find Elizabeth, who had slipped out to make a few calls, and then the four of them drove to a nearby Popeye's Chicken for lunch.

Elizabeth brought them up to speed on where she thought they stood. Depending on if the prosecution wanted to put Kathleen back on the stand, Scott was likely to be the next and last prosecution witness. He didn't have to testify against himself, but if she called him as a witness, then the DA could cross-examine him. Since things looked to be going well, she didn't plan to call on Scott. She commented that the whole case still seemed so strange.

After the DA called his last witness, there would be a brief recess after that, and then Elizabeth would begin laying out her case that Scott was simply treating Kathleen as if he loved her dearly, a member of the family, with whom he shared a baby out of a medical necessity.

She planned to call Brother Leo and a few people from the church and his business, including Ramon as witnesses. She thought that their chances looked really good.

As they returned to the courthouse and walked through the large parking lot towards the entrance, there was a tremendous commotion occurring. There were television trucks and reporters everywhere. They didn't know why they were there, but Elizabeth told them not to say anything to anyone and try to get back to the chamber room as fast as they could. She would find out what was going on.

Apparently, the reporters were all waiting for someone to come out and make a statement. Elizabeth asked one of them what was going on, and they said that there was a rumor that the sheriff was going to be arrested on bribery charges.

Elizabeth didn't operate on rumor, but it looked like half the reporters from Atlanta were waiting outside, so she suspected something big was about to happen. She knew she would find out later today and hurried back to the chamber room.

When it was time to begin again, she, Scott, and Kathleen reentered. The bailiff and court reporter were already inside the small room. A few minutes later the judge reentered. She asked if anyone had seen the district attorney who was prosecuting the case, and no one had. She asked the bailiff to go outside and look for him.

A minute later he returned with a young man in tow, who was definitely NOT the district attorney.

He approached the judge, "Your Honor, I'm with the DA's office. The Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney sent me here to request a continuance of these proceedings until he can review the case, reassign it and restart the proceedings.

She was incredulous, "Excuse me? Exactly why is the DA's office making the request? Where is the DA?"

He replied, "It seems that, uh...well... this is strange..."

"Just spit it out, young man."

"The DA, along with the sheriff, and a judge have been arrested a little while ago on charges of accepting bribes, some of which were directly involved in this case."

"I see."

The young man, feeling a little more confident now asked, "Your Honor, would you like to set a date to restart these proceedings?"

She thought for about two seconds before replying, "No. I would not. Frankly, the evidence presented so far hasn't been compelling to continue the trial. It is my opinion that if the DA's office wants to retry this case, they will have to do so based on new, more compelling, evidence. I'm prepared to render a verdict right now."

The poor guy tried to intervene, but the glare from the judge froze him.

"In the case of the people versus Scott Parker, I find the defendant NOT guilty. Bailiff, please ensure that all records from these proceedings are sealed. Mr. Parker, it appears that someone was attempting to use the court system to wage a personal vendetta against you. On behalf of the court, I apologize to you and your family. It sounds like you've attempted to do an honorable thing in a difficult situation. I wish your family, including Ms. Winter the best of luck. Court dismissed."

And that was it.

Elizabeth shook his hand and congratulated him. Scott thanked her and so did Kathleen, who was still in the room. Then they hugged each other. He whispered to her, "I guess you better stop taking those birth control pills." She grinned like a Cheshire cat in response.

They hurried outside to find Janie and tell her the good news. She was very happy and relieved. Kathleen called Beverly to let her and Dina know that Scott was acquitted. Scott called Brother Leo to get the behind-the-scenes news because clearly, he and Blake knew a lot of this last weekend.

"Brother Leo, it's Scott. We won. Now can you tell me what's going on?"

"Oh, good. I'm relieved. We expected it, but still, it's good to hear. Judges can be funny, and you need to pay them the proper respect, so that's why we didn't tell you about everything.

"Really, you have several people to thank. If I were you, I'd start with Ramon. What he discovered last week is what blew everything open. It seems that Stennis has been trading work for government favors. He would do a nice piece of residential work for the officials in return for permits or favors, and they would only pay him a fraction of what it was worth. Well, Ramon was doing some work at the office and had access to the accounting records and decided to do a little snooping with those involved with your case.

"Come to find out that the DA was being bribed by Stennis to bring the case against you. The Sheriff has been on the toll for years and stepped in to clamp down on any internal office gossip. Because the case was so thin, he didn't want any information getting out that might block the trial. As Ramon dug further, he found several other prominent politicians in the Atlanta area, including a judge, that had received a lot of work for next to nothing.

"Ramon made a backup of Stennis' computer files and called Blake who called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They raided Stennis' office on Saturday and picked up the DA today. They're in the process of rounding up several others as we speak. Stennis is being charged with twelve counts of public bribery. He's going to be too busy sitting in a courtroom and paying attorney fees for the next year or so to worry about what your business is doing to him.

"Ramon wants to approach your dad about going in with him and your family to buy out Stennis, who's going to need every penny he can get. Ramon said Stennis' company was several times larger than yours but may have been only slightly more profitable unless he has money hidden away somewhere. With the spotlight on him, if he does have money hidden, he won't be able to access it for a long, long time, so I imagine you will be able to get a good price on his assets and clients if you're interested.

Damn. He owed Ramon big time. He would be interested but coming up with enough money to buy out Stennis would be a huge challenge.

The reverend continued, "Also, Dina came up big too. She said she knew that Marco would still be smoking weed, and had only stopped to get close to you, and then her, so she found the little floozie with which she saw him shacking up and paid her $1,000 to let Dina know when he made a big marijuana buy. Well, that happened on Friday. Dina made an anonymous phone call to the Sheriff's office from a burner phone that she had heard terrible screaming and shooting coming from Marco's home. Blake and another deputy stopped by and knocked on the door. When they smelled the pot, they got a warrant, searched the place, and found enough to have him arrested, which led to his being delayed in court.

"All in all, I'd say you've made a lot of good friends over the years."

Scott said, "I don't know what to say."

"Well, maybe in a week or two you may think about throwing a thank-you party. Just sayin'."

"Definitely. At a minimum. Holy cow. I cannot believe this."

Brother Leo replied, "Believe it, Scott. God has been smiling on you. Be glad."

"I am. Thank you for everything."

"Oh, one more thing. Kathleen and Janie may get an out-of-the-blue invitation in the mail sometime soon. Trust it. Okay?"

Scott said, "That's kind of cryptic, even for you, Pastor."

Leo chuckled at that comment, "You'll see. Just know that it's legitimate."

"Okay," Scott replied.

More mystery from the reverend.

Scott and the ladies found a side door to avoid the throng of reporters waiting for more information regarding the bribery scandals. As they drove home, Scott told them what the pastor had said. Once home, they relaxed, feeling as if the weight of the world was off their shoulders.

As soon as they walked in, Scott found Dina and hugged her to him. She soon found herself with extra arms around her squeezing her to let her know she was loved and appreciated. She melted into Scott. She had missed those hugs.

She said, "I'm so sorry. I feel like none of this would have happened if I had just kept my big mouth shut. I'm so embarrassed."

Scott told her, "It's okay, Dina. Blame me. I hired him. Your getting Marco arrested really blew up the DA's case. Without Marco going first, he had nothing."

She gave them a weak smile. She was glad it worked out that way, but she still felt terrible to have been fooled by Marco.

Then they told them the big news, "Kathleen and I are going to have another baby."

Beverly was thrilled with that news. Dina was pleased also.

They were all talking a mile a minute, when Beverly asked, "what made you decide to have one now?"

The three of them that were at the courthouse looked sad for a moment and Kathleen said, "While the DA was questioning me, I had a hallucination. It was the first one that I've had since I became pregnant with Franklin over three years ago. It was terribly frightening, but when I came out of the vision and back to reality, Scott and Janie were there saying that it was time to have another baby. I'm still a little worried about the hallucinations coming back, but I love the idea of having another one."

Dina asked, "Do you think it was the stress of the trial and questioning that made them come back?"

Everyone responded, "No, no, of course not," but Dina wasn't listening. In her mind, she had caused them to come back. Had she not gotten involved with Marco, there wouldn't have been any trial and Kathleen would have been fine.

She pretended to accept their words, but inside she was mortified to have hurt the people that she loved and that loved her.

Scott called Ramon and discussed making an offer to Stennis. He then conferenced in his dad, and they discussed with Janie and Kathleen how they could come up with the money and the financing to make it happen fast, even though it would mean an even larger pile of debt. They would use an attorney as a third party to approach Stennis. Scott didn't think Stennis would sell the business to him, directly, at any price. They could leave the companies separate for now but would eventually merge them together.

Happy times had returned to the Parker home, and it showed on everyone, except for Dina, who had a smile on her face, though it was a sad one.

Scott told her they would need more of her special dinners for the upcoming pregnancy, and she said that she'd be happy to provide them. Well, she'd be happy to if she were going to be there, she thought.

_________

The next morning, Beverly was up and preparing breakfast when Scott came downstairs. He was surprised Dina wasn't the one doing it. Eva was sitting at the table drinking a glass of juice and talking to her grandmother. Scott asked about Dina, but Beverly hadn't seen her.

Later, after everyone was up, Scott was going to go to Dina's apartment to check on her when his phone dinged.

It was a text from Abril, who now lived in Greenville, South Carolina, two hours from their home. She was working for a small but very successful financial advisory firm.

She said, "MOM'S WITH ME. SHE ARRIVED EARLY THIS MORNING. I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO WORRY."

Scott showed it to everyone, and they were all confused.

Kathleen asked, "You don't suppose she blames herself for the trial or my hallucinations, do you?"