Jack and Diane Ch. 11-14

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Let me down easy.
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4.5
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Part 5 of the 7 part series

Updated 11/01/2022
Created 10/16/2007
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I am re-posting Chapters 11-14 without the epilogue appended to the original. This has been replaced by an re-written ending, closer to the original which I lost when my computer died. Thanks for reading. TTB

Jack and Diane Chapter 11

I stretched, languorously, only to be brought up short as the bruised muscles of my belly screamed their memory of the previous evening. Doubled up to relieve the pain, I revisited the events of the preceding night. The sun filtering through the curtains filled the bedroom with a warmth that I did not share. A mixture of cold determination and seething anger focused my thoughts.

"There is no way I'm taking any more of her shit," I addressed the house. Gently uncurling, I lifted the phone. My first call was to my parents to check how Harry and Georgie were. Once reassured that they had been packed off to school to keep their routine as normal as possible, I phoned Milla.

"My name is Jack Winters, may I speak to Ms Fielding, please." The receptionist put me through immediately. Evidently Milla was expecting my call.

"Jack, when can you come in? David is on stand-by."

"What time is it? Geez, I really slept in, didn't I." The clock showed a quarter to ten. "I'll phone into work and see you at twelve. We can continue after lunch if needs be."

"Noon is fine, I'll phone David, Bye."

"Bye"

I phoned my P.A. and explained I would be out of the office for the rest of the day, breakfasted lightly, and having performed the usual morning chores, copied the security tapes for Friday and Sunday nights..

*****

On arrival, I was shown immediately into Milla's office. David was already there.

"Oh good, you brought the tapes. David has told me everything, but if you run through your version, Jack, to see if there is anything significant he missed."

I recounted his version of events. "Good," said Milla, "No real differences there. And what there are, simply reflect who could see what from where they were standing. Let's go to lunch and we'll chat about what to do next."

We repaired to a local pub. Good food, good beer, and set out with booths that would allow us a degree of privacy.

"I'm not letting the bitch get away with this Milla. I don't give a flying fiddlers fuck about keeping up appearances or anything else. I am going to fuck her life big style." I opened.

"Whilst I sympathise with the general thrust of your sentiment, old son, I rather think it might be somewhat counterproductive vis-à-vis the old freedom stakes." opined David, in his best Colonel Blimp impersonation.

I had to laugh, then swore. "Bugger, my stomach still aches. Okay, okay, I get it."

"David is right. You've done everything right so far. We are not about to let you blow it," said Milla.

"Maybe so, but right now Plod reckons I'm a wifebeater. That is not going to do me any favours in a custody hearing."

"I have already been on to the police, they are in a real dilemma over the whole thing. And I intend to keep them off balance." Milla was not the sort of lawyer who saw the police as the enemy, but if they stepped out of line she treated them like any other opponent of her client.

"That's all well and good Milla, but I've done everything you advise and she is still dictating my life to me. She wanted out, but I can't move on because of her. I've a new life to build and it's going to be on my terms, not someone else's."

"Jack, Milla and I both understand that but the only way you are going to be able to do that is if we keep you clean and clear with the legal side of things. The arbitration is binding but you hit the nail when you mentioned custody hearings. That might just be what she is up to, and if you go off, half cock, you will definitely land in the poo."

"David is right, Jack. We need to get this assault charge dealt with properly. David's input is the clincher. Dealt with properly you'll be free and clear and it will turn round and bite her in the arse. She made a false accusation and wasted police time. If we can get the police to charge her then anything she tries to bring up in court would be looked at very carefully. But she has totally blown it by making the false allegation. You have got to keep calm, and let us deal with that."

The waitress arrived with the meals, lasagne and salad for Milla, beef and Guinness pies with chips and mushy peas for David and me. "Could we have another two pints and a glass of white wine please?" I asked.

"Alright, alright, alright. I'll leave that side of things to the pair of you. But I want her out of my life."

"Do you know what you want your life to be?" asked David.

"Ehh. Well ..."

"Exactly. At the moment you are still getting used to the whole idea of not being part of a couple anymore. You have no idea what you want. Only that you don't want what you have. You need to talk to someone. Either us, or a counsellor," David continued.

"Some times it's best to talk to someone independent, Jack. We're here to back you up in any way we can, but our view is coloured because we are your friends," Milla concurred.

I looked at the pair of them. Their faces were both pictures of earnest concern; some would say worry. "Knowing you pair, you have a name all lined up for me."

Their faces softened with relief. Both Milla and David had obviously been concerned that my naval background would have made me more difficult to convince. Milla passed me a card.

" Ummm, grief and bereavement counselling?"

"Yes, you're a bit past the marriage counselling bit, and you need to move on. A grief counsellor will help more with that. Marriage counsellors tend to be for reconciliation or guiding you to a decision about the future of your relationship. You have split up and that is more like bereavement."

"No, David, be straight with me, don't pull your punches," I laughed. Milla looked nonplussed. David gave me the raised eyebrow, pursed lip, "don't talk crap" look.

"You wouldn't let me away with it, so you know I'm going to give it to you the same way Jack," he replied.

I grinned at my best friend. The pompous façade had disappeared, replaced by the concern of a lifelong friend. I looked at Milla and saw the same.

"You know ...," I was lost for words, "Thanks, both of you."

"De nada, old fruit," David, grinning broadly, ducked behind his shield of portentousness again. Milla simply laid her hand on mine, and smiled.

"Right, I think I'll go pick up the kids then." I said to fill the self-conscious silence.

"Oh. No, you don't," Milla leapt in, "you are well over the drink drive limit." David opened his mouth to speak. "Both of you!" she glared. "I'll drive you both home. You can pick up your cars tomorrow."

David again tried to interject, but Milla simply pointed to her untouched wine. "Oh well, can't let them go to waste," he said passing one to me and lifting the other for himself.

"Pigs, complete and utter pigs," Milla laughed.

*****

My parents picked up the children and his car for him. Once home, Georgie wouldn't leave my side. I knew I had to talk to them both about the previous night. I told them exactly what had happened.

"I hate her!" Georgie cried, "I don't want to see her again! I don't want to go to that horrible apartment any more!" She curled into my arms, sobbing on my chest.

Harry was obviously upset but struggling manfully to conceal it. "How can she say you hit her? She hit you. We both saw it. That's why Georgie wasn't very happy over the weekend."

"Your Mum is upset and confused. She misses both of you ..."

"Well, it's her own fault!" Georgie declaimed.

"She is still your Mum and she loves you ..."

"Then why is she doing this to us?"

"Sometimes people change as they grow older, darling. They see things differently, and want different things."

"Do you want different things, daddy?"

Bang! There it was. Out in the open. That is what has been scaring her, and probably Harry too. Did Diane do this because she didn't want them? And did I want to rid himself of them too!

Wrapping both of them in my arms, and squeezing them tightly, I told them, "The only thing I want different is that your Mummy didn't go away. I just want everything to go back to what it was before; all four of us happy together again. But I don't think that will ever happen. So that means that I want the three of us to be happy together, forever. Like the three Musketeers, all for one and one for all." I kissed them both on the forehead. "I love you both very, very, much and I'll never leave you."

Georgie snuggled in further, and Harry, sitting up straight, said, "Cuppa-tea Dad?"

"Yes, please son," I smiled.

It was abundantly clear to me that Diane's actions were affecting the children deeply. Initially I had taken the counsellors card as a sop to David and Milla. Now I decided to make an appointment to see what could be done to help the kids. The more I thought about it the more I worried about Harry. At first I had thought he was coping better than his sister. Now I thought he was bottling things up, trying to be strong for his sister and, indeed, me, his father.

Jack and Diane Ch 12

I came into the kitchen from attending to the horses. The children were noisily preparing breakfast. The doorbell rang. The children's gaiety died immediately, to be replaced with anxiety.

"Don't answer it, Daddy," Georgie pleaded.

I reassured her everything was under control, but used the door viewer. I saw two women I didn't recognise, who gave off the air of busybody officialdom. Opening the door one of the women flashed some sort of ID, and tried to push past me saying, "We are from Social Services, Child Protec ..."

That was enough. I had held my foot against the door for just such an eventuality, blocking the open space with my body. "I'm sorry," I said loudly, "you are not coming into my house." With that I closed the door firmly. Harry, who had followed him into the hall, ran back into the kitchen, and locked the back door.

The women stood outside, loudly proclaiming, "We have right of access Mr Winters. If you don't let us in we shall return with the police and have you arrested."

I phoned both Milla and David. David was about to leave for his office, and promptly diverted directly to my house. When he arrived, the Social Services people tried to follow him in. As soon as he identified himself as my solicitor, they promptly withdrew. Milla, in the meantime, had dashed from her half eaten breakfast, straight to her office and was onto both the police and the local council. Neither realm of officialdom was particularly forthcoming with any information until she told them the name of her Chambers and that she would issue writs against them for harassment.

The name and threat of legal action, whilst not producing immediate results, did elicit promises of return phone calls from higher placed officials. Milla gave a deadline of 10.30 for a response. Not that she really expected things to move that quickly, but she had found it best to use the stick rather than the carrot when dealing with bureaucracy.

*****

David, meanwhile was arranging matters with me.

"We allow them into the house under my supervision, to check on the kids and the conditions they are living in ..."

"Why should they get in at all?"

"Because then we can say they were given access. We limit the time they have by taking Harry and Georgie to school."

David went to the social workers car and told them that the children were getting their breakfast and would be going to school. He informed them that they could come in and check conditions in the home, which they did. Once more my habit of tidiness proved it's worth. Everything from the previous evening had been cleaned and tidied. Additionally, due to the hiatus of the weekend I had got a little behind in the laundry, so the not only were the children's rooms tidy but their beds had been stripped and fresh bedding laid out. The children were sitting to table, eating a breakfast of fruit, cereal, poached egg and toast, when the two women entered the kitchen. Harry and Georgie greeted them with a polite "Good morning." Once they had finished they excused themselves from the table and got their blazers and school bags as I cleared the table. Picking up the children's lunches I asked the social workers to leave and David escorted them to the front door. They were still sitting in their car as we both drove off.

*****

Surprisingly, the police responded to Milla's call within half-an-hour. The duty Inspector from the station which had arrested me, apologized for the delay in answering her enquiry. He explained that, "no action had been taken against Mr. Winters," adding, "Since you represent Mr. Winters I have been authorised to inform you that, as a result of the complaint by Mrs. Winters and subsequent police action, an internal investigation has been implemented. The officers concerned have been relieved of operational duties."

"Well then, why are Child Protection camped on Mr. Winters doorstep?" demanded Milla.

"I'm sorry Ms Fielding, I don't know, but they did not receive any information from us."

Milla phoned me at the office and brought me up to date. "I'm going to push for a case conference on this Jack."

"What for? I haven't done anything."

"It's an unfortunate truth that these people are more used to dealing with difficult families on the lower end of the social scale. They'll make a meal out of this, all in the name of political correctness, if we let them."

"You're saying I'm just a scalp to them?"

"That just about sums it up. But they didn't reckon on dealing with the three of us," Milla hinted, darkly.

With that Milla phoned David to work on a plan of action.

Later, just after lunch, the social services department finally returned her call. Unsurprisingly they contradicted what the police had told Milla. "We were contacted by a Constable Graham on Monday morning that she was handling a case involving an assault by Mr. Winters on his wife. She told us that he had not informed the police of the children's presence in the house when he was arrested. She also said she believed they were at risk from assault or abandonment."

"And it took you twenty-four hours to respond?" commented Milla.

"Oh, well, we are very busy with lots of cases, we sent a team round as quickly as we could to remove the children to a place of safety," the Senior Caseworker replied. Clearly she was completely unaware that Milla was not interested in her tardiness, except insofar as it delayed her response to Milla's enquiries.

"I don't think you quite understand, Ms Aristedes, I represent Mr. Winters, and we are concerned that your department is being used to harass him."

"Oh! Ahh, well, er, I can assure you we know Constable Graham and have worked with her so we have no reason to doubt her."

"I'm sure that is the case but I think it would be appropriate for you to delay any further action in this matter."

Zoe Aristedes recovered her composure, "I'm afraid when we have a report like this we have to investigate as promptly as possible, Ms Fielding," she said, primly.

"Well in that case, I think it would be appropriate to hold an emergency case conference immediately, don't you? Perhaps you should get in touch with the police and Mrs. Winters. Mr. Winters and I shall be at your office at four o'clock. Please have all the other interested parties present."

"I don't think that is possible ..."

"You are charged with child safety, Ms Aristedes, believe me it is not in your personal or departmental interests to delay this matter. Four o'clock. Thank you." Milla hung up.

Jack and Diane Ch 13

Milla got David and me to her office as quickly as possible to prepare her plan of attack. "We can't be sure of their approach to this but there are a couple of issues we will have to deal with; namely, the alleged assault, and Jack's arrest. However, having spoken to the police this morning, I don't think the arrest is going to be a problem."

"Diane may be more of a problem, if she sticks to her story," I contributed, morosely.

"Yes, and we don't want to let her know too much about our defence. But again I don't see that as being a problem. All we have to do is focus everything on the children's well-being," said David.

They thrashed through all the obstacles they foresaw, and finally Milla said, "Right, I think we are on top of everything, just remember Jack, you say absolutely nothing unless David or I tell you to."

"Ok, the Big Four then."

"The what ...?"

"Name, rank, number, and date of birth."

"Oh, fun-nee! I'll just give Alison a shout, she'll take notes for us."

The foursome arrived at the offices of the Social Services, and they were directed to a conference room. It was clear that no expense had been spent on office furniture.

"At least they aren't wasting ratepayers money on creature comforts," said Jack.

"Certainly not down here where the work is done," they turned to see a rather harassed looking woman of about their own age. Dressed in a dark top, loose fitting slacks and flat sensible shoes she looked every inch the overworked, underpaid, uncredited functionary who made local government achieve anything. "If I had what they spent on refurbishing the directors offices, I could have three more case workers, I'm Zoe Aristedes, how do you do?" she offered her hand.

"I'm Camilla Fielding, we spoke earlier," said Milla taking the proffered greeting. This is Mr Jack Winters, my client, Mr David Cavendish, my colleague, and Ms Alison Williams, my PA. She'll be taking notes for us."

"Oh I'd love to have someone who could take notes. I have to settle for using a Dictaphone and sometimes it is difficult to make out what is said. You don't mind, do you?"

Just at that, Diane and Alan Davies, her solicitor and David's partner, came in along with Inspector Willis. Diane had a hunted look in her eyes. "What's going on, Jack? Why are we here?" she almost pleaded.

"You should know Diane. You set the whole train in motion, this is your wreck."

"Jack!" Milla cautioned.

"Hullo again, Mr Winters," said Inspector Willis.

"Hello Inspector, nice to see you again, maybe someday it won't be in an official capacity."

"Thanks for that," he grinned.

Once everyone was seated Zoe Aristedes opened, "Well, Ms Fielding, this is as much your meeting as mine so perhaps you would like to start?"

"Thank you. Why is your department investigating the Winters family and threatening to take the children into care."

"YOU'RE WHAT?" shrieked Diane, "Jack what is going on?" She was becoming extremely agitated, "Alan, what is this all about?"

"That's what we're here to find out. It seems to be something to do with Mr Winters' arrest on domestic violence charges. Is that correct Ms Aristedes?"

Diane paled and gasped. She looked at me. My look was an interplay between resigned disgust, anger and contempt. She blushed and looked ashamed. I think she realised that her actions had turned all the love and esteem in which I once held her had turned to scorn.

Zoe noted the unspoken interchange. Along with the initial report from the field workers and the legal representation, she formed a shrewd idea of what had happened. "Our department received a phone call from Const. Graham yesterday morning. She informed us that she had been called out to a report of domestic violence. When she had got there she had to arrest Mr Winters who had not informed her and her colleague of the presence of the children. As a result they ..." I snorted. Milla rested her hand on my arm to restrain me.

Again, Zoe noted the interjection; there was clearly a degree of indignation on the part of Mr Winters. "As a result," she continued, "the children had been left alone in the house."

12