Chapter 27
ROSIE
“Evan!” a voice shrieked just as the doors to the courtroom flew open so hard they smacked against the wall.
An incensed Rachel stood there, purple-faced, looking as if she was about to explode.
She looked around with wild eyes, spotted my ex-husband through her rage, and with a screech, she launched herself at him.
A collective gasp went up as Rachel’s heels skidded, which only added more momentum to her lunge.
I had to give it to her—her aim was true—her hands flew straight for Evan’s hair, catching a fistful of it and making him yell as if he’d just been castrated.
Evan’s attorney leaped from his chair, and the court official looked on in horror at Rachel as she screamed in his face, “How could you?”
The clerk finally sprang into action and got on his walkie-talkie to call for security before trying to wedge himself between Rachel and Evan. But Rachel held on for dear life, her long, red nails gripping Evan’s hair like they were superglued to him.
Evan’s dad jumped out of his seat and stepped over to give the court official a helping hand, while Evan’s mom looked on, pale-faced and shocked to shit.
The men finally managed to separate Rachel and Evan, but not before she got a last swipe at Evan’s face, leaving three deep, bloody claw marks across his cheek.
Judge Merrick slammed his gavel down so hard I was surprised the wood didn’t split in half. “Enough,” he boomed. “I will not tolerate this in my courtroom.”
Rachel’s head whipped around to face the judge. “He’s been cheating on me!” she screamed. “The bastard’s been fucking his boss’s wife, who also happens to be my mom!”
My jaw dropped, along with my belly.
Now it made sense. Evan didn’t pull Rachel up on her behavior toward Gabby because he was a total suck-up and she was the boss’s daughter.
And then he took an even bigger shit on his own doorstep and started an affair with Rachel’s mom?
Jeez, and I thought Hambleton High was incestuous.
Oh my God.
Evan’s standards were sketchy, but this was lower than a rattlesnake's belly.
My ex-husband stood still, his eyes widening in shock and his mouth opening and closing as if he were catching flies. “How?—What?—Who?” he stuttered.
“I went back to the house to grab my wallet,” Rachel yelled. “Dad was waiting outside for you! He’s got a video of you and her fucking.” Her face screwed up. “My mother, Evan! My fucking mother! You cannot be believed!”
Evan’s face turned ashen.
Rachel let out another war cry, somehow managing to escape the clutches of Evan’s dad and the court official. She flew toward my ex, landing a hard, stinging slap across his face that seemed to ricochet around the room.
What happened next was a blur. There were shouts and the scraping of chairs, and someone shrieked, not Rachel that time, but Evan’s mom.
The doors flew open again, and four security guards stormed the room and tried to peel Rachel off my ex-husband, who by then was on the floor trying to ward off the flurry of slaps she was aiming at him.
Gabby stared at the scene with tears in her eyes, and I pulled her close as she burrowed her face into my shoulder.
DJ glanced down at his dad with his lips pursed angrily, shaking his head in despair as he watched security half-drag, half-carry a kicking and screaming Rachel out of the room.
Kennedy, ever the consummate professional, blinked and took a deep breath before composing herself and turning toward the judge.
“Your Honor,” she began, projecting her voice to drown out Rachel’s fading screams. “I’d like to request an emergency recess so that Ms. Woods can calm her children and deal with the distress to her family. ”
The judge slowly closed his eyes, no doubt praying for God to give him strength before he stared back at Kennedy and bit out, “Granted. You have thirty minutes.” He glowered at Evan, who seemed to shrink back from the judge’s fury.
“Mr. Palmer, you’re bleeding all over my courtroom. Adjourn yourself to the restroom and deal with your appearance. The court will reconvene in thirty minutes. You are not, under any circumstances, to communicate with anyone but your counsel during that time. Do I make myself clear?”
Evan nodded, his face a bloodied mess. Then, he stumbled out of the courtroom with his lawyer flanking him.
I pulled Gabby to my side and rested my hand on DJ’s back, guiding them outside with Kennedy, Donovan, Atlas, and my friends at my back. When we reached the hall, we saw Sophie and Freya waiting on the chairs, talking animatedly.
Freya jerked her thumb down the corridor.
“We’ve just had the pleasure of watching the woman who called our beautiful Gabrielle nasty names get arrested for disturbing the peace and aggravated assault.
I have a feeling they’ll be throwing the book at her, seeing as she did it in front of a shitload of witnesses and a family court judge. ”
“Did Daddy really do the nasty with Rachel’s mom?” Gabby breathed.
Freya pulled my daughter in for a hug and slid her arm around her back.
“Sometimes the people we love do things we can’t condone or support.
You don’t have to agree with them, honey, and you can make your feelings clear, but it doesn’t automatically mean you have to hate them.
It’s okay to have complicated feelings about the people you love. Family dynamics can be tricky.”
I caught Freya’s soft gaze and smiled because she was the perfect person to talk to Gabby and DJ about this. Her dad had done things in the past that had hurt her too, things they were still trying to work through.
“How about we take you two for coffee,” Sophie suggested, glancing between Gabby and DJ. “Your mom, Donovan, Atlas, and Kennedy need to discuss what happened and plan a way forward.”
DJ’s head twisted in my direction. “Is that okay, Mom?”
I squeezed my son’s arm. “Of course it is. Just make sure you're back in time for the court to reconvene. I think we all know which way it’ll go, but let’s show the judge some respect, and all be there together when it’s officially decided.”
“I’ll make sure they’re here,” Freya assured me, steering Gabby away.
Sophie grinned and linked arms with DJ, murmuring, “Have fun!” as they followed.
Atlas jerked his head toward the same room we’d sat in earlier, and Donovan wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me in close as we headed there.
“You okay?” he asked, turning to kiss the top of my head.
“I’m in shock,” I breathed. “I knew Evan was up to something, but Kennedy never told me exactly what it was.”
“Kennedy needed surprise on her side, and now I see why. It was way more effective in real time and watching genuine reactions.”
“I guess so,” I agreed as we headed inside the room and took the same seats as before, all of us seemingly suffering from the aftereffects of what had just happened. For a full minute, we sat there, just looking at each other, trying to process what we’d just witnessed.
Then Atlas started to laugh.
The noise was so unexpected, so unpredictable, that at first, it didn’t even register as laughter. My brother’s shoulders jerked, and he made a strangled, honking sound as he folded his arms over the table and buried his face in his hands.
Donovan was next.
What started as a soft chuckle morphed into a booming laugh, and his hand smacked the table as he lost his shit.
Kennedy snickered at first, then quickly caved, wheezing and hiccupping until she was wiping away tears. “Did you see her pull his... his hair?” she pushed out between giggles. “She had more in her hand than he had left on his head.”
“I was more impressed with her getting him to the floor and slapping the snot out of him,” Donovan guffawed. “I thought he was gonna piss his pants.”
Atlas choked out a hoot. “Four fuckin’ security guards,” he chortled. “It took four fuckin’ security guards to drag her off him. And she almost kicked their asses too.”
My lips twitched because, as horrifying as it was, and as much as my kids were no doubt scarred for life, Evan had got what was coming to him, and he got it in a way where he would never live it down.
“Well,” I said, my shoulders lifting in a nonchalant shrug.
“We’d better start saving, O’Shea. The kids are definitely gonna need therapy after that shit show. ”
Donovan’s grin was beautiful, and for a second, my breath caught in my throat. Then, I felt everything lift: the stress, the fatigue, and the deep worry that had eaten through my skin, leaving nothing more than raw nerves.
For the first time in months, I knew how it felt to be me again.
Maybe it wouldn’t last—in reality, it probably wouldn’t—but just for a minute, I was going to allow myself to feel the light.
Evan’s case was in the toilet. Rachel, the bitch, wouldn’t be around my kids anymore. And my ex would think twice next time he thought he could screw with my life just to prove a point.
I’d take it as a win.
—————
The courtroom was quiet when we filed back in, probably due to the fact that Evan, his parents, and his lawyer weren’t there.
We sat back down in our seats, looking around and at each other, our expressions full of curiosity as to what the hell was happening.
Five minutes had passed by the time Evan came slinking in with just his lawyer.
He had a Band-Aid covering his cuts and the mother of all bruises forming under his left eye.
His suit, although designer, was crumpled, and one of his shoes was scuffed so badly that the leather was completely worn off the toe.
He didn’t look at me or even the kids. He just slid into his seat, his shields up, and his expression shuttered.
Right then, I realized that this was the version of Evan I hated most of all. He always closed down when he didn’t get his own way. Maybe that was why I reacted so badly when Donovan did the same.
Subconsciously, it reminded me of how Evan used to be and how out of my depth it made me feel. It took me back to a time and to a man that I would rather have forgotten.