Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sawyer
The next few days are going to be rough.
Having to wait for this court date is making me feel sick.
We’re also waiting for the petition to come in so that Lorenzo knows what we’re facing.
He’s thinking that Palmer is going to ask for a paternity test and if it comes back that River’s his, which it will, he will ask for custody.
Whether it’ll be partial or full, we don’t know.
And he’s also probably going to ask to change his name.
Right now he has my last name, and when we filed the papers for Emerson to adopt him, we were changing it to O’Connor.
But Palmer needs him to have his last name.
Why can’t he just find some woman to have his kid? He has enough money to pay for one.
I truly can’t believe I’m going through this.
I do appreciate everything the family is doing for River and me.
I don’t know what I would do if I had to do this alone.
In fact, I do. I’d probably lose my son because I wouldn’t know what to do.
And it sounds like Palmer’s paying people off to get what he wants.
“The only way to know what’s going on between Palmer and your family is to ask them.
But I’m guessing that’s out of the question.
So I’m going to just speculate. He’s probably offered them a lot of money to help him out.
So we need to be on the lookout for them.
And when we go to court, I think they’ll be there to lie for him,” Lorenzo says.
I can’t understand why my family hates me so much.
I never asked to be born, they made that choice.
No matter what I’ve done, they’ve always made it their mission to make sure I know I don’t matter to them.
I thought when I walked away, they’d forget about me.
But I guess the saying ‘money talks’ applies to them.
“I’ll be right back. The petition has come in and I want to print it out,” Lorenzo says as he goes into another room.
“Enzo’s the best at what he does. We’re going to figure this out,” Emerson says as he kisses me.
“What if he pays enough people off and takes River?”
“You remember who my family is, right?”
“Yes, but they can’t spend their money to defend us.”
“Mo chuisle, you don’t need to worry about anything. I promise you, this will all work out.”
“I’m just scared, I’ve never been worried about something like this happening. I even had a lawyer look over the papers from the clinic to make sure they couldn’t come after me for anything. That I would never have to worry about the sperm donor either.”
“And because of that, we have the papers to fight him. Even if he’s paying people off. My zio will never let someone come in and take one of us. Never. And that I can promise you.”
I’m not sure what I did to deserve Emerson and his family, but whatever it was? I’m so fucking glad I did it. We’re all waiting for Lorenzo to come back out. Waiting is the worst part of all of this. He finally comes back out with a bunch of papers.
“Okay. So it looks like I was right. He’s asking for a DNA test, we need to get that done.
We can do it here since Giovanna is licensed to do swabs and blood draws for DNA testing.
I’ve called her to come meet us here. We need her to sign some papers for this.
I was originally going to say we should go to Lucciola Memorial.
But I don’t want to leave the property unless we have to. ”
“Do you think he’d try to kidnap River?”
“Yes.”
That one word has me in a panic.
“We have the gates locked and the guys know not to let anyone we don’t know onto the property. And I asked your mama not to leave the main property. Not even to go to the campgrounds. We can’t monitor those as well as we can for the property,” Celestino says to Emerson as he joins us.
“Is that all really necessary?” I ask as my voice shakes.
“We’ve learned to overdo protection measures when it comes to things like this. Our family has gone through a lot, and each time we learn where the holes are in our security. No one wants to take the chance that he could come here.”
I nod as I listen to Celestino. Again, the only real relief I have is having the Lake Renegade family here to help us.
A few minutes later, Giovanna comes into the clubhouse. She comes over and hugs me and Emerson.
“We’ll take care of this. I got permission from Lucciola Memorial to get the swab sample from you and River. It’s painless and fast. Eden is bringing River here so we can do his real quick. And then he can go back and play with the kids.”
Just as she’s explaining things, River comes running in. The first person he runs to is Emerson. I used to think that something like that would make me sad. But it doesn’t, it makes me happy that he knows he can trust him. Giovanna tells him what she’s going to do. And he giggles as she’s doing it.
“It tickles.” He laughs.
We all laugh and he gives us a hug before running back out with Eden. I love that he doesn’t understand what’s going on. And I hope we can keep it that way.
“Okay, your turn,” she says to me as I open my mouth.
“How long will the test take?” Emerson asks.
“That depends on if Palmer sent his sample in. But if he’s done his already, we should have the results tomorrow or the next day.
Paternity is usually the fastest, and I’ve already talked to our lab.
They’re ready for us. So I’ll get this to the hospital now,” Giovanna tells him as she’s signing the papers that her brother’s putting in front of her.
“And I’ll go to court with you. Just in case they ask about the samples.”
“Thank you so much,” I say as I hug her again.
Emerson
Of course we already knew that Palmer was River’s bio dad.
And today we’re going to court to see what the judge says about Palmer’s petition.
He wants full custody and to change River’s last name.
Just as we thought. He’s a fucking shitbag to even ask for any kind of custody of my son.
Who does shit like this? Oh wait, I know, selfish shitbags.
Lorenzo said the hardest part to today is not knowing the connection between Palmer and the judge.
We know they’re not related and he’s not a family friend of the Beaumonts.
But they have some kind of connection to each other.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gotten a court date so fast. I just hope that this judge is still fair to us.
If not, this is going to be the first of many court dates.
“We should get going,” I say to Sawyer as she comes out of the bathroom.
“I’m so scared.”
“I know, but it’s going to be alright.”
“I hope so,” she whispers.
My parents are staying with River while we go to the courthouse. Everyone is quiet on the drive to the city. I know we’re all hoping this goes well and that the judge doesn’t make this harder on Sawyer.
“Okay, when we get into the courtroom, we need to make sure none of us have any kind of outburst. I have a feeling Palmer is going to lie and this lawyer is going to try anything he can. And there’s the fact that we don’t know what the judge is like,” Lorenzo says to us while we’re parking.
“I can’t promise that. This is my son and I can’t lose him,” Sawyer says as she takes a deep breath.
“I know, and you won’t. I promise you that.”
We all get out of the car and make our way into the courthouse. Lorenzo tells us where we’re going and we’re shown to a room where we will wait until our hearing is starting. Which should be soon.
“Beaumont versus Hamilton,” the court officer says to us.
We all stand up and follow him into the courtroom. Sawyer and I sit at the table with Lorenzo. I look over and see Palmer walking in with Sawyer’s family and his attorney.
“What the fuck?” we hear one of the guys murmur behind us.
Lorenzo gives all of them a dirty look. But I don’t blame whoever said it, I’m thinking the same thing. Why the fuck are they all here? I can feel Sawyer shaking beside me.
“Deep breath, mo chuisle. Don’t let them see that you’re worried. They’ll never win,” I whisper to her.
Sawyer looks at me and nods, I squeeze her hand and we stand as the clerk announces the judge. After he walks in, we sit down. Lorenzo walked us through what we’ll be doing, shitbag’s side goes first, they will say everything they are asking for.
The first person to take the stand is Palmer. After we watch him get sworn in, we listen to what he wants.
“I’ve always wanted to be in my son’s life. But Sawyer never let me. She’s been telling people that he was born from a sperm donor. We had a one-night stand. Then I found out she was pregnant, and I reached out to ask if it was mine. She told me no.”
“Did you ever think to have a paternity test done?” his lawyer asks.
“I did ask. Because I didn’t believe the kid wasn’t mine. But she disappeared, and I couldn’t find her.”
Fucking cock-sucking liar. I want to jump over this fucking table and take him the fuck out.
“How did you find Sawyer?”
“I finally found out her last name and reached out to her parents. They told me all about my son and how Sawyer wasn’t a good mother. That they tried to take custody of him before. And when she was supposed to hand him over, she moved to Italy.”
Holy what the fuck? The judge is nodding as he listens to the lies coming out of Palmer’s mouth.
“Thank you, no more questions.”
Lorenzo doesn’t cross examine Palmer. He was saving his questions for me. He said he hoped that questioning me would make more of an impact. Because we all knew that anything Palmer said would be a lie.
After Palmer, Sawyer’s parents and sisters take the stand as witnesses.
They talk about how Sawyer has always been a lot of trouble.
That she was promiscuous and they never knew where she was.
How, at sixteen, she ran away and they had no idea where she went.
When they finally saw her again, she was pregnant and told them she had no idea who the father was.
I can’t believe all this bullshit they’re saying about my girl.
Who could hate their child so much that they would lie and try to take her child from her.
And her sisters? I think about Eden, she’d never do anything like this.
And the way Krystal and Brooke are looking at Sawyer?
You can see the hate in their eyes. After all this is done, I’m going to make sure they never come near my mo chuisle again.
It’s finally time for our side to talk. Sawyer’s the first one that gets on the stand. I watch the judges expression as she sits down. And I realize that he’s already made his mind up about her. We listen to Sawyer state her name and get sworn in.
“Were you ever in a relationship with Palmer Beaumont IV?” Lorenzo asks.
“No. The first time I met him was a month ago. Before then, he was a number to me. All I saw was a picture of him.”
“I’d like to enter into the evidence, the receipts for the clinic. It shows that there are no names that were given there. And a copy of their policy that each party will stay anonymous.”
“And why do we need this?” the judge asks.
“It shows that Sawyer used the clinic to have her son. She didn’t have any contact with Mr. Beaumont.”
“Receipts from a clinic doesn’t prove she used them.”
“It clearly states that they did the insemination and her pregnancy is a result from that.”
The judge sighs and takes the papers. Lorenzo then goes on to ask Sawyer questions about her family and if she’s ever gone to court for her son. Of course she said no and she also told the judge that she left home at sixteen to attend college.
None of what she’s saying is changing the look on the judge’s face. And I’m ready to punch him out too.
Sawyer comes back to sit down and I take her hand again. She’s shaking.
“Usually, I would need time to look over all the evidence, but I feel like I have a good grasp on this case.”
The judge stops and looks at all of us.
“My ruling is for the plaintiff. Mr. Palmer Beaumont IV will have full custody of River Hamilton. And he will be allowed to change his name at his discretion. Miss Hamilton, you will turn the child over to Mr. Beaumont a week from today. The next court date will be a month from now to see about you having visitation.”
The judge slams his gavel and the bailiff says courts adjourned. We all stand up and watch the slimy fuck walk out of the courtroom.