June 5, 9:30 AM:
Lori Anne sat outside of the courtroom at the Family Court Division, tapping her foot and looking around for Christine Stover. She had been dreading this day ever since the attorney had given her the news.
Brittany was out of school for the summer, and luckily for Lori Anne, the Ward family next door said they would have no problem keeping an eye on Britt. At least that was one less thing Lori Anne had to worry about.
The hearing was scheduled to start in half an hour, and it turned out that Christine had been conferring with Jack Chase, Paul’s attorney, on some last minute details before finally heading Lori Anne’s way.
“So where are we now?” she asked slowly.
Christine nodded. “I have a feeling that this is going to go easier than I thought.”
Lori Anne perked up slightly. “Oh?”
“Yes; I’m guessing that this won’t take more than half an hour. Judge Freeman is looking everything over now, and we should be starting shortly.”
“All right.”
“And there might be a reasonable support figure offered, according to Mr. Chase, depending on the DNA results.”
“How reasonable are we talking?” Lori Anne wondered.
“Possibly one thousand per month.”
“One thousand…good lord! I was thinking it would be a small figure; I don’t want to bleed the man!”
“Ms. Remington, compared to some orders Judge Freeman has been known to give out, one thousand is a small figure. He’s a tough judge that has the interests of children in mind and doesn’t look well upon deadbeat parents. I can guarantee that if this guy is Brittany’s father–”
“He is,” Lori Anne interjected. “He was the only guy I was with before I was pregnant. I hadn’t been with anyone for almost a year before that.”
“Anyway,” Christine continued, “if it is confirmed he’s Brittany’s father and he’s as much as one hour late with the support payments, Judge Freeman will think nothing of dragging him back here to serve jail time until it’s paid.”
“My God,” Lori Anne sighed. “That bad?”
“Freeman doesn’t fool around when it comes to things like this,” Christine replied with a nod. “We got one of the toughest judges in the business. So are you ready to head in? He’s not one that likes to wait for people, either.”
“Sure,” Lori Anne sighed, “let’s get this over with.”
Another area of the courthouse:
“So what’s going to happen?” Paul asked.
“The judge is reviewing some paperwork now and I’ve talked to the petitioner’s attorney,” Jack Chase replied. “We shouldn’t be in here more than half an hour.”
“All right. So on the off chance this kid is mine, what’s going to happen?”
“Well, if you’re not the father, you go back to Texas and get on with your life as if nothing happened. On the other hand, if you are this girl’s father, the judge will look at your income and assets, along with the child’s needs, and make an order accordingly.”
“What about….you know, visitation?”
“Way ahead of you,” Chase replied with a grin. I’ve petitioned a visitation order should Brittany be your daughter, which was one thing I was conferring with Ms. Stover about. That should also be hammered out once the DNA results are read.”
“Okay, I guess I can live with that.”
“Look, it’s normal to be nervous,” Chase reassured him. “But I’m sure things should go well. Be warned, though, that this is a very tough judge. If a support order is put into place and you much as miss one payment, Freeman will throw you in jail without a second thought.”
“Is it that…” Paul began.
Chase nodded. “He’s one of the toughest in the family court system. Then again, he’s a huge champion for kids and their needs.”
“Speaking of which, is there a chance I could meet this girl?”
“I don’t see why not, but that would be up to the judge, based on the test results, of course. We’ll know more how to proceed once this is all over. But right now, we better go in before the judge raises the roof about us being late. When he says ten o’clock, he doesn’t mean two minutes after.”
The hearing:
After each attorney presented their case, Judge Peter Freeman reviewed everything in front of him for several minutes.
Paul was indeed the father of Brittany JoAnne Remington; Freeman read the DNA results out loud to confirm that fact.
Oh God, Paul thought, how am I going to explain this, especially after ten years?
In the interim, he’d gotten a glimpse at Lori Anne; it had been ten years since he’d seen her last, but it looked as if she hadn’t aged a day. She looked a little thinner, but still had the full breasts and hips she’d had back then, along with the shining auburn hair that all had initially drawn him to her.
Judge Freeman then ordered that the sum of one thousand dollars a month would be paid for Brittany’s support. It hadn’t really fazed Paul much; he expected to be siphoned for more than that.
Lori Anne, however, still couldn’t believe it; it was near the same amount she’d pulled down each month while she was working. Nevertheless, she thought it was a bit exorbitant, but if that was what the judge ordered, she would just have to deal with it.
A short time later, once the hearing had ended, she had just walked out of the courtroom with Christine and the two women had just parted ways when Lori Anne heard her name being called out.
“Lor!” Paul said, nearly catching up to her.
She turned, facing him. “Look,” she began, “for the record, this whole thing wasn’t my idea. I wasn’t out to bleed you for anything.”
He nodded. “I know that; my lawyer told me as much. But why now. Why didn’t you say something back at the beginning?”
“Again, I didn’t want anything from you. It was my situation and I needed to deal with it.”
“Well, I guess what is done is done. But now that it’s clear we have a kid, I’d like to be part of her life for something besides sending a check every month.”
Lori Anne was stunned. “You mean you aren’t upset with being dragged up here for a hearing?”
“I was a little concerned at first, but no, not upset at all. And excuse me for saying so, but you’re looking pretty good.”
She smiled. “As are you. So do you have any other plans?”
“Not really. Why?”
“Well, it’s only right that you meet your daughter. I’m on my way home to pick Britt up from the neighbors now. She always loved you and never missed a show every week. I think she’s really going to be stunned once she knows for sure you’re her dad.”
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