Chapter Eighteen

JaRue

It's been a few days since Hassan presented me with our marriage certificate, along with everything else. To say I was beyond taken aback is an understatement. Not only did he go out of his way to make sure that I was good, but Infiniti too, and for that I will always be grateful. I pulled up to my parents' house in my brand new G-Wagon that he gifted me all smiles. I knew they were going to be asking questions, and I had no choice now but to give them, especially since one of the gifts he gave me was rose gold marquise cut engagement ring with a matching band. He intended to give it to me the same day, but it wasn't ready until the next day. I have never seen a ring so beautiful in my life. He even got himself a matching band, but his was set in platinum.

I pulled up to my parents' house and got out and waited for them to come and open the door for me. My mother came to the door with Infiniti in her arms. While I reached for my baby, my mother was too busy looking around me to speak to me when I spoke back.

"JaRue, whose truck are you driving? She asked.

"Mine," I responded as I walked further inside.

"Yours?"

I was now inside and sitting down with Infiniti. She's been with my parents for the weekend, and I missed her little bad butt.

"Yes, mine. It was a gift from Hassan."

"A gift? That's an expensive gift from a boyfriend." She speculated.

"Well, he's not just my boyfriend. He's my husband," I blurted.

"Husband? What the hell, JaRue!"

When she said that, her eyes shot to my hand and she spotting my ring.

"What's going on in here? Whose truck is that outside?" my father came in and asked.

"It's your daughter's," she told. "A gift from her husband ."

"Her husband? What is your mother talking about, Rue?"

I explained everything that was going on and about how me and Hassan were married. By the time I was finished, both of them had blank expressions on their faces. I hated I told him not to come because I could really use the backup now.

"Look, I don't like any of this, but I get it," my father started.

"Rueben," my mother cut in.

"Let me finish, Jay. I may not like it, and even though I know the type of things that family is into, I also know that he has to care about our daughter to go these lengths that we don't lose our granddaughter. That alone earns him a fair chance in my book."

"Thank you, Daddy." I looked at my mother. "Ma?"

"Bring him to dinner after the hearing. Looks like I need to get to know my new son-in-law." My mother held a smirk on her face, and I let go of the breath I was unintentionally holding. To say that I was relieved to have my parents back me up on this was a big deal for me. Now all I had to was convince a judge.

I left my parents' house and came home and began to finish the sides that I prepared for the pot roast in the crock pot. I left Hassan home, but he wasn't there when I got back. By the time I was taking the macaroni out of the oven, he was walking through the garage door looking fine as hell. I washed and rebranded his hair last night and he was looking every bit of fine. He swaggered inside with a bouquet of sunflowers and roses in his hand and a smaller one that resembled mine. The way that he thought about Infiniti made my heart melt.

"Wassup, baby?" he greeted as he placed a kiss on my lips.

"Hey. I missed you," I confessed.

"I missed you, too, love."

"Me, Daddy!" Infiniti clapped with a huge grin. That caught me and Hassan both by surprise because she never called him daddy before. Granted, she didn't know Keith, but I didn't want him to think that I was forcing her on him.

"No, baby. That's no-"

He cut me off.

"Wassup daddy baby? You want some love too?" Listening to Hassan talk to my baby and hearing her laugh as he kissed her little chubby cheeks had me crying like a baby. When he noticed, he pulled me in with his free arm.

"Stop all that crying. I told you I had the both of y'all and I meant that. If you're my wife, then she's my daughter. Ain't that right, baby?" he asked Infiniti, and she started clapping and dancing, causing us laugh.

"She's been around Peace's bad ass too many times," he joked.

While he played with Infiniti, I finished dinner and when we sat down to eat, he asked me about the visit with my parents.

"How did it go with your parents?" he asked, taking a pinch of collard greens to give Infiniti. She didn't like vegetables, but for some reason, she would try certain things for him. I was surprised when she ate them.

"Good girl," he praised, and she started clapping.

"You're so good with her," I complimented.

"I had enough practice with Peace, but you're deflecting. How did things go today?" he asked again.

Taking a deep breath, I told him about the visit with my parents and by the end of my spiel; I expected him to be mad.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Baby, that's not nothing. You over there looking like they're ready to put my head on a chopping block. We'll get together after the hearing tomorrow."

"I'm scared," I confessed.

"You have absolutely no reason to be scared. Everything will be fine. Trust me." He placed a kiss on my lips and finished eating. Tomorrow would be here before I knew it, and I was dreading it.

∞∞∞

When Keith saw Hassan come into court with me and sit next to me, you could see the fire in his eyes and the heat radiating off of him. Journei stuck her tongue out at him and that made it worse. The icing on the cake, though, was Kari being there to witness Hassan escort me inside with his hand on the small of my back. Both of our parents were here and so was Rakeem. The children were at daycare. I asked Stephanie could Peace come just for the day, and she didn't hesitate to allow it. The judge finally came inside, and Keith's lawyer started his drawn out opening statement.

"Your Honor, My client, Mr. Bryers, is suing Ms. Malone for sole custody of their daughter, Infiniti Bryers. My client states that Ms. Malone doesn't have the means to take care of the minor child. She resides in an unsafe neighborhood and only has a part-time job. Not only does Ms. Malone lack the capability to care for the child, but she is employed by a known cartel and her boyfriend is an associate of such. Mr. Bryers is seeking sole custody of the child, and he wants Ms. Malone to relinquish her rights to him and his wife." I looked at Hassan when she said that because that wasn't in the original paperwork.

"He can't do that," I whimpered.

"Shhh. Calm down, baby. Let Eric handle it."

I tried to regulate my breathing as I shot Keith a menacing look. He returned my glare with a wink that made me want to throw up.

"Mr. Levey, do you have anything to say to say about these claims on the behalf of your client?" he asked Eric.

"I do, Your Honor." He started flipping through his folder before he began speaking. "Your honor, all these claims against my client are false. She is very capable of taking care of her daughter. She's been doing it without the help of Mr. Bryers since the child was born. I have sign affidavits from her daycare provider that state that Mrs. Ashby is the only parent that pays for daycare expenses. I have receipts and bank statements from both Mrs. Ashby and Mr. Bryers and there are no transactions to back up his statements, but my client has receipts showing purchases for a small child."

"Mrs. Ashby? She's not married!" Keith blurted out.

"Order!" The judge banged her gavel. "Continue counsel."

"Thank you, Your Honor. Like I was saying, Mrs. Ashby has everything that she needs to take care of her child. She also has the help of her husband, his family and hers to continue to support them. Here are her bank statements and receipts." He handed the bailiff the papers.

"Excuse me, Your Honor, but my client knew nothing of a marriage and lying under oath is punishable by contempt of court," Keith's lawyer argued.

"Marriage certificates are public information, but I have their marriage license right here, Your Honor." He handed the certificate over. "And since they want to bring up lying, why not ask why Mr. Bryers lied about his age to a twenty-two-year-old young woman when he was already forty-one and married?" Eric smirked.

Keith's lawyer's face was red as fire.

"Also, since Mr. Bryers is a very well established thoracic surgeon, it should be more than fair that he contributes to the child's well-being by paying Mrs. Ashby thirty-five percent of his salary monthly, retroactive to her birth."

By the time Eric was done with Keith, you could see the anguish on his face, and I was eating it up.

"Oh, and I also have text messages between Mr. Bryers and Mrs. Ashby, and it clearly states that he won't be doing anything for the child until Mrs. Ashby decides to start back sleeping with him. Most of those texts came after she was married to Mr. Ashby."

I held my breath as the judge looked over all the evidence that was presented to her. It only took a few minutes before she began speaking again.

"Mr. Byers, stand up," she instructed. "If I must say so myself, you are one of the sorriest excuses of a man that has ever graced my courtroom. Most men that come in here are in fact jealous, but you are jealous and vindictive. You have the means to take care of your child because the mother no longer wants to be manipulated by you? Then you seem to be upset that she has a man that's willing to be there for her and your daughter since you refuse to."

"I don't need him to be there for my daughter," he interrupted.

"Oh, but you do. That child lives with that man."

"I didn't know that."

"How would you when you're only concerned about what Mrs. Ashby is doing?"

"Your Honor, I didn't even know she married this man. How can the court let him around my child?"

"The same way you expected us to allow her around your wife that Mrs. Ashby didn't know about."

She looked through the papers again.

"According to these statements, your annual salary is around nine hundred thousand dollars. Thirty-five percent of that is roughly twenty-four thousand, five hundred dollars. That's what you will be paying in child support to Mrs. Ashby monthly, along with a lump sum of six hundred thousand for back child support."

"Are you serious? If she's married, she doesn't need that kind of money!" his stupid ass yelled.

"Do you hear yourself, Mr. Bryers? The money is not for the mother, it's for the child. And just because you have that type of attitude, I'm granting Mrs. Ashby full custody with a later date to discuss visitation. Case dismissed."

She banged her gavel and all I could do was cry.

"I told you that you had nothing to worry about." Hassan kissed me.

We were walking out of the courtroom and as soon as we got outside, Kari ran up in our face.

"You really went and married this bitch, Haze? After all we've been through? You do me like this?" she screamed, making a fool of herself.

"Girl, stop all that damn yelling out here like you crazy. It's clear y'all ain't have no damn home training," Journei snapped.

Keith came barging toward us, but the sound of Hassan taking his gun off of safety stopped him in his tracks.

"Take another fucking step and you'll be patching up your own chest," Hassan seethed.

All Keith did was stare. He knew to back down. Anybody that pulled out a gun outside of a courthouse didn't care about shit.

We all watched as Keith left with Kari and Cheryl in tow.

"Y'all ready to celebrate?" he asked with a wide smile.

"Thank you," I simpered.

"You got it."