Page 20 of Ashes of Us

The next morning, Damica woke up to her phone ringing and picked it up, squinting at the caller.

It was one of Jasper's many cousins, one that she kind of thought would take Cecil and Amy's side, and she answered a little apprehensively.

To her surprise, he asked her how she was doing and if she needed help with anything before he asked her, sounding very nervous, about the email.

Danica explained what she could, basically restating what she said in the email and reiterating that Jasper's parents had met her at the hospital to see him, then left and hadn't been in touch at all.

“So, they left you to deal with the influx of family and just stopped reaching out?” Reggie asked, sounding confused.

“Basically,” Danica confirmed. “I did text them a few times, asking if they were okay and trying to set up a time to meet at the funeral home, but they didn't respond.

I didn't want to push because I know they're devastated and I didn't need their input, I was asking for it because I felt it was the right thing to do.” She had the screenshots to back that up if anyone asked.

Both Cecil and Amy had left her on read.

“Well, while I don't necessarily agree with punishing the rest of the family by keeping them away, I can understand your thought process with it,” Reggie said after a long moment of silence.

“For the record, I did reach out to them before I reached out to you, and I know a lot of other family members did too.

They aren't answering anyone right now. Unless something comes out of this that we're unaware of, you have most of the family's support.” Danica blinked in surprise as what Alex said was proven true.

Just by appearing open and transparent about things, she had swayed most people to her side.

“Is there anything that could come out?”

Danica took a deep breath, and the woman who approached her in the hospital came to mind.

“Not that I'm aware of. I will say that Jasper and I had a massive argument almost three months ago that almost ended us, but we were both committed to fixing things. Both of us were in individual therapy and couples therapy to work through it.”

“Well, if you got Jasper to agree to therapy, then I believe you when you say you were both committed to fixing things.” Reggie chuckled sadly. “Unfortunately, he had his mother's views on that.”

“Yeah. I was surprised when he immediately agreed.” Danica admitted softly. “Um, I've been going through his things, putting aside what I want to keep and what I think other people might want. Is there anything you would like to have that belonged to him?”

“Oh, gosh, I don't know.” Reggie fell quiet for a minute. “ Maybe his fishing rod, the bamboo one, if he still has it.” Danica smiled woefully. Reggie had moved to New Hampshire, but he and Jasper used to fish a lot before he left.

“You can have all his fishing gear if you want,” she told him warmly. “It's been collecting dust in the basement since your last visit home. I don't think he fished with anyone else.”

“Really?” Reggie's voice brightened quite a bit. “Thanks, Danica, I appreciate that. I'll, uh, pass along our conversation so you won't have a thousand and one calls and texts to answer.”

“Thank you.” Danica smiled and pulled her phone from her ear, seeing she had a few emails and missed texts.

“Some people beat you to it with emails and text messages, so I'll answer them, but yeah, I'm happy to let you pass things along.

You can also tell them that if there's anything specific they want that belonged to Jasper, let me know so I can put it aside for them, if you don't mind.” She wasn't sure if they were genuinely on her side or just thought that if they played ball with her, she wouldn't cut them out of everything, but either way, she was willing to do what she could to prove she wasn't trying to be difficult about things.

“I was also thinking of having the memorial on Monday, regardless of the outcome of court this afternoon.

His body may not be there, but I don't want people who travelled to have to go home without any sort of closure, plus it will give everyone a chance to get their items.”

“I'll pass that along as well.” Danica could hear the relief in Reggie's voice.

“Thanks, Danica, and please reach out if you need anything.” Danica assured him she would, and they said their goodbyes.

She responded to the texts messages and emails, everyone basically asked the same questions, most offered their support and only two of them said she was out of line to which she simply sent back that they could do things however they wanted if they were in her shoes, but she was Jasper's wife and she was not going to be bullied by his parents because they disagreed with her decisions and couldn't have an adult conversation about it.

She spent the rest of the morning continuing to go through Jasper's things and answering the occasional text or email she got.

Reggie seemed to have kept his word because the texts either stated their support or asked for something from Jasper that meant a lot to them.

When she found the item or items, she would put a Post-it note with their name on it and send them a picture.

It was lunchtime when her doorbell rang and when she opened the door, she was immediately pulled into a hug by Emilia.

“I can't believe they did that,” she muttered as she pulled back, studying Danica's eyes in what she considered to be an overly worried manner. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, blindsided mostly.” Danica stepped back so she could come in. “Sorry, I never told you personally, I've been on autopilot.”

“Don't worry about that.” Emilia waved over her shoulder, and Xavier appeared behind her holding takeout from Danica's favourite sushi place. Danica grinned, touched and extremely happy to see them both. “We brought food, figured you probably haven't been eating as often as you should.”

“I can't stay,” Xavier said as he walked in and set the food on the table. “The kids are with Mom, and Gracie isn't happy right now.” He turned and hugged Danica. “I'm sorry Jasper's parents are doing this to you, Em and I have your back, no matter what.”

“Thanks, Xavier.” Danica blinked back tears.

Jasper's family were too close and too overly involved in each other's lives in her opinion, but when they had your back, they would happily go to war for you.

He gave her an extra squeeze, kissed his wife and headed out with a quick wave as Emilia started pulling out the sushi.

Danica went to the cupboard and grabbed some plates and glasses.

“So, what's the plan?” Emilia asked when they were sitting and eating. “What can I do to help?”

“Well, I have the hearing to see if the court will side with Amy and Cecil this afternoon at three.” Danica swallowed the California roll she was eating and reached for the maguro nigiri with her chopsticks. “Everything is on hold until then.”

“Oh, I'm coming to court with you,” Emilia said firmly. “Xavier and his mom are handling the kids for today. She sends her love, by the way.”

Danica chuckled. Jasper wasn't overly close with Xavier or his mother, Rita, anymore because of Rita's comments to his mom during their wedding.

She had sobbed loudly through the ceremony to the point that people in the back had trouble hearing the vows.

Rita had rolled her eyes and said clearly that “it was Jasper's wedding, not his damn funeral” which had actually shut Amy up but pissed her off and caused a bit of rift in their relationship.

Danica, on the other hand, had secretly given her a box of her favourite cookies as a thank you when she and Jasper got back from their honeymoon.

“I'll bring her some snickerdoodles when I get the energy to bake again.”

She didn't argue about Emilia coming to court with her; there was no point, and Danica was oddly comforted that she wanted to be there with her.

After they ate, Emilia came upstairs with her and helped her pick out her court outfit, a black pencil skirt, white blouse and a dark jacket.

Danica showered, got ready and let Emilia put her hair up in a chignon.

“Are you nervous?” Emilia asked as they got in the El Camino, Danica with a legal envelope containing the signed papers and a cheque for Trista in her hand.

“No,” Danica answered honestly as she started the car, the engine roaring to life like it was echoing her.

“I'm curious about what they're going to claim.

According to the hospital administrator, there are only three ways they can do this: prove I'm unfit to be his guardian, that there's a conflict of interest or that I don't have his best interests in mind.”

Emilia nodded as Danica backed out of the driveway and started toward the East Boston District Court House.

“Well, you aren't unfit and you're acting in his best interest, because, well, he's dead and you just want to bury him, so that leaves a conflict of interest, which they might have a case for.”

Danica turned her head so fast she cricked her neck. Letting out a sharp hiss of pain, she rubbed it as she glared at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“They know you guys fought badly, they don't know what about, but they know you were in couples therapy to work through it.” Emilia pointed out, giving her a sympathetic wince at her neck pain. “Maybe that's the angle they're trying to come at you from.”

Danica had to admit it made sense. “But that's easy to disprove.

I'd just ask our couples therapist to testify that we were working through things.” She paused as she considered what the therapist might say.

They had been working on things, but it wasn't exactly a smooth process, and while Jasper claimed he didn't think she had an affair with Alexander, she sometimes thought he was saying what he thought she wanted to hear rather than the truth.

She was also a little concerned that Jasper had told his mom about Lucy but figured she could claim she had no idea about the affair until Lucy approached her in the hospital (true) and she didn't believe Jasper actually cheated on her (sometimes true) so it didn't affect her decision-making process.

“The problem is we don't know what Jasper told his parents,” Emilia said gently. “Maybe he was trying to get his ducks in a row to divorce you.”

Danica shook her head vehemently. “No.” she said firmly and truly believed that to her very core. “Jasper wouldn't leave me.”

Emilia reached out and took her hand, squeezing gently.

“I know, Sweetie. I'm just trying to prepare you for this.” Danica nodded.

She knew Emilia was trying to ensure she was prepared for all possible outcomes, but she didn't believe for a second that Jasper would leave her.

He just wanted things to go back to normal.

Danica had been the one struggling to move past it.

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At the courthouse, they found Trista exactly where she said she would be. Danica passed her the cheque and paperwork, and she found a small empty room so she could talk to them through the process.

“This is just a preliminary hearing.” She explained as they sat down.

“The opposing counsel will present their case as to why your husband's parents believe you aren't fit to be his guardian.

If the judge decides they have a case, they will lay the ground rules and set another court date.

If that happens, I'm going to request that this be handled as quickly as possible so you aren't sitting with your husband's body on life support for the next several months waiting for your case to go to trial. Can you give me any reason why they are doing this?”

Danica explained everything as quickly and concisely as she could, starting with the blow-up in the garage and ending with finding out about Cecil and Amy filing the motion.

When she was done, Trista blew her platinum blonde bangs out of her eyes.

“I handle wills and estates, so while I work in probate court, this isn't my wheelhouse at all.

I spoke to one of the partners at my firm this morning, David Niehous, and while he hasn't done this exactly, he has a lot of experience with POAs and people contesting them, so he's agreed to meet with you if this goes to court beyond today.” She pulled out his card and passed it to Danica.

“He's very, very good and has been a lawyer for close to twenty-five years. You may want to research a bit more, but I did a very cursory look into similar cases, and the last one I found was over ten years ago; the lawyer who tried that case is no longer practicing.” She leaned forward.

“Yes, he is a partner in my firm, but it's both my personal and professional opinion that he's the best lawyer for you.”