Page 21 of Ashes of Us
Inside the courtroom, Danica took her seat with Dr. Cuthbert and the hospital's lawyer, with Emilia behind her in the gallery and Trista next to her.
They hadn't been sitting very long when Cecil and Amy walked in and took their seat, with whom Danica assumed was their lawyer, determinedly looking anywhere but at Danica.
She watched them for a minute, then let out an annoyed huff and looked back at Emilia, who was also looking angry at the way they were avoiding looking over.
Trista gave them an admonishing look, then began speaking with the hospital's attorney, who agreed Trista should lead, since they were just there because they had been named in the emergency injunction.
At about three, the bailiff announced that everyone should rise and introduced the judge as the Honourable Judge Vincent Perella.
They confirmed the case number, and everyone stated their names and who they were in relation to Jasper.
Preston's lawyer, who introduced himself as Ken Mathers, began with his opening statement.
He droned on for a good ten minutes about Jasper and his relationship with his parents.
He did mention that Jasper and Danica were in couples counselling to work on their marriage at the time of the accident, but he acknowledged that Jasper had loved his wife very much and wanted things to work.
The judge was clearly annoyed at this point and interrupted to ask him to get to the point.
“Well, your honour, my clients aren't seeking to take control of their son's medical decisions because they believe his wife is acting maliciously or without reason, they understand that he is, without a doubt, medically deceased and acknowledge that there will be no miraculous recovery.
However, Jasper Preston did admit to his mother that he slept with an old girlfriend after a fight with his wife and impregnated her.
The night of the accident, the woman was in the car with my client's son, and while she survived with minor injuries, she lost the baby.”
Trista leaned over to Danica and asked if that was true in a hushed voice, to which Danica could only shrug. “Allegedly,” she whispered back. “There's no proof it was Jasper's baby.” Trista pushed a notepad toward her.
“Write everything down in point form, as much information as you can.” Danica picked up a pen and listened as she jotted down what she knew.
“The Preston's are devastated that they not only lost their son, but their grandchild as well and would like to respectfully request that Mrs. Preston allow them to harvest their son's sperm so they can artificially inseminate Miss Lucy Gamache so that she can have the love of her life's baby and the Preston's can have their grandchild.” The lawyer presented the evidence, screenshots of Jasper's text conversations with his mother and Lucy, that confirmed he had slept with Lucy, and he thought the baby might be his.
But Danica, reading them over Trista's shoulder, noted that the conversations seemed weird and out of context in some places, like replies were missing.
“Since Jasper and his wife hadn't planned to have kids...” Danica frowned as the lawyer continued to present his case.
That was a straight-up lie. She and Jasper hadn't been actively trying for children, but they weren't trying to prevent it either.
Danica had been off her birth control for over a year at this point and they had two very early miscarriages; they just didn't discuss their sex lives with his family.
She wrote that on the paper and underlined it twice.
Trista nodded slightly as she quickly read through the rest of the points Danica had made.
When the Preston's lawyer finished and took a seat, Trista stood up.
“Your Honour. What the Prestons and their lawyer are asking for is nothing short of incredibly insensitive and borderline cruel.
They are asking for their son's sperm, not so Danica, his wife, whom they admit Jasper loved very much, can have his child, but so his one-night stand can have a child.” She began, and Danica didn't know if she was an excellent actress or if she was as genuinely disgusted with Jasper's parents as the tone of her voice and the look on her face implied.
“This woman approached my client in the hospital, right after she saw her husband and found out he was deceased and had the audacity to tell her she slept with her husband and was carrying his child that she lost and ask her to let her harvest her husbands sperm in practically the same breath.” Trista shot the Preston's another disgusted look, and this time Danica saw shame cross Cecil's face as he stared at the table.
Amy, however, just looked back impassively.
“This is the woman they want to have their grandchild?” Trista asked incredulously.
“And to state that my client and her husband hadn't planned to have kids, when they were actively trying and had suffered two early miscarriages in the last year, just goes to show how little they knew about their son's life with my client and to that matter, how do we even know she was pregnant with Jasper's child? Was there a paternity test done on the fetus?” Danica felt a small measure of relief as the Preston's lawyer reluctantly shook his head and admitted there wasn't.
“Your Honour, Jasper Preston is being kept alive by machines.
His wife would like to remove life support so she can begin the healing and grieving process.
Dragging this out for any reason would be mentally and emotionally damaging for my client, but for the reason they're asking is, as I previously stated, cruelty beyond reason.” When she finished laying out the rest of the scant evidence she had, Trista sat down.
The judge leaned back in his seat, looked at them for a long moment, and then addressed Doctor Cuthburt. “Is there any medical reason for Mr. Preston to come off life support immediately?”
Danica watched as the Doctor took a deep breath and stood up.
“Keeping his body alive for a long period of time will result in more damage than he has already sustained and allow for the breakdown of his organs and systems. The machines are keeping his heart beating and his blood oxygenated, but his circulation is quite poor, so the injuries he received in the accident are not healing, plus, because he's not moving, pressure sores are starting to develop. We are doing everything in our power to keep him alive and his body healthy, but it is simply unsustainable for longer than a month or two. Eventually, his body will give out.”
“Have you seen any sign that Mrs. Preston is not acting in the best interest of her husband?” He asked, studying Danica over the top of his eyeglasses.
“No.”
“If I may, your honour,” Danica looked over and saw Preston's lawyer had gotten to his feet. “We have evidence that Mrs. Preston tried to attack Miss Gamache in the hospital...” He trailed off as Trista snorted.
“Yes, but I'm sure we can overlook that considering she just saw her husband and found out he was dead, only to be immediately approached, told her husband slept with someone else, got her pregnant and then was asked to give the affair partner her husband's sperm so she could impregnate herself with my clients husband's bastard child.
It would be more concerning if my client hadn't wanted to attack her.”
Danica smirked, and Amy and Cecil's faces flushed at that. The judge cleared his throat. “While I understand the context fits, please refrain from using that term in my courtroom.” He didn't look particularly upset about it, though, so Danica wasn't too concerned that it would bite them in the ass.
“She's also banned his family from visiting at the hospital and put round-the-clock security on his door,” the lawyer continued quickly.
“Considering what they went behind her back and filed an emergency injunction, and in light of what they want, I would say that was a smart move.” Trista shot back.
Judge Perella held up his hand, and the courtroom, which had been filled with the sounds of whispers from the gallery, fell silent.
He leaned forward, steepling his fingers as he observed them in a way that made Danica feel like she was being X-rayed.
“I'm going to grant the injunction.” He began, holding up his hand as Amy started to cry happily and hugged her husband.
“I wouldn't celebrate just yet, Mrs. Preston.
I'm giving you... three weeks to prove your son wanted this child and was planning to keep it.” He turned to Danica.
“I understand the reason for the emergency injunction was a surprise for you, so I'm also giving you three weeks to put together your case and prove he didn't want the child.” Danica felt her chest tighten, but she nodded.
“We'll reconvene on August fifth at nine am.” He banged his gavel, and the courtroom immediately erupted into multiple conversations.
Danica stood up with Trista and thanked her for coming through on such short notice.
“This is ridiculous,” Trista murmured, taking Danica's arm and leading her out of the courtroom with Emilia hot on their heels.
“He never should have granted that injunction.” She shook her head.
“There were no grounds to.” She ran her hand through her hair and sighed in frustration.
“Come to my office first thing Monday morning, I'll introduce you to David, and you guys can get started.”
Danica nodded and thanked her again before heading out to the car with Emilia.
“Well...” Emilia said that after they got aboard, they just sat staring ahead for several minutes. “I did not see that coming.” Danica nodded numbly as she started the car.
“Yeah, me either.” How the hell was she going to prove Jasper didn't want the baby?