Page 32 of Ashes of Us

Danica arrived at the courthouse early the next morning, meeting Alex in the parking lot.

While she had felt good about having him attend court with her the previous day, at some point during the night, she began to regret that choice.

Jasper's words during their argument about how he'd had to defend her character when it came to other people's thoughts on her relationship with Alexander made her think it might be a bad idea to have Alex there as support while trying to get permission to take her husband off life support.

She almost asked him to go home, worried about how it would look to Jasper's parents, but as they walked in and found David, who took them off to the side to go over everything with Danica and advise her on what to say if the judge had questions for her, she saw Amy and Cecil walk in with Lucy in tow.

Livid, she didn't realize she had started walking after them until Alex caught her arm and pulled her back firmly.

“Don't do anything stupid.” He murmured in her ear as he and David ushered her into an empty room and shut the door behind them. “You need to be the calm and composed one here.”

Focusing on her breathing, she nodded once and straightened her shoulders.

Alex introduced himself to David, and they chatted quietly while Danica calmed herself down using meditation and yoga techniques.

When she announced she was ready, they filed into the courtroom, Alex sitting behind her in the gallery as she and David took their seats at the defendant's table.

Glancing over, she saw that Amy was staring straight ahead, a hard, almost angry look on her face.

Cecil was looking at the table, as if he'd rather be anywhere else, and Lucy was sitting behind them, scrolling on her phone and looking bored.

Danica leaned over and asked David if it was possible to obtain a subpoena for their text messages, explaining that the ones Amy and Cecil's lawyer had presented as evidence appeared to have been doctored.

“I can subpoena records from the phone company, but not them, not unless it's a civil litigation case,” he explained, shaking his head. “There was nothing on Jasper's phone?”

“No.” Danica groaned, rubbing her eyes. “He deleted the conversation with his mom, and Maverick said it looked like he was using vanishing DMs on Instagram to talk to Little Miss Homewrecker over there.”

“Shh.” David hushed her gently, looking amused. “You can't come across as hostile.” He paused and appeared to think about what she told him. “Would you like me to request a forensic examination of his phone to see if the texts can be recovered?”

“Can they do that?” Danica looked over at the Prestons again. Amy was now talking quietly to her lawyer, their eyes meeting over his shoulder. For a fraction of a second, she looked sad, then it was gone. Danica had to suppress her snort of derision. Amy's resting bitch face could rival Alex's.

“Maybe. Depends on whether they've been overwritten or not.” David said, forcing her attention back to him.

“But since the phone hasn't been used since the night of the accident, I think we have a pretty good chance.

Besides, seeing their reaction to the request will tell us if it's worth it to push or not.”

“Yeah, let's do it then.” Danica felt a rush of adrenaline go through her. If Lucy or Amy reacted badly to the request, that would be enough for her to know they doctored them. David turned around and told Alex what he was going to do.

“Watch and see what their reactions are.” David instructed quietly, “Danica and I can't give away our suspicions, so we aren't going to watch.” Alex nodded, reaching up and briefly squeezing Danica's shoulder.

“No problem.” He murmured. Danica almost reached for his hand, wanting the physical support, but stopped herself at the last second.

Instead, she flashed him a quick, grateful smile over her shoulder and then turned to face the front when the clerk asked for everyone to stand and announced the honourable Judge Perella was presiding.

When everyone was seated again, the judge looked at David. “Mr. Niehaus, I understand you are seeking emergency authorization for a medical procedure.”

David nodded as he stood up. “Yes, your Honour.

We are requesting immediate authorization to collect and preserve Jasper Preston's reproductive material through a neutral, licensed third-party, which will then store it until your ruling is made, followed by permission to remove him from life support immediately after.” He picked up two folders and handed one to the Preston's lawyer and then one to the bailiff to give to the judge.

“Our reasons for this are twofold. One, the collection and storage of the genetic material is much less expensive than keeping a medically deceased man's heart and lungs working in the hospital. And two, we may already be outside the window to collect viable sperm.”

The judge opened the folder and began reading through the documents.

Danica was more interested in the Preston's reaction and turned her head slightly so she could watch without it being obvious.

Amy and Lucy went pale, and their lawyer's face flushed as he opened the folder and began going through the documents.

“Could you expand on that, Counsellor?” The judge asked after a moment of silence, broken only by the sound of papers being flicked through.

“Yes, sir.” David nodded and glanced down at his notes.

“According to Doctor Ned Whalen of Fenway Fertility and Wellness Clinic, sperm begins to lose its viability and motility immediately upon brain death. The ideal timeframe for collection is within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, with the second best being within seventy-two hours. The chances of harvesting viable sperm right now are very low and will potentially require a special in-vitro fertilization technique in order to be successful.”

The judge took a deep breath and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose as he let out a long, deep sigh.

“Mr. Mathers,” He began, interrupting the intense, whispered discussion the Prestons were having with their lawyer.

“Care to explain why the opposing counsel is the one making this request?”

Danica watched, barely hiding her petty glee as Ken Mathers cleared his throat and stood up, his face still flushed.

“Your Honour, in our rush to get the emergency injunction filed to stop the removal of Jasper Preston from life support, we didn't look into what happened to sperm following brain death. We thought that if his body was kept alive, he would continue to produce sperm.”

The judge sat back in his chair, flicking through the folder again. “Do you have any objections to the motion as presented by Mr. Niehaus and his client?” Mathers shook his head.

“No, your honour.” Amy reached up and tugged on his sleeve, then handed him a note.

Mathers read it quickly and then looked up at the judge.

“My client would like to know if Mrs. Preston will still allow her to be in the room when she removes her son's life support.” Danica felt her whole body stiffen, and when David looked down at her, she shook her head slightly.

She didn't want Amy anywhere near Jasper's body.

“Mr. Niehaus?” The judge turned back to their table, and David hesitated.

“Are you sure?” He murmured to her. Danica nodded firmly, and he shrugged.

“No, your honour. My client will not allow it.” Amy immediately broke down sobbing, and it took everything in her for Danica not to roll her eyes at what she now saw as crocodile tears.

The judge raised his eyebrow and looked at Danica.

“You're going to deny your husband's mother the chance to say goodbye to her son?”

Danica stood up and met the judge's gaze evenly. “Your Honour, after coming to the hospital last Monday, Amy and Cecil Preston left me to look after and schedule almost sixty extended family members who wanted to come say goodbye to my husband. They did not call or check in on me once, and any texts or calls I made to them were ignored. While I was making arrangements for my husband’s memorial and burial, they were meeting with a woman who claims she slept with my husband and was pregnant with his baby without any proof other than her word.” Danica glanced over and saw with a measure of satisfaction that Lucy's cheeks were bright red and decided to twist the knife a bit deeper.

“And since she's the type of woman that sleeps with men she knows are married, forgive me if I don't believe her.”

Danica looked back at the judge, clasping her hands together in front of her to hide the slight tremble.

“While I can empathize with what his mother is going through, I no longer feel comfortable or safe having my mother-in-law in the room when I remove Jasper from life support.

Since they have put their wants over my mental and emotional health, I'm putting my needs over theirs. The only people who will be present when my husband is taken off the machines are me and the doctor.” She paused, an idea occurring to her.

“If my in-laws want to drop the case and publicly apologize for putting me through this, I will reconsider her request to be in the room.”

The judge held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded and turned back to the Prestons.

“Well? Are we going forward with the motion or dropping the case?” Danica had a feeling the judge was regretting his decision to allow this to go to court.

He appeared to be over the Prestons and the incompetence of their lawyer.

Mathers and the Prestons had a brief discussion, and then he stood up, clearing his throat. “We're, uh, we're going forward with the motion.”

Judge Perella looked surprised, then shook his head.

“Very well. Motion granted. Collection of Jasper Preston's reproductive material must be completed by the end of today by Fenway Fertility and Wellness with both lawyers present, then stored in the clinic until I've made my ruling in three weeks.” He banged his gavel.

“Is there anything else before I dismiss everyone?”

“Yes.” David nodded. “I would also like to request a forensic examination of Jasper Preston's phone to recover any potentially deleted texts or messages.”

The judge thought it over for a few minutes, then nodded. “Granted.” He banged his gavel again and stood up. “Court dismissed. Counsellor Niehaus, I'll have the order for the forensic examination sent to your office by the end of the day.”

“Thank you, sir.” The judge swept out of the courtroom, and Danica turned to Alex while David went to speak to the Prestons' lawyer about arranging a time to meet at the hospital.

“You did great.” He smiled at her. “That little twist of dropping the case at the end was brilliant and really showed what their priorities are.”

“Yeah, that came to me in the moment.” Danica ran a shaking hand through her hair.

“I'm aware it probably made me come across as petty and vindictive, but I've been wanting to say those things to them since last Friday.” They fell silent, watching as Amy, Cecil, and Lucy left the courtroom.

Amy and Lucy shot Danica dirty looks as they passed, while Cecil walked, hunched in on himself and in pain, staring at the floor.

“Looks like Jasper's father isn't as on board with all this as his mother wants him to be,” Alex murmured as David came back. Danica had to agree. Knowing Cecil as well as she did, she knew this was probably killing him.

“We're meeting with a doctor from Fenway Fertility and Mathers at four this afternoon.” He informed them both as Mathers left the courtroom. “What happened when I asked for the forensic examination of Jasper's phone?”

“Lucy's face went from tomato red to paper white in about three seconds,” Alex told him as they started the walk out of the courtroom.

“I couldn't see Jasper's mother's face, but she sort of froze a little.” Alex frowned, pursing his lips as he thought about it.

“Her whole body just tensed up for a moment, and then she went back to crying.”

David smiled. “Isn't that interesting. Did you bring Jasper's phone, Danica?”

“Yeah.” She dug through her purse, found it, and passed it to him.

“I'll have this delivered to the company we normally use this afternoon.” Outside the courthouse, they shook hands, with David reminding her to be at the hospital for four, then said their goodbyes. Danica told Alex she would see him back at the hotel, then climbed aboard her Impala.

Starting the car, she shook her head, unable to believe they hadn't done their research prior to filing the emergency injunction or the fact that instead of letting it go and being there when she turned off the machines, they were doubling down and still going to try to harvest sperm.

“Idiots.”