Just Destiny (33 page)

At this unexpected turn in her witness’s disposition, Ms. Blair quickly wrapped up. “So at Mrs. Harrison’s request, you stuck a probe up Dr. Harrison’s rectum and repeatedly shocked him until he ejaculated. Without his expressed consent?”

“Yes,” he agreed, looking bored.

“And you didn’t think there would be any legal repercussions from that unusual procedure?”

“No. It seemed a private issue to me.”

“No further questions.”

Helen rose. “Dr. Steinmeitz, why did you choose electroejaculation over other available techniques?”

“Because it’s the simplest, least invasive method. The other techniques involve surgery.”

“The
least
invasive?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Doctor, why’d you recover Dr. Harrison’s sperm?”

“I believed it to be the right thing to do.” His brows arched high over the gold wire-rimmed glasses. He turned to the judge. “Mrs. Harrison had just suffered a miscarriage as well as having just lost her husband. She had the economic means to provide for a child. Mrs. Harrison’s love for her husband and compassionate nature led me to believe that a child nurtured by that woman would be well-loved and wanted—something that isn’t necessarily true in all duel-parent families. So I performed the procedure for her.”

Jenny felt uncomfortable under his warm and understanding look. She’d tricked him—or certainly been less than honest with him, yet he still understood and supported her in court.

Dr. Steinmetz continued. “I’d like to remind the court that she has a finite amount of sperm and the various means of assisted conception are not guarantees that she can conceive with the amount of sperm she has.”

“You performed the procedure about seven months ago. There’s been a lot of publicity since then, and I’m sure some people have given you a hard time for what you did. Do you regret your decision now?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Thank you. No more questions.”

The urologist’s kind remarks astonished Jenny. He’d understood right from the beginning. She was touched that, even after discovering they’d withheld pertinent information from him, he’d still have performed the surgery. Why couldn’t everybody see it like he did? She wanted to hug him.

Next, the plaintiff put the director of a sperm bank that refused to store Gabe’s sperm on the stand. She testified that she’d refused to accept the sperm because of the lack of the man’s consent. Ms. Blair had her run through their policies, emphasizing in a superior tone, that a man’s written consent was required before they would accept his sperm.

Like a woman could steal sperm and secretly save it
, Jenny thought. She pictured women having sex, using a condom to save the sperm in, and then running it to the freezer for deposit in the sperm bank the next day. How ridiculous.

After this lengthy and boring testimony, they quit for the day.

“Please state your full name for the record,” Ms. Blair requested.

George lounged in the witness box with his legs stretched before him, crossed at the ankles, and his folded, plump hands resting on his stomach. Jenny could still smell the lingering scent of his Old Spice cologne from when he’d sauntered by.

“George Aloysius Turner.”

“How are you related to the deceased?”

“Gabe Harrison was my sister’s son. I’m his uncle and became his legal guardian after his parents died when he was twelve years old.”

“Your wife died when your nephew was a teenager, leaving just the two of you, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“Was it difficult raising a teenager on your own?”

“Well, sure. For both of us.”

“How was it difficult for your nephew?”

“Objection. Irrelevant,” Helen said.

“Your Honor, of course it’s relevant, it goes to the deceased’s intent. If the deceased had a difficult time being raised by a single parent, it stands to reason he wouldn’t want his own child to be raised that way. If he had no trouble with it,” Ms. Blair shrugged, “then I’m wrong.”

If you were wrong, then you wouldn’t be pursuing this line of questioning with your witness
, Jenny thought.

“Objection overruled.” The judge turned to George. “Answer the question, please.”

“It was hard on Gabe,” George admitted. “I missed a lot of his football games and award ceremonies ’cause I had to work. A lot of times I couldn’t get home early enough to make dinner, so either Gabe made it or we made it together and ate late. A lot of jobs fell to Gabe once my wife died.

“It wasn’t easy and, though Gabe didn’t rebel or anything, I could tell it was tough on him.” He narrowed cold small eyes on Jenny. “He’d never want his children raised that way.” He turned to the judge and smiled triumphantly. “As a matter of a fact, he mentioned lots of times how happy he was that Judith married such a good man to help her raise Alex and Ted when he wasn’t around. Between the three of them, he felt they had the bases covered.”

“Mr. Turner, did you ever hear or see anything to indicate that your nephew and his second wife did not have a happy marriage?” Ms. Blair asked.

George hitched himself up in the chair and tucked his legs under his seat. “Naw, Gabe was infatuated with her. She had him totally fooled. She married him for his money and, hell, he gave her everything money could buy, so why wouldn’t she be happy?”

“Objection. Opinion,” Helen said.

“Sustained.” The judge turned to George. “Mr. Turner, you may testify only to the facts.”

“Yes, sir,” George said, managing to look contrite.

“Mr. Turner, did you hear or observe anything to indicate that Mrs. Harrison married your nephew for his money?”

George snorted and pointed at Jenny. “You can see that rock on her finger. That diamond must of set him back twenty grand. And as soon as they got married, she went out and bought a brand new Jeep and that house on the lake. He took her to Maui for their honeymoon. She was constantly spendin’ his money.

“Gabe was a miser. Before meeting her, he lived simply. He drove a 2001 station wagon and rented a tiny two-bedroom house on Mt Vernon. Just ask Judith; he didn’t buy
her
a whopping diamond and they never vacationed in Hawaii. My nephew was
not
in the habit of spending money, but he sure spent it on her.” He jerked a thumb in Jenny’s direction.

Heat flushed Jenny’s cheeks and she stifled the urge to cover her engagement ring. She hadn’t asked for the stunning two-carat diamond—Gabe picked out her ring.

“Did you ever hear your nephew mention that he intended to have children with Jenny?”

“No. Never.” George shook his head emphatically. “In fact, I was having dinner with them one night when Jenny was doing this story on the foster care system.” He shifted in his seat, crossed one leg over the other, and leaned forward as if enjoying himself. “Well, anyways, she felt sorry for these kids she’d interviewed. She told Gabe that she wanted them to become foster parents.”

Jenny glanced sharply at George. That’s not exactly the way it happened. When she’d told them about the kids, she’d thought that
George
would be a good candidate for foster parenting. She hadn’t really thought about herself and Gabe being foster parents until George suggested it.

“And what was your nephew’s reaction?”

“He told her no way,” George stated, proudly. “He’d raised his kids and didn’t want to take on any more—especially high-maintenance kids. He told her they were too busy to do it and that they couldn’t get personally involved with every needy cause she wrote an article about.”

Jenny leaned over to write on Helen’s pad, but the picture of a sailboat nose-diving in rough seas momentarily distracted her. She flipped the page and scribbled on Helen’s legal pad, trying furiously to remember Gabe’s exact words that night last summer when they’d discussed foster parenting.

Gabe automatically rejected the idea of their being foster parents, claiming they had no time or energy. His close-mindedness annoyed her such that she’d told him she worried about his reaction should she accidentally get pregnant—not that
she
had wanted any children at that time, but she’d been shocked and really upset by his instantaneous autocratic rejection of the idea—as if she had no say in the matter. His total disregard for her feelings or opinion had been so uncharacteristic of Gabe that it’d really thrown her.

Her pen paused over the pad. But then they’d talked it out and come to a mutual agreement. She’d been appeased by their discussion and the way the conversation had ended. Maybe Jenny could make this work in her favor. She scribbled more notes for Helen.

“Did they argue about it?” Ms. Blair asked.

“Nope. Jenny was always overemotional—a real bleeding heart, but she knew when Gabe made up his mind. She let it go.”

“No more questions.”

Helen read what Jenny wrote. Looking thoughtful, she stood and walked over to George. “Mr. Turner, you testified that your nephew spent quite a lot of money buying his wife gifts. Did you ever hear her
ask
for the gifts or coerce him into giving them to her?”

“No, but I wasn’t privy to what went on in their bedroom, if you know what I mean.” He snickered.

Helen ignored his tasteless remark. “You told the court that Gabe didn’t want to be a foster parent, but at any time during that conversation did Gabe mention how he’d feel about a child of his and Jenny’s?”

“Nope.”

“Think harder. Are you sure?”

“I can’t recall.”

“Isn’t it true that Jenny felt it unfair that Gabe refused to help these children because they had emotional issues?”

“Y-eah.” He frowned, seeming confused by the question.

She looked down at Jenny’s notes. “And didn’t she then ask Gabe what he’d do if it was
their child
who had emotional issues?”

“I guess.”

“And what was his response?”

“Something along the lines of, if it was their kid, then he’d deal with it.”

“Could he have said that if it were their child, it would be, quote, ‘totally different’?”

“He might have.” George made a face. “So what?”

“So he
did
think about the possibility of having a child with Jenny, and that their child would be a totally different situation than being parents to a foster child.”

“Yeah, but he still told her no way.”

“No more questions.”

The judge dismissed George, who strolled back to his table. Jenny was furious at his remarks and insinuations—especially that crack about her using sex to manipulate Gabe. She would have loved to trip him and laugh as he landed in an ungainly heap in front of everybody. The humiliation would do him good—her too. Especially her.

Next, Ms. Blair called Judith to the stand. The bailiff swore her in. Ms. Blair approached her smiling. “Dr. Sterling, how long were you married to Dr. Harrison?”

“Ten years.”

“And you had two children together, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Was Dr. Harrison an involved father?”

“Very. Because we both had demanding careers, Gabe helped out a lot with the children.”

“How?”

“He read them books, bathed them, helped with their homework, and went to their school events as his schedule allowed.”

“Parenting is exhausting,” Ms. Blair said, sounding sympathetic.

Jenny doubted she would know. She’d be surprised if the callous attorney even had a pet.

“Do you remember Dr. Harrison ever making any comment expressing his relief at the milestones your children achieved?”

“Yes.”

Jenny smiled at the way Judith answered the question but wasn’t about to volunteer anything.

“And what were those comments?”

“Well…after Alex’s graduation party, Gabe did remark that he was glad she was the last, but everybody makes comments like that after an emotional event. They don’t really mean it,” Judith said.

“He said that he was glad that she was the last?”

“Yes.”

“In the ten years that you were married, did you ever hear Dr. Harrison express a negative opinion about single parents?”

Judith hesitated. “Yes.”

“Tell us about it.”

“Gabe’s aunt died when he was a teenager and he felt the stress of only having one parent to love and provide for him.”

“So Dr. Harrison did not approve of single parenthood?”

“Objection. Irrelevant, and calls for conjecture and opinion,” Helen said.

“Sustained,” the judge said.

“Okay, let’s move on. Dr. Sterling, did you ever witness Mrs. Harrison saying or doing anything inappropriate regarding your children?”

“No.”

“Not even your daughter?”

“No.”

“Did she advise your daughter to use birth control?”

“I have no first-hand knowledge of any conversation like that.”

“Did your daughter ever tell you that Mrs. Harrison had advised her to use birth control?”

Judith inclined her head. “Yes.”

“Did she give her any other sexual advice?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Did you ever hear or witness anything that would lead you to believe that Dr. Harrison and Jenny Harrison had a less than ideal marriage?”

“Objection. Calls for opinion,” Helen claimed.

“Sustained,” the judge agreed.

“Dr. Sterling, aren’t you at all concerned that should Jenny win this case and get pregnant, she will invade your children’s inheritance?”

“Objection.” Helen rose. “Her opinion is neither proper testimony nor relevant here. Moreover, counsel seeks to mislead the court because, according to the Uniform Probate Code, the child must be in gestation at the time of death of the father and survive one hundred-twenty hours after birth to inherit by intestate succession. So it’s a moot point. Any child Jenny conceived from artificial insemination would be ineligible to make a claim upon her husband's estate.”

Ms. Blair glanced nervously at the judge. “I’ll withdraw the question. Dr. Sterling, did you ever hear Dr. Harrison express any intention of having more children?”

“No.”

Ms. Blair consulted her notes. “What kind of an engagement ring did Dr. Harrison buy you?”