Just Destiny (35 page)

With a twinge of guilt, she looked at Ms. Blair. “No.”

“Mrs. Harrison, is it true that when you married, you told your husband that you
never
wanted to have children?”

“Yes.”

“And now, after he’s dead, you do?”

“No. I changed my mind about six months before Gabe died. But—”

“So you changed your mind about wanting children six months before your husband’s accident. How long had you been trying to get pregnant before you successfully conceived?”

“Uh…not long.”
At all
.

“Was the baby an accident?” She asked in a soft, solicitous voice.

The buzzing in Jenny’s ears grew. Why had she even thought to ask that question? Her hesitation must have given her away. Jenny moistened dry lips. “Pardon me?”

“Was your pregnancy the result of you and your husband deliberately trying to conceive a child?”

“Objection, Your Honor, relevancy,” Helen called out. “Whether a previous child was intentionally conceived or not has no bearing on determining whether Dr. Harrison would want his wife to have a child
now
after he’s gone.”

“Goes to character,” she argued. “Did she trap him with the child that miscarried? Was he happily anticipating that child or was he upset about it? It all goes to determine his state of mind, Your Honor.”

“I’d like to hear what the defendant has to say. Objection overruled.”

“Ms. Harrision, was your pregnancy the result of you and your husband deliberately trying to conceive a child?” she repeated.

Jenny raised her chin. “Our baby was very much wanted.”

Ms. Blair narrowed her eyes and quietly stalked closer, like a lion circling her prey. “I didn’t ask you if the baby was
wanted
. Was it planned? Did your husband willingly have unprotected sex with the explicit intention of getting you pregnant?”

Oh, geez
. That was specific enough. “I…uh…I—”

“Yes or no?”

“Objection, Your Honor.” Steve jumped to his feet. “Ms. Blair is badgering the witness.”

“I’ll allow the line. I think the question is pretty straightforward.”

This was it; all she had to do was say, yes. Yes, they’d had unprotected sex resulting in the pregnancy. Nobody could prove differently. Jenny wanted to drop her head in her hands in despair. She’d tried so hard to keep away from this question. “No.”

“No?” The attorney’s eyebrows shot up and victory lit her ice-cold blue eyes. “The child was not deliberately conceived. Then the baby you miscarried was an accident?”

“Asked and answered,” Steve spat out.

Jenny’s head whipped up at the sound of Steve’s angry voice. He leaned on the table with his hands clasped tightly together—no doubt wishing they were around Jenny’s neck. Head turned sideways, he glared at Ms. Blair.

She should have told them. She knew he and Helen were counting on that pregnancy to be proof of Gabe’s intent, but they’d needed strong evidence so badly that Jenny’d hoped George’s attorney wouldn’t think to ask. And if she did, Jenny’d thought she could lie.

“Yes,” she softly admitted.

“An accident.” She paused to let the truth sink in. “So when you first married, you didn’t want any children, then about six months before your husband died, you decided that you
did
want children, then you accidentally got pregnant—which resulted in a miscarriage, correct?”

“Yes.”

“So in the two years you were married, you
never
had unprotected sex with your husband in an attempt to get pregnant?”

“Your Honor!” Steve shouted. “This has already been covered by the witness, now Ms. Blair is testifying.”

“Objection sustained.” The judge turned to Jenny. “You don’t need to answer that.” The judge gave Ms. Blair a steady, warning look. “Move on counselor.”

Jenny looked away, humiliated by the constant battering and enumeration of all her mistakes. She rubbed her cold clammy hands together and concentrated on the next question.

“You lied to the guard about being your brother’s mother and you lied by omission to Dr. Steinmetz. You seem to think nothing of lying to get your way…did you lie to your husband about the pregnancy being an accident when in fact you got pregnant on purpose?”

“No. It was a surprise to me too. We’d been using birth control.”

“What was Dr. Harrison’s reaction to your pregnancy?”

“He didn’t know. I didn’t have the chance to tell him before the accident. I’d just found out the morning we left and was waiting for the perfect time to tell Gabe.”

She let her eyes stare unfocused at the parquet courtroom floor. She couldn’t look at Steve, too afraid to see the disappointment and anger in his face. They’d always been honest with each other and now he knew that she’d lied to him, letting him think the baby had been planned. A lie of omission, but still a lie.

Ms. Blair consulted her notes. “Are you currently working as a freelance journalist?”

Jenny raised her head. Thank God, she was moving on. “Yes.”

“And that requires you to do some traveling?”

“Rarely.”

“If you were to get pregnant with Dr. Harrison’s child, do you still intend to work?”

“Yes. I have a very flexible job. I’d like to work part time.”

“And who would watch the baby while you were working?”

“There’s a chance my mother could watch the baby or I’d hire a nanny. Either way, I’d be with the baby most of her waking moments.”

“And you can afford this?”

“Yes.”

Ms. Blair watched her thoughtfully, before reluctantly releasing her. “No more questions.”

Helen rose. “Jenny, did you marry your husband for his money?”

Warmth and reassurance eased through her in remembering Gabe and the very simple reasons that she’d married him. Jenny smiled. “No. I married Gabe because he was a good man. He was incredibly supportive of me and he loved me with all his heart. He made me happy.” She paused, trying to clear the huskiness from her voice. “He was kind. And wonderful. And I loved him very much,” she finished in a whisper.

“Jenny, tell the court why you defied your mother’s wishes and bought Michael the skateboard.”

She took a deep breath, amazed at how one bad decision could keep returning to haunt her. “Michael had written this persuasive essay on why he should be able to have a skateboard. It was well written—he got an A on it. I was proud that Michael had done so well at something I’d chosen as a career and I wanted to encourage his writing, so I thought it appropriate to reward him with the skateboard.”

“In the same situation today, let’s say he wrote a persuasive essay about why he should be allowed to own a dirt bike, would you do the same?”

“No. I’ve learned from my mistake.”

“Jenny can you tell the court why you felt compelled to break the hospital rules and visit Michael in the hospital?”

“He needed me. Michael and I are close. In the hospital, he was scared—especially at night. Michael was calmer and slept better when I was with him. I felt responsible for his accident and since Mom was with him all day, she could use the rest at night.”

“You defied hospital rules for your little brother and mother’s benefit?”

“Yes.” Jenny raised her chin in defiance, not caring if she hurt her case. “And
that
, I would do again.”

Helen stuck her hands deep in her skirt pocket. “And when you approached Gabe about foster parenting, what was his response?”

“As I said earlier, it was really George’s idea. Gabe did shoot it down for the reasons George listed, but when I played the devil’s advocate and asked Gabe what he’d do if we had a child with some psychological problems, Gabe said that would be totally different. It would be
our
child and he’d love it and take care of it. So Gabe was always open to the idea of our having a family. It was me who didn’t want it in the beginning.”

“And why did you change your mind?”

“Because I realized what a great dad Gabe was and that I’d missed out on such an important life experience. I realized I could be a good mom and I very much wanted our baby.”

“Jenny, why didn’t you tell Dr. Steinmetz about the difficulty you’d encountered in finding a willing sperm bank?”

“I hated deceiving Dr. Steinmetz, and for that I
do
sincerely apologize.” She searched the crowded courtroom for the doctor but couldn’t find him. Of course he’d have gone back to work after testifying.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to convince him that I was doing the right thing. Though I suspected he probably wouldn’t have changed his mind, I couldn’t take that chance. The stakes were just too high. I needed his cooperation to get my baby.”

“No more questions.” Helen walked back to their table.

Turning to the judge, Ms. Blair said, “Your Honor, the plaintiff rests.”

“We’ll break for lunch and when we come back, the defense can present their first witness,” the judge said.

Jenny slowly came off the stand and crossed to where Helen and Steve were shoving legal pads into their respective briefcases. Steve clicked his pen closed and slid it into his breast pocket. He didn’t look up at her approach, but Helen gave her an understanding look.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you,” Jenny choked out.

Helen wrapped a plump arm around her shoulder. “You did fine; it’s not a big deal.”

Jenny sank into her embrace and took a few seconds to compose herself before daring to look at Steve. Steve stood silent, studying the crowded courtroom, waiting for them.

Helen laid her briefcase strap across her shoulder. “Let’s get some lunch.”

Jenny glanced at Steve. “In a minute.”

When Helen started walking away, Jenny moved close to Steve until the smoothness of his suit coat jacket brushed against her bare arm. Steve stepped back, bumping his chair into the railing.

“I’m sorry,” Jenny whispered.

He refused to meet her gaze. Sliding his briefcase from the table, he took her arm in a tight, impersonal hold and turned her to follow Helen.

Jenny pulled back. “Wait. We need—”

“Not now,” he bit out before nudging her forward.

During lunch, Jenny could hardly eat. Steve ignored her and participated in the conversation only when Helen asked him a direct question. He ate his Ruben while deep in thought. He must really hate her. Although she had excellent reasons for the times she’d lied, Ms. Blair had done a good job of discrediting her. Jenny knew it. And now the judge knew it. Steve and Helen didn’t say anything, but her small deception had made their job harder.

Steve sacrificed a lot to be with her throughout the trial—maybe even the job at which he’d spent so much time and energy proving himself. If they lost, that’d be an additional burden she hadn’t counted on and really didn’t want to bear.

Jenny thought hard. That was about all the lies Ms. Blair could possibly uncover. Luckily, there was no way they could know about that night spent on the couch with Steve. Thank God Steve couldn’t testify. She didn’t think she could damage her case any more.

After lunch, they took their seats and Jenny prepared to be impressed by Helen. It was their turn to prove that Gabe would have wanted her to have his baby. Helen brought out Alex, Ted, Judith, Jenny’s mother and father and brother, all of whom quickly and succinctly testified that Gabe loved Jenny passionately and that they’d had a wonderful, solid marriage.

Then Helen called Anthony Pope, the director of Save a Life Foundation, to testify. After her introductory questions, she paused and looked at him. “Mr. Pope, in the twenty years you’ve been involved with organ donations, how many times have your people been requested to coordinate the recovery of sperm from a brain-dead donor?”

Mr. Pope was a very proper sort of gentleman. Jenny kept expecting him to speak with an English accent. He wore his dark hair slicked back and parted in the middle. Spotlessly shiny rimless glasses perched on an impossibly sharp nose. He sat stiffly in the chair in his three-piece herringbone suit and maroon bow tie. He was clean-shaven, as if he was one of those men who shaved several times a day, needed or not. And his angular features seemed to be arranged in a permanently haughty look, which probably rarely softened in a smile and certainly never in anything as playful as a grin.

“One other time,” he said.

“When Ms. Bromley called you with Mrs. Harrison’s request, why did you give your approval?”

“I couldn’t see any reason not to.” He inclined his head slowly, regally. “The request was certainly unusual, but I didn’t see any harm in it—especially in light of Mrs. Harrison’s recent miscarriage.”

“So you weren’t bothered by the lack of consent involved?”

“No. Due to his incapacitated state, his wife, as next of kin, had the right to approve or deny both donations.”

“And if she denied consent to recover his organs?”

“Then we absolutely would
not
have touched him. Mrs. Harrison had complete authority in this instance. Under the Anatomical Gift Act, the next of kin of the deceased may make a gift of all or part of the body,
unless
the decedent either at the time of death or prior to, had made an unrevoked refusal to make that gift. In other words, unless he put it in writing that he did not want his organs donated, the decision was up to his wife.”

“Since Mrs. Harrison had full authority to donate Dr. Harrison’s organs under the Anatomical Gift Act, it didn’t seem unreasonable that she be able to make a gift of his sperm to herself?”

“Exactly.”

“Objection.” Ms. Blair called out. “In Davis versus Davis, the judge ruled that sperm is entitled to special respect because it is unlike other human tissue in its genetic material, and because of its potential for human life. Therefore the witness’s assumption is wrong.”

Helen turned to the other attorney. “Maybe wrong, but not illegal.” She addressed the judge. “And in Davis versus Davis, the dispute was over cryopreserved
embryos
, not sperm—a totally different ballgame.”

“Objection overruled.” The judge sent Ms. Blair a sharp look to let her know she was pushing him, but he did not call her forward for a formal reprimand.