Just Destiny (39 page)

“Michael Campbell is fourteen years old—still a minor,” Helen continued. “He’s had a wonderful childhood being loved by his adopted parents and his adopted sister. He’s happy and well adjusted. He doesn’t know that Jenny is his birth mother, and I ask that you honor his parents' right to tell him about his true lineage when they feel the time is appropriate.”

“Objection sustained.” He turned to Ms. Blair. “Counselor, unless you have new testimony to elicit, I suggest you rest.”

“But, Your Honor, she lied under oath!”

“She did not. Jenny Harrison has
no
legal rights as the child’s mother,” Helen said.

“She’s an unreliable witness,” Ms. Blair sputtered. “She lied to—”

“I’ll take your comments under consideration, counselor. Anything else?”

Ms. Blair clamped her jaw together before forcing out a “No, we rest.”

“Okay. To protect the rights of the minor, Michael Joseph Campbell, everything disclosed in this testimony is to remain confidential.” Judge Delaney looked around the room. His glance rested on Ms. Blair. “I assume I need not remind you that I will be listening closely to closing arguments to be sure you’re following the strictest letter of my gag order.” His stern gaze held Ms. Blair’s, warning, “
Do not stray
, counselor.”

The judge addressed Helen. “If you feel, at any time, anyone is in danger of violating my gag order simply say, ‘objection goes to the court’s previous ruling,’ do
not
use the words, ‘gag order’.” He gave each attorney in turn a prolonged, serious stare. “Am I clear on this?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Wow, Jenny was impressed by his emphatic determination to protect Michael and her family. Maybe he was a compassionate man after all. If this information leaked to the press, there would be an ugly frenzy. Judge Delaney’s career could be immeasurably enhanced with a notorious precedent-setting case—especially if it had been sensationalized. But he had done the honorable thing and at least tried to protect them. Her previous animosity toward him evaporated, leaving only respect and hope.

“Very well.” He checked his watch. “We’ll break for lunch and begin closing arguments at one p.m.”

Jenny left the room feeling confused yet relieved that Michael had been protected. Judge Delaney might be a young, uptight yuppie, but he’d put the fear of God into her. She’d hate to be the person that violated his gag order. Maybe things would be okay after all. She peeked at Steve and Helen. They looked pretty grim.

Jenny pulled Steve aside. “Helen didn’t seem surprised to find out about Michael.”

“She wasn’t.”

“How’d she know?”

“I told her.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. “But I told you that in confidence.”

“And I told Helen in confidence. It was privileged client information she needed to know.”

“She’s
my
attorney. It wasn’t up to you to tell her.”

“Exactly.” He gave her a hard look. “
You
should have.”

“You had no right.”

“Actually, I did.” He pinned her with a steady look. “What’re you so indignant about? It worked in your favor.”

“But you betrayed my trust.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Your Honor, we have provided indisputable proof of Jenny Harrison’s immaturity, impulsive nature, and propensity to circumvent the truth,” Ms. Blair began. “Jenny Harrison and her mother and father all testified that Mrs. Harrison defied her mother’s wishes in buying her brother a skateboard, then broke hospital rules by sneaking into the hospital after hours, and then by impersonating her mother. All acts indicating her immaturity and poor judgment. Jenny Harrison is an overemotional young woman flighty in her endeavors, as indicated by her desire to become a foster parent simply because the need existed and she was writing an article about it at the time.

“Changing her mind about wanting children after two years of marriage is further evidence of her capricious nature. That she accidentally got pregnant and then never shared that joyful news with her husband before he was killed and she miscarried is evidence of her immaturity and manipulative nature. Being impulsive and overemotional is not in and of itself hurtful, although in the instance of her brother it very nearly proved fatal, but Mrs. Harrison carried it to a detrimental level.

“When Jenny Harrison was denied the opportunity to have the baby she’d
recently
decided she was desperate for, she selfishly had her defenseless husband’s body repeatedly shocked until it gave up the sperm she needed for assisted conception. The paramedics, neurologist, and urologist all testified to Dr. Harrison’s helpless state and to the fact that he never regained consciousness to give consent for his wife to have his sperm. Both Dr. Harrison’s uncle and his first wife testified that Gabriel Harrison did not enjoy being raised by a single parent and would not have wanted it for his own child.

“Two times that we know of, Jenny Harrison either lied outright or lied by omission, to get her way. She lied to the hospital guard, claiming to be her brother’s mother, so she’d be allowed to visit him, and she lied by omission to Dr. Steinmetz, not informing him of the great difficulty she was encountering in finding a sperm bank willing to store Dr. Harrison’s sperm.

“How can the court trust the testimony of this witness? Especially when all we have is her word that Dr. Harrison would want her to have his child. You can’t. The court can’t give much weight to the testimony of a witness who has lied at least twice.

Ms. Blair sighed, as if feeling sorry for Jenny. “It’s not that Mrs. Harrison is a bad person, but her record of poor decisions as testified to over the past few days by her family and Mrs. Harrison herself indicates that she’s not a responsible person and that it is not in a child’s best interest to be raised by her alone. Even if she had the money and time to devote to the child, she lacks the maturity to safely raise one.

“And finally, as Mr. Turner and Dr. Sterling testified, Dr. Harrison most likely did
not
want more children. He raised two children and was glad to be done. There’s no evidence, other than Mrs. Harrison’s unreliable claim, that he’s ever changed his mind about this.”

Ms. Blair gathered her papers and sat next to George.

Helen rose and approached the bench. “Your Honor, this isn’t about Jenny Harrison’s maturity. She admits to having made mistakes in her youth; who of us hasn’t? But she
has
taken full responsibility for the mistakes and has demonstrated that she’s learned from them. Case in point is her handling of her stepdaughter’s dilemma concerning sexual relations. She educated her and urged her to use birth control. That sounds responsible to me.

“This case is about life, love, and revenge. In attempting to coerce Jenny into drawing up a prenuptial agreement, which her husband knew nothing about, George Turner proved himself a manipulative, jealous, interfering old man. In withholding information that Dr. Harrison had a deadly hereditary disease, again Mr. Turner proved himself to be manipulative and arrogant. He took away Dr. Harrison’s choice to make critical life decisions for himself that affected not only Dr. Harrison, but his first wife and their two children.

“The death of his wife left Mr. Turner bitter and prejudiced against journalists in general. He clung to Gabe, his sole living relative, and was jealous of the love Gabe showered on Jenny. George Turner never liked Jenny. He didn’t want her to help other people by gifting Gabe’s organs and was furious because he had no control over it, so he’s punishing her now by trying to deny her her husband’s child.

“It’s as simple as that. Under the Anatomical Gift Act, the law recognizes Jenny’s right as the deceased’s closest relative to donate his organs so that others might live. Why should this situation be any different? Is it right that Jenny can donate her husband’s organs, helping as many as fifty people, yet she can’t save his sperm to conceive just one child for herself? I think not.

“Jenny Harrison is a compassionate woman. Her husband recognized the goodness in her and loved her very deeply, so deeply that he gave his life for her. He took her place and pushed her out of the path of a truck. His
very last
thoughts were of Jenny. He loved her that much.

“Every single witness testified that Gabe and Jenny had a wonderful, loving relationship. Why would anyone ever assume that Gabe Harrison, who apparently doted on his wife, would deny her their child? He wouldn’t. He’d want her to have the chance to conceive their child, knowing that the loving generosity she brought to their marriage would flow into her relationship with their child. That’s what Gabe Harrison would have wanted.” Helen returned to her seat.

The judge took a moment to look over the courtroom. “Thank you very much, I will give everything careful consideration and issue my ruling in due course. Court dismissed.” He smacked the gavel and left the room.

Jenny looked at Helen. “That’s it? What’s ‘due course’?”

“It’s as long as he takes. Could be a day, could be a month.”

“A month? Great.” She stood. “Will we have to come back to court to hear his decision?”

“Probably not. We’ll probably get his decision in the mail.”

“In the mail?” After the drama of the past week, how could things end so anticlimactically?

“Sorry.”

“So…what do you think our chances are?” Jenny asked.

“It depends upon how compassionate he is and how much he disliked Ms. Blair. He had to about hate George; I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t. Since there are no precedents to go by, Judge Delaney pretty much gets to make his own decision. I think we made a sound case.” Helen patted her arm. “There’s nothing more we can do. You go home and relax.”

As if she could. When they exited the courtroom, Helen waved them off and rushed away to a luncheon meeting. Jenny and Steve weaved their way through the lunchtime crowd, heading for the garage.

Suddenly a young woman thrust a microphone toward Jenny. “Mrs. Harrison, how’d it go?”

At the question, several other reporters ran over, swarming them. “Were there surprises in closing arguments?”

“If you win, how soon do you plan on trying to get pregnant?”

Jenny’s head whipped from side to side, trying to identify who had asked which question, but the questions came fast and furiously.

“No comment.” Steve put a guiding arm around Jenny’s shoulder and pushed his way past.

The reporters followed, shouting more questions but eventually trailed off. Steve hustled them through the garage to his car. He quickly unlocked the car door and all but stuffed Jenny inside. She looked around the garage, then sighed in relief. No sign of reporters.

Jenny was grateful Steve had been by her side and she hadn’t had to face those reporters by herself. She was used to being on the other side of the questions, being the hunter rather than the hunted—as it was. As an ex-baseball player, Steve undoubtedly had more experienced in evading the press than she had.

Jenny peeked at his set jaw and solemn expression. He was still mad. Throughout the trial, Steve maintained his silence. Now that the trial was over, even though he was still angry, he shielded her from the reporters. Was he being kind or did he pity her, thinking she didn’t have a chance in hell of winning?

Suddenly it occurred to her that this messy trial could cost her not only her chance to have Gabe’s baby, but her best friend. Head bowed, Jenny turned to the window and blinked back tears. When he pulled into her driveway and threw the gear into park, she put a hand over Steve’s to keep him from getting out of the car.

“I know you need some time, but I need you to know that I’m sorry. Truly sorry.” She reached out and put a hand to his cheek and turned his face so he looked at her. At his blank expression, she took a deep breath and forged on. “I perpetuated Judith’s assumption that we’d conceived the baby on purpose ’cause I didn’t see any harm in it, but then when it became the cornerstone of our defense, I didn’t have the nerve to tell you it was a lie. I was too ashamed to tell you the truth and I’m very, very sorry.

“I know you need time to forgive me, but I need to know what I can do to make it up to you. There’s this big gap between us and I can’t stand it. I stayed up all last night, wracking my brain trying to find a way to make things right between us, and I’m at a total loss. I want things to be the way they were before.”

Steve stared ahead one long minute before answering. “Things will never be the same between us.”

Jenny’s heart dropped, leaving a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“We can’t pretend this never happened—just like we couldn’t pretend that night on the couch never happened. I didn’t forget. You didn’t either.” He raked a hand through his hair, then looked at her. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Tell me you forgive me and we can move past this.”

“I forgive you.” Steve got out of the car and walked around to open her door.

“And we can get past this,” she repeated, refusing to get out of the car until he agreed.

“I’ve got to get to work.”

“We
will
get past this.” Jenny wouldn’t accept any less. She
would
find a way to rebuild the trust she’d shattered.

“I hope so,” he said softly.

She had to be satisfied with that. Unbuckling her seatbelt, Jenny climbed out of the car but stood in the opening so he couldn’t shut the door. “Dinner tomorrow night? I’ll grill steaks.”

“I’ll be home late. Work piled up while I was gone.”

“How about a movie Saturday?”

“Hockey game.”

She held onto the car door. “Wednesday’s the unveiling of the new children’s corner at the clinic; I don’t suppose you’ll be there?”

“I doubt it.”

“Your firm donated the money,” she persisted.

He waited, silently watching her, waiting for her to get out of his way.

“Okay.” Jenny backed out of the opening, allowing Steve to slam the door closed. She stood still, watching him back out of the driveway, praying he wasn’t backing out of her life as well.