Everyone said their goodbyes. Trent told Alynn he’d be back to pick her up tomorrow afternoon, and Vega promised he’d be back tomorrow as well.
Rohan stood and headed towards the door. Jalen stopped him as the living room emptied, and only the two of them remained.
“I know Landon is extremely grateful for your gift, but you didn’t have to get her such an expensive one.”
“Baby, you realize that camp probably costs more than the tablet I got her.”
Jalen fell quiet, and Rohan knew it was because she hadn’t thought of that. He wouldn’t mention the phone that she bought for Landon because he knew she would pull the sister card in defense of the price.
“Besides,” he continued. “Isn’t it our job to make sure she follows her dreams? Which means giving her whatever resources will help her achieve that.”
Jalen shook her head at him as she smiled. “What am I going to do with you?”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him before kissing her softly on the lips. “Hopefully, keep me.”
“Mm, I’ll think about it,” she joked with a smile.
“I’m going to get going. Have fun tonight. Call me if you need me,” he instructed, giving her one last kiss.
Jalen nodded, and he exited the apartment, waiting to hear the click of the lock before he went to his vehicle. It was only a little after seven. So, he figured he’d go home and play some video games for a while.
32
Jalen wrung her wrist as she sat on the bench, waiting to go inside. Their court time wasn’t for another thirty minutes, but they’d shown up early. She’d told all of her sisters about the situation after Landon’s birthday, and she’d done her best to explain to the twins exactly what was happening. None of them were happy about the situation, and the possibility of them being separated devastated Nathan and Omari.
Seeing her younger sisters so upset reinforced Jalen’s disgust with their egg donor because no parent should put any of their children through something like this when they were living in a loving environment.
She assured them she was going to do everything in her power to keep them from getting separated. The same way she had years ago. And while kidnapping was illegal, she wasn’t opposed to it if her sisters were taken from her.
The summons requested that the children involved in the custody hearing be brought in case the judge wanted to ask them some questions. However, the rest of her sisters had insisted on coming as well, and Jalen knew that trying to tell them it would be best to go to school was no use. So, she’d allowed them to come along.
Rohan took her hand and stopped her from messing with her wrist. She looked at him, and he said nothing, just kissed her forehead. She knew he wouldn’t tell her to calm down because they both knew it would be a futile effort on his part. Though she took a deep breath.
When she turned her attention to the other end of the hall, she saw Meila approaching them. She took the seat on the other side of Jalen.
“All the character witnesses are here. They’re in the waiting room beside the courtroom we’ll be in. You’ve got some good ones,” Meila told her. “Though I would have preferred not to see one.” Jalen watched as Meila threw a glare at Rohan.
Her boyfriend held his hands up in surrender. “He wanted to help in whatever way he could. So, he’s here. Don’t blame me.”
She knew they were talking about Trent. Rohan had come to her asking if she had an issue with him telling his brother what was going on because Trent and Meila had a rocky history. He didn’t want them to bump into each other, and for Trent to be surprised. Jalen hadn’t minded, and from what she’d understood, Trent had been less concerned that Meila would be her lawyer and more concerned about how he could help.
When he told her Trent wanted to help, she remembered Meila had said character witnesses would help, so she’d asked him to be one. Though she hadn’t known him long, it never hurt. Vivian was also a character witness, along with Maria, Vega, and Ms. Henley, the twins’ teacher. Meila informed her that having one of her sisters testify, aside from the twins, would be helpful. Kodi hadn’t blinked an eye when she’d told them there was no way she wouldn’t want to be the one to do so, since she’d been a part of everything that happened to them with their mother from the beginning.
Jalen exhaled as she thought about her childhood. She had disclosed little of it to Rohan and Meila, other than that hermother had been absent. However, there was more, and she felt she should at least give them a heads-up.
“So, when Kodi and I get on the stand, some things may come up that we haven’t discussed if asked,” Jalen told them.
“Things like?” Meila inquired with a raised brow.
“Until Kodi was about nine, Valerie would physically abuse us whenever something didn’t go her way. When she was around,” Jalen told them.
The two of them said nothing for a moment, but she felt Rohan squeeze her hand. Valerie had slapped her and Kodi around for whatever she could think of. As she got older, Jalen figured it had been because she and Kodi reminded Valerie of whoever their father was and the fact that maybe Valerie had loved him, and he hadn’t wanted her. Or maybe whenever she got rejected, she took it out on them because it meant she was forced to be at home with them and not out manipulating whoever she’d tried to sink her claws into.
After meeting Vega, she realized the former wasn’t the case for Kodi because Vega wanted to be with Valerie; it was she who hadn’t wanted to be with him.
Rohan had come to her with his theory that her egg donor knew who their fathers were, even if she was pretending as if she didn’t. Jalen wouldn’t put it past her, and it made sense why she hadn’t sought custody of Mikal after seeing Vega at the birthday party.
“Just you and Kodi?” Meila questioned.
