“Of course I bought it for her. She deserves everything she wants.”
Jaq suddenly realized that Colin meant every word. The man was dotty over these kids, and it would take a level-headed person to calm his inclination to splurge on whatever their little hearts desired. Smiling, she reminded herself there were much worse problems to have. After spending so much time one-on-one with the man, she admitted that once he saw something clearly, he would always use common sense as his way forward.
The next few days passed in the same way with the court case approaching on the morning of the twenty-eighth. Cord had spent a fair amount of time preparing them all for the big day and the questions most probably asked by the judge.
He’d also arranged to have Ms. Lather and Nurse Dean appear on their behalf and hoped that would be enough to sway the judge in their favor. But he still seemed worried when they all met at the courthouse.
He approached Colin and Jaq, his expression morose. “The bailiff said Judge Gagnon is in a crappy mood today. Must be his arthritis acting up.”
“Just our luck. Hopefully, he’ll go home and give us someone else to hear our case.”
“No such luck. He’s getting ready.”
Hearing Jaq’s stressful groan, Colin held her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll deal with whatever happens, right? We’re together on this… you and me.”
“Absolutely.” Yet the sinking feeling of knowing this cranky man held their future in his hands made her feel numb with worry.
As soon as the doors to the courtroom opened, they all marched in, took their seats, and waited for Judge Gagnon toappear before the proceedings could start. After fifteen minutes or so, even the bailiff seemed uneasy and decided to go looking for the missing magistrate. Just as he headed behind the wall of curtains, a woman appeared instead.
When she heard the shock around her, Jaq swung in the direction to see what the fuss was all about.
“Gigi!”
Chapter Twenty-three
Colin heard Jaq’s exclamation, but it wasn’t until he saw her rush to enclose the older woman in her arms that he understood fully. This pretty lady was Jaq’s grandmother. There could be no doubt.
Before he could approach the two still wrapped in a hug, the bailiff called for the court to come to order, respectfully announcing the approaching judge. “Please stand.”
The judge, who’s eyes followed Gigi to where she sat hugging Jaq, seemed shell-shocked. As the proceedings began, the old man appeared to pull himself together but more than once he brusquely asked Cord to “move along” with his evidence.
All the while, Jaq watched her gramma smile defiantly at the man in charge. It soon became obvious to her that they had some sort of a relationship. For example, when Gigi first moved to sit beside them, she’d bent to hug each child as well as Colin. Shooting a warning stare toward the judge before taking her seat might have been missed by the others but not by Jaq.
If asked, Jaq would have described it as a kind of threat… these people are my family so don’t mess with them. From then on, Jaq paid more attention to the judge and found his glance strayed many times toward Gigi. It was as if he wanted to see how the trial affected her. Whether she agreed with the unfolding testimony for Colin to have the right to look after the children. And that maybe he would follow her guidance.
In the end, it’s exactly what happened. After listening to all the evidence, the judge ruled in their favor, allowing the guardianship to be signed as a legal document. Once the official issues were taken care of, he banged his gavel, dropped it carelessly, and with a last glance toward Gigi, he shuffled out of the courtroom seemingly as fast as possible.
While Colin and Cord thanked the other witnesses, taking the children along to say goodbye, Jaq hung back with her contented-looking grandmother. “Gigi, what just happened?”
“What do you mean, dear?”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
“I had a hard time getting a seat and my plane was delayed making me miss my flight yesterday from Montreal. I came up on the early train this morning and only arrived slightly before the court case was to start. I didn’t have time to get in touch.”
“But you could have let us know you were traveling.”
“Actually, I hesitated to get your hopes up in case I had the wrong man. But when you told me the judge’s name, I didn’t think there could be two men with the identical job and the same name in Quebec City. So I took a chance and booked a flight. Turns out, I was right.”
Still stunned, Jaq asked, “It’s obvious you know each other. What did you say to him? How did you convince him to be so kind? Truthfully, we were expecting a real bastard today, and our hopes of winning had been non-existent. Even the bailiff warned us Judge Gagnon was in a horrible mood.”
“Tommy? Nah, he just had a few minor aches in his body, nothing he hasn’t dealt with for some time. Once he saw me, he seemed to forget all about them. We reminisced over old times.” Gigi’s smile was positively mischievous.
“What old times?”
Leaning close, and lowering her voice, Gigi admitted, “Well, I might have reminded him of the nights we spent together during a meeting we had in a hotel in Montreal about ten years ago. Us naughty old folks can still get up to mischief sometimes. Fortunately, I was a widow, but it seems that Tommy is still with his wife today. Poor woman didn’t know anything about that weekend.”
“You didn’t?”
