Leonard interrupts my ramble with a hand held up between us.
“Delilah, I can assure you that I have no plans to present the fake baby as evidence of any kind in this case. I was only reminiscing to try to lighten the mood. I don’t know if you know this, Ivy, but I had such a crush on you back then.”
“Oh, trust me, I knew. I was grossed out but flattered.”
“I’ve always had excellent taste in women. Unfortunately for me, that excellent taste is compounded by god-awful gaydar. But I’m still holding out hope that one day I’ll find what the two of you have with someone who is actually attracted to men. You seem very happy together.” Leonard winks, and I blush. Do Ivy and I look like a couple? Is it because we’ve had sex? Or is he just assuming? Maybe he heard about the incident at the farmer’s market? Or have we always looked like we’re more than just friends.
And really, haven’t we alwaysbeenmore than best friends? We’re certainly closer than any other friends I know.
Was what happened in our bed a fluke or thebeginning of something that has always been inevitable?
A supposedly nailed-down frame on the wall starts to rattle, and I dig my fist into the top of my thigh in an attempt to tamp down some of the shaking.
“I appreciate the trip down memory lane. Seriously, I do.” Lie, but whatever. “But I’m begging you, Leonard. Please tell me you have some good news in regards to the custody of my children.”
I place a hand on my protruding belly that seems to be growing every minute as a reminder of why we’re all here in this room.
“I do have good news. To assuage your concerns, it seems it won’t matter just how good or bad I am at my job either way, because Earl Ellis Booth has inadvertently set up a pretty damn good scenario for you.”
I’d say that sentence feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders, but I’m only hesitantly optimistic.
“Tell us more,” Ivy says.
“Delilah, you’re certain that Earl is the father of the baby you’re carrying, correct?”
“One hundred percent. There’s been no other men in over ten years.”
I can practically hear the smug smirk on Ivy’s facewhen I emphasize the word ‘men’, but if Leonard notices, he doesn’t say anything.
“Then this is pretty much perfect. Earl is suing you for a paternity test for both your unborn child and the nine-year-old girl you share, as well as partial custody contingent on the results of the DNA test. I’ve been doing this a long time, and no judge worth their salt is going to grant unsupervised custody of any kind to a man like Earl. All it will take is a few character references on your behalf and a letter or two from Sadie’s teachers or coaches, anyone who can attest to the fact that Earl is an absent parent and you're looking at supervised visitation as your worst case scenario. Unfortunately, your daughter is too young to testify on her own behalf?—”
“I would never make Sadie do something like that. A child shouldn’t have to choose between their parents, even if one of them sucks. It’s up to the adults in her life to protect her, not herself. But I’m still not understanding how this is a ‘pretty damn good’ situation.”
“I’ve seen this movie a hundred times. Men like Earl don’t want to be a part of their children’s lives; they want control over the women they make those children with because they’re insecure. Secure men don’t make the people they know refer to them as ‘The’ anything, and they don’t refuse to change your oil when you call them just Earl, anyway.
If—and that’s a big ‘if’—Earl is granted any sort of custody, the likelihood of him actually taking advantage of it and spending time with his children is very low, and the longer he goes without his weekends or supervised visits or whatever it may be, the better chance you have of obtaining full custody in the future. And by requesting proof of paternity, Earl has shot himself in the foot. Because when those DNA tests come back and prove that he is the biological father of your children, he’ll be required by law to pay you the child support you’ve been so adamantly against asking him for.”
I ignore the slightly judgmental look on my lawyer’s face.
“But I don’t want his fucking money. I don’t need his fucking money. I don’t need anything from him?—”
“I know,” Ivy cuts me off, taking my hands in hers. “You don’t need anything from Earl. You never have. But our kids deserve support. If Earl has to pay you child support, it wouldn’t be for you. It would be for Sadie and Little Bean. You can pay for their activities or save it for college or art classes or whatever they want to do.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I just don’t want to have torely on him for anything anymore. I don’t want them to have to rely on him for anything.”
“They won’t. Sadie and Little Bean will always rely on you and me, and your parents, and Stephen and Dottie for everything they need. But Earl is at least partially responsible for their existence, and they deserve to be taken care of for that. He needs to be held responsible as a parent, one way or another.”
My face screws up and I feel fresh tears well in the corners of my eyes. Being pregnant is the pits; everything makes me cry, and there is no hiding it.
“You really think I’ll end up with full custody?” I ask Leonard.
“I never make any guarantees,” he says cautiously. “But you’ve got a pretty damn good chance. And I haven’t even told you the other option yet.”
Other option? I lean in, making a ‘go ahead’ motion with my hand.
“Earl might not want to pay child support. When these tests come back and say that he’s the father, he might drop this whole thing.”
“How is that a good option?” Ivy asks.
