We all get out of the car and make our way into the courthouse. Lorenzo tells us where we’re going and we’re shown to a room where we will wait until our hearing is starting. Which should be soon.
“Beaumont versus Hamilton,” the court officer says to us.
We all stand up and follow him into the courtroom. Sawyer and I sit at the table with Lorenzo. I look over and see Palmer walking in with Sawyer’s family and his attorney.
“What the fuck?” we hear one of the guys murmur behind us.
Lorenzo gives all of them a dirty look. But I don’t blame whoever said it, I’m thinking the same thing. Why the fuck are they all here? I can feel Sawyer shaking beside me.
“Deep breath, mo chuisle. Don’t let them see that you’re worried. They’ll never win,” I whisper to her.
Sawyer looks at me and nods, I squeeze her hand and we stand as the clerk announces the judge. After he walks in, we sitdown. Lorenzo walked us through what we’ll be doing, shitbag’s side goes first, they will say everything they are asking for.
The first person to take the stand is Palmer. After we watch him get sworn in, we listen to what he wants.
“I’ve always wanted to be in my son’s life. But Sawyer never let me. She’s been telling people that he was born from a sperm donor. We had a one-night stand. Then I found out she was pregnant, and I reached out to ask if it was mine. She told me no.”
“Did you ever think to have a paternity test done?” his lawyer asks.
“I did ask. Because I didn’t believe the kid wasn’t mine. But she disappeared, and I couldn’t find her.”
Fucking cock-sucking liar. I want to jump over this fucking table and take him the fuck out.
“How did you find Sawyer?”
“I finally found out her last name and reached out to her parents. They told me all about my son and how Sawyer wasn’t a good mother. That they tried to take custody of him before. And when she was supposed to hand him over, she moved to Italy.”
Holy what the fuck? The judge is nodding as he listens to the lies coming out of Palmer’s mouth.
“Thank you, no more questions.”
Lorenzo doesn’t cross examine Palmer. He was saving his questions for me. He said he hoped that questioning me would make more of an impact. Because we all knew that anything Palmer said would be a lie.
After Palmer, Sawyer’s parents and sisters take the stand as witnesses. They talk about how Sawyer has always been a lot of trouble. That she was promiscuous and they never knew where she was. How, at sixteen, she ran away and they had no idea where she went. When they finally saw her again, she was pregnant and told them she had no idea who the father was.
I can’t believe all this bullshit they’re saying about my girl. Who could hate their child so much that they would lie and try to take her child from her. And her sisters? I think about Eden, she’d never do anything like this. And the way Krystal and Brooke are looking at Sawyer? You can see the hate in their eyes. After all this is done, I’m going to make sure they never come near my mo chuisle again.
It’s finally time for our side to talk. Sawyer’s the first one that gets on the stand. I watch the judges expression as she sits down. And I realize that he’s already made his mind up about her. We listen to Sawyer state her name and get sworn in.
“Were you ever in a relationship with Palmer Beaumont IV?” Lorenzo asks.
“No. The first time I met him was a month ago. Before then, he was a number to me. All I saw was a picture of him.”
“I’d like to enter into the evidence, the receipts for the clinic. It shows that there are no names that were given there. And a copy of their policy that each party will stay anonymous.”
“And why do we need this?” the judge asks.
“It shows that Sawyer used the clinic to have her son. She didn’t have any contact with Mr. Beaumont.”
“Receipts from a clinic doesn’t prove she used them.”
“It clearly states that they did the insemination and her pregnancy is a result from that.”
The judge sighs and takes the papers. Lorenzo then goes on to ask Sawyer questions about her family and if she’s ever gone to court for her son. Of course she said no and she also told the judge that she left home at sixteen to attend college.
None of what she’s saying is changing the look on the judge’s face. And I’m ready to punch him out too.
Sawyer comes back to sit down and I take her hand again. She’s shaking.
