The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

26. Tyler

I was furious. I was terrified. Mark had said that he didn't want to disrupt Sam's life. This is the most disruptive thing he could do!

It made me think of the extra week that he'd asked for Samantha to stay, which clearly was a ruse, was to try to convince her to stay in England.

How could he do this to her?  After knowing what she's been through, how could he possibly do this to Samantha?!

Part of me wants to go to Jill's and pick Samantha up and bring her home. But, I also don't want to worry her. We'll discuss it later, when she comes home.

I slammed into my office and grabbed my phone. Jenna followed me with Rosie on her hip.

"Who are you calling?" She asked.

"Our lawyer," I said.

The receptionist picked up and I asked to be transferred. She transferred me immediately.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Joseph. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I related the whole story to him. He listened and told me he could refer me to a really good family lawyer since his experience is more business.

I immediately called the number of the lawyer. I explained the situation to the receptionist and who I am. She was able to schedule me and Jenna for an appointment in an hour. I told Jenna and the two of us changed into slightly more appropriate clothes than the sweatpants shorts and t-shirt I was wearing. I put on black pants and a button down shirt.

We packed Rosie up and got going. I tried to stay calm, but I was furious.

We got to the lawyer's office and I spoke to the receptionist. She had us sit down while she called in to the lawyer.

Kevin Greyson came out of his office to greet us. He was average height. I guess about my height, with dark brown eyes and blond hair just starting to show grey. He had an easy smile and was very welcoming. We followed him into his office where he offered us drinks. Coffee, tea, water or pop.

"So, I hear you have an interesting case. What's going on?" He asked.

"Well, we adopted our daughter, Samantha, a year ago this past October. You may have heard about her in the news? Her birth father was Stanley Deitz," I said.

"Ah! Yes. I remember that story. How is she doing since all that?"

"Much better, thanks," I said. "Anyway, the police and social services did a thorough investigation, so they said, and said Sam had no living relatives. But it turns out she has an uncle who lives, currently, in England with his family. He came to our place at Christmas. We had DNA testing done and they are related.

We've encouraged Samantha to get to know her uncle because her birth father killed her birth mother when she was still young. And Mark, that's her uncle, could tell her about the family Stanley kept them from."

"I see. And now he's suing you for custody of his niece. Your legal daughter?" Mr Greyson said.

We nodded.

"I'll be honest with you, I'd be surprised if a judge agrees to hear this case. Samantha has been legally your daughter for over a year. There are very few reasons a court would reopen an adoption case."

"Mark didn't know his sister was dead or that Samantha existed," I said. Mr Greyson nodded again while he took some notes.  "Stanley isolated them from her mother's family."

"They may consider hearing the case based on that, but this could still be thrown out. I see he's planning on contesting the adoption here. He's not stupid. That's for sure."

"Where else would he contest it?"

"Well, since the adoption was finalized here, he'd be dumb to try and to fight it in England."

"Well, he's not. What are his chances here?"

"The courts may hear the case because of extenuating circumstances, being that he didn't know of the existence of his niece and wasn't given the chance to take custody of her. But, there is the father's will, which you mentioned. And the fact that your adoption was finalized over a year ago. Plus. Samantha is 15, you said?  Her opinion will be counted. That said, if she wants to go live with her aunt and uncle and the courts grant custody, you can appeal, but you'd be better off letting her go," he said.

I didn't like the options. But I was certain Samantha would want to stay in Ohio. I think this ploy of Mark's might actually make her just as angry as I am.

We discussed more details and fees and agreed to hire Greyson.

I left feeling we had a good chance.

The question was, did Mark have a case?