'Til We Meet Again Book 2

Chapter 63

Last Chapter of 2022

Marshall's POV:

I flew Amanda out, basically forced her to return her back to Michigan because today is my trial, the judge will finally decide if I will get shared custody of my girls or Kim will get full custody. I drag myself out of bed and kiss Amanda's cheek, I'm letting her sleep for an extra ten minutes since she is exhausted from her flight here last night. I rinse my face repeatedly with cold water to wake myself up but I'm still tired because last night after when Amanda had went to sleep, I went to my kitchen cabinets and pulled out a bottle of vodka and down the whole thing in less than an hour.

I took two pills last night and headed down to my studio to work on Devils Night since I couldn't sleep and I was drunk, and high as fuck. The girls are at school so I'm expecting to see Kim in the courtroom today. I feel a pair of arms wrap around my stomach and a head resting on my back "Good morning" Amanda kisses my back and lets go "Good morning" I don't mean to sound so cold but today's trial is racing in my head, right now I can't concentrate on anything else "Marshall, I know you are nervous about the trial but please don't be that way" Amanda sounds disappointed as she grabs the tooth paste and her tooth brush and begins brushing her teeth "I'm sorry, Amanda but I just can't do this right now okay" She avoids eye contact with me as she brushes her teeth.

I walk to my room and grab my suit hanging from my wardrobe. When I picked out my suit last night I was ready to shred it into dozens of pieces. I'm way too stressed out to do anything today, I'm way too stressed out to talk to anyone especially to Amanda and I know it's unfair on her since I dragged her out here when she had work, for gods sake I brought her a plane ticket that's how bad I needed her to be with me. I put my suit on and check out myself in the mirror, I look like hell.

She walks back to the bedroom without saying a single word to me and I exit the bedroom. I hate being this way but she needs to understand how hard and how angry this makes me, I can't even put into words exactly how I feel. I need Amanda, no doubt, I hope she knows that. She comes down to the foyer looking smart and sophisticated but still, no words leave her mouth as she puts on her coat "You ready?" I ask her and she nods "Amanda please say something" I ask her as I grab my car keys "Say what? you wanted to be left alone, that's what I'm doing, I'm leaving you alone" She says as she leaves my house and walks to my car. She's right.

.........

We make it to the courthouse and I spot my lawyer drinking coffee from his to-go-mug "Mr Mathers, how are you this morning?" He smiles at me "Good, this is my lovely girlfriend Amanda" I introduce Amanda to my lawyer "Its great to meet you" He shakes her hand "Great to meet you too" She smiles at him "We need to talk about the trial, do you mind waiting outside Amanda?" He asks her "I don't mind" She nods. We walk to his office and sit down, he sits opposite me and puts down his briefcase "So far you have done well in keeping a low profile and being a model citizen, I'm impressed but Miss Scott has brought new information to light" He opens up his brief case and pulls out a notepad "Her lawyer and I exchanged information during the weekend" He flips through the notepad "She has stated that you physically abused her" He nervously chuckles "The good news is, she was unable to provide any evidence to confirm you hit her" He smiles

"A couple months ago we discussed about your sleeping pills, you said you were going to provide a prescription of the sleeping pills, do you have the prescription?" He asks me "Yeah" I pull out the prescription from my pocket and pass it to him, he takes a look at the prescription "Excellent" He keeps it with him "This is your final session so I need you to behave, listen, don't talk over the judge or Miss Scott's lawyer and don't give any nasty looks to Miss Scott no matter what she says, the judge will pay a very close attention to you and if you start to look guilty or angry you'll lower your chances of getting shared custody " My lawyer says and I nod "I know this is difficult but let me do all the talking" He smiles at me and checks his wristwatch "It's time"

We head inside the courtroom and see Kim giving me a smirk as I approach my seat. I sit down with my lawyer and the case starts "Your honor, I have more reasons to believe Mr Mathers is unsuitable to care for his children" Kim's lawyer walks around his table "Earlier, Miss Scott has brought to my attention that Mr Mathers had been physically abusing her since they got married in 1999" Her lawyer speaks out "Do you have proof of this claim?" The judge asks Kim's lawyer "As this conversation was last minute, Miss Scott failed to provide proof" I see my lawyer glare at her lawyer "So she was allegedly abused by my client" My lawyer chuckles "Your honor, I'm sure you can see this is their last resort to make my client seem like a monster who abuses his wife" The judge "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to agree with Mr Mathers lawyer, you have no proof to support your claim" The judge looks at Kims lawyer "But we surely can't ignore the fact that his client is a drug addict" Kim's lawyer glares at me "Your honor" My lawyer approaches the stand "My client provided proof that he is taking prescription drugs to help him sleep at night" He passes the prescription to the judge and the judge examines the prescription "Valid" The judge passes it back to him

"Before I make my decision" He looks at both lawyers "Lawyers, in my chamber, now" The judge, my lawyer and Kim's lawyer leave for a few minutes. Each second passing, I become more and more anxious to know if I'll get shared custody of my kids. The lawyers and judge comes back "After careful consideration, I'm pleased to declare that Mr Mathers is granted shared custody of his kids" He bangs the gavel "Case dismissed" An overwhelming feeling of happiness crashes on me, I see Amanda cheerfully running to me and giving me the biggest hug "You did it" I squeeze her tightly as I rest my chin on her shoulder. I finally got shared custody of my kids.

Happy New Year guys!!!! I just wanted to take this time to thank you all for supporting both my books and bearing with me while I go weeks without uploading anything. I'm really lucky to have the best supporters and I appreciate you all so much. I hope you had a good 2022 and hope you all have the best 2023.