Teen Dad

Eighteen

Another day in court, and now my mom is sitting next to the judge, being interrogated by David's lawyer. "Miss Little, I..."

"Johnson," my mother interuppted.

The lawyer looked confused, "Pardon?"

"My name is Beth Johnson. I haven't gone by Little since the divorce." 

Mr. Watson cleared his throat before continuing, "Ah yes, my apologies. Ms. Johnson, may I ask you some person questions?"

My mother raised her eyebrow before nodding, "You may."

"Why did you and your husband get a divorce?"

"Many reason, but to sum it up, he was an alcoholic and a cheater. He would get drunk and cheat on me with random woman whenever I left for work."

"What do you do for work?"

"I am a flight attendant."

"So you travel a lot?"

"Yes sir."

"How often are you home with your son and granddaughter?"

"Once every two or three months if I'm lucky. I stay for about a week then leave back for work."

"I see," Mr. Watson said before beginning to pace. "Would you say that your job had something to do with your husband cheating on you?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You say you travel a lot, so have you ever thought that your job is the reason why he drinks and cheats?"

"I guess so, I never really thought about it." 

My mother looked down at the floor as she thought, and I could tell she was hurting. "How was Michael's relationship with his father when he was younger?"

"From what I know they haven't had a good relationship since Michael was five."

"Why is that?"

"Like I said, my ex-husband was an alcoholic. He was abusive towards Michael and would do nothing but yell at him. That's why when he was arrested Michael was put in the foster system."

"Why didn't Michael just go live with other family? Grandparents? Aunts? Uncles?"

"I am an only child of parents who were both also only children. My parents both died before Michael was born with nobody else on my side of the family still alive. As for his father's side of the family, none of us, not when my ex, has had any contact with them since Michael was two." I could tell my mother was getting annoyed at this point. "Your honor, what do these questions have anything to do with why we are here?"

The judge leaned back in his chair and looked at Mr. Watson, "Yes Andrew, what do any of these questions have to do with anything?"

"Just wanted to get to know Ms. Johnson a bit," he said while holding his hands up in surrender. "I will ask the real questions now." 

Mr. Watson began pacing again, almost as if this was a habit of his. "Ms. Johnson, why did you put Michael's name on the adoption papers instead of your own?"

"I-it's  long and personal story."

"We have time," Mr. Watson said, leaning on the table him and David sit at. 

My mother looked at me for a moment, causing me to give her a confused look, before she sighed and told her story. "Michael is technically my third child." This caused everyone in the court, including me, to gasp and murmur. 

The judge grabbed his gavel and his it on the table. "Order, order in the court." Soon after saying that everyone quiet down, but there were still some people whispering. "Please continue."

"Michael is my third child, but the only one I've actually ever given birth to. I had gotten pregnant at 16 and was forced to get an abortion, and then at 22 I got pregnant again with a little girl, but has a miscarriage before she was born. Then again at 27 I became pregnant with Michael and then had him at 28.

"After I had him I had gotten my job and was forced to constantly travel, leaving him with his father. I wasn't there for his first words, first steps, first day of school, or any of it. I wasn't much of a mother figure during his childhood, and while it would have been nice to have a fresh start, I knew I wouldn't have been able to take care of her and I would just be leaving her with Michael. That's why I put his name on the papers instead of mine."

"Did you know what you were doing was technically illegal?"

"Yes I did, but I had no other choice. I knew I couldn't separate Michael and Anna, and it wouldn't have been fair to consider myself her mother when I wasn't going to be part of her life."

"I see," Mr. Watson said before taking his seat next to David. "That'll be all your honor."

"Thank you Andrew. Well, seeing as that took longer than it should have, I'm going to call a short recess. We will continue this in 20 minutes." He then hit his gavel on the table and everyone began to either file out of the room or talk. 

My mother got up from where she was sitting and walked out of the room, and I followed her. 

I followed her into the hallway and started bombarding her with questions. "What do you mean I'm your third child?"

My mother turned around, sighing once she looked into my eyes. "Michael, I-"

"No mom, I want answers."

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"You were gonna say, 'Michael, I'm not going to talk about this now,' am I wrong?" No response. "Am I wrong!" At this point I was shouting, and my questions didn't even sound like questions anymore. 

I was mad, but I didn't know why. I guess it's because I had always thought that my mother would tell me the truth about everything, but she never told me about this. 

"Michael, please, this is not the right time and place," she said looking away. I looked around and noticed a bunch of people starring at us. I guess my shouting had gotten their attention. "We'll talk about this later."

My mother began to walk away, but before she could get any further I stopped her. "Mother please," I said, "just tell me why."

She turned around and said, "I didn't want you to see me differently," before walking off again.

I was left standing in the middle of the hallway, people walking past as they started to head back into the courtroom. "Michael," I turned around to see Abigail standing in the doorway, "the trial is going to start again soon." I nodded and walked back into the room with her, looking back one last time for any sight of my mother.