Not Such a Mistress

Judge Landing

Dallas

"See you later." I said walking away from Christy.

"Mmhmm, remember dinner at 7 tonight Dallas." She with her arms crossed.

"Dinner at 7." I repeated and walked to my Aston Martin.

I backed out of the driveway and went downtown to the courthouse where I am now a judge.

"Good morning Mr. Landing." I heard as I walked towards my office.

"Good morning." I walked into my office and closed my door.

I pulled out one of my personal phones with only Zarah, Jason, and Andre's number in it. I had three phones, one for work, my personal which was family, friends, etc., and my other personal which was Zarah. I saw Jason had texted me asking about me picking him up after practice. I texted him back saying I would.

I got straight to work looking at a case. I was more of a family judge. Dealing with divorce, child custody, and other family matters. The case I had was similar to what was going on in my life. The man has another family and his wife found out about it. She wants to divorce him for adultery and wants child support for there two kids.

I prayed everyday Christy never finds out about Zarah and Jason just because I know how Christy is and she'll probably wreck havoc on both me and Zarah. My work phone rung as I continued looking through the case.

"This is Dallas Landing." I answered.

"Dallas it's me." I heard and my office door opened.

"Is there a reason you always call before coming in my office Nathan?" I asked one of my best friends and another judge.

"No, not really. So what you been up to?" He asked sitting in the chair in front of my desk. I chuckled before responding.

"Working my new cases. What about you?"

"Got into with Isabella this morning." He said talking about his wife.

"About what this time and you know there's this thing called divorce." He laughed.

"I'm not divorcing her. Unless she dies she's not leaving me. We're both too stubborn to leave the other due to money." I sighed.

"Did you two ever love each other?"

"Once upon a time yes. As the years went on and she became the way she is then I stopped loving her." I shook my head. "I know I'm an ass, but everyone can't be happily married like you Dallas." I laughed but on the inside I knew the truth.

"Oh, you need to stop." We laughed.

"How's Christy?"

"Same ole Christy." I said shrugging.

"Well, then I guess I should hide the alcohol." I sighed and he laughed. "I'm kidding."

"Anyway, what do you want?" I asked looking at the time.

"Nothing just to see how you are. I'm going back to my office and look on this case."

"Have fun." He smiled as he got up.

"Thanks see you at lunch."

"Actually I have an errand to run at lunch but tomorrow." He squinted his eyes looking at me. "Bye Nathan." He walked out and I texted Zarah.

Me- Can you meet me for lunch?

Zarah - For what Dallas?

Me- I want to see you.

Zarah- Stop playing games on my phone Dallas.

Me- Ok, I just want to talk to you about Jason.

Zarah- Send me a time and place and I'm only giving you 20 minutes.

Me- That's all I need.

I sent her the place and time and began looking over the case I had in thirty minutes. I put on my robe and went out to the courtroom.

"All rise, the honorable Judge Dallas Landing resides." I walked to the podium and sat down. "You may now all be seated. Both parties have been sworn in." I nodded.

"Thank you. Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. You two are here because Mrs. Wallace wants to divorce you Mr. Wallace for commenting adultery. How long have you two been married, Mrs. Wallace?"

"15 years." She said sounding broken.

"15 years wow. Mr. Wallace, you were commenting adultery for how long?"

"3 years." I sighed.

"Care to explain the cheating?" I asked.

"I really don't know your honor. Between traveling and working, I really didn't have time for Yolanda and..."

"But you had time to cheat and have another child." Mrs. Wallace interrupted.

"Mrs. Wallace hold on I'll hear your side. Continue Mr. Wallace."

"It was a mistake the first time I cheated, but I felt so free when I did it that I kept doing it and it wasn't with just my other child's mother." I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I looked over at Mrs. Wallace who was wiping her eyes.

"Chris get her some tissue." I said to the bailiff. He walked over and gave her some tissue. "Mrs. Wallace, when did you find out about is cheating?"

"A year ago. I had my suspicions as any woman would when he began staying on his business trips later and when he wouldn't call me like he used too. I called his phone one day because our son was sick and when he answered the phone I heard the little girl in the back and it broke my heart. He knew I wanted to give him his first little girl and he took that away from me." I sighed and looked away from her. She reminded me of Zarah so much.

"Your honor, in my defense I was being a good father. I stepped out of my marriage and created a child and I felt like I needed to be there." I shook my head.

"Mrs. Wallace, what do you want out of this divorce?"

"Just that he pays child support."

"You want full custody of the kids?"

"Joint is fine. I would never take the kids away from him. He's a great father."

"Mr. Wallace do you want to be divorced from your wife?"

"No, I love her and I made mistakes but I know why she's doing it." I nodded.

"Because of how long you two have been married I'm going to issue a six-month separation and send you to a marriage counselor if nothing has changed then I will grant you with a divorce." I saw the disappointment in her face when I said that, but I felt they could be saved.

"Do we have to live in the same house, your honor?" She asked.

"No not if you don't want to. Court adjourned." I banged the gavel.

"All rise." I stood and exited my the courtroom and went back to my office.

I took off the robe and looked at my clock. I had twenty minutes to make it to the restaurant and meet Zarah.