Broken Dreams

Chapter 20

Court was back in session and things were not getting any better for the Porters. Jane and Josh's testimonies basically buried them and the video evidence from the day Sally saw Michael for who he truly was was the final nail to the coffin. The ruling had been adjourned for the next day. Unlike the Porters, Jane and the others were in high spirits. Justice seemed to be on the horizon. Daybreak couldn't come any sooner. For both parties, the night was very long.
Finally, it was time to hear the ruling. Closing arguments had been made and the jury had returned with their ruling. The prosecution already knew that Mr and Mrs Porter were going to be off the hook because of a deal negotiated on their behalf by the Wesingtons. They basically threw their son under the bus in exchange for their freedom. As if that was not enough, they were supposed to cut all family ties with him.
"We the jury find Michael Porter guilty of all charges" the juror said.
From that declaration, everything was basically a blur for Jane. She sat frozen while his sentence was given. Michael was sentenced to twenty five years in prison with no possibility of parole.
Looking straight at Sally and Jackie, he whispered, "This is not over"
Oblivious to all present, Jane sat there crying. Mourning her lost family and everything she had to go through to finally be rid of Michael.
Unlike most, Josh was attuned to Jane, "Jane" he said
"It's finally over" she cried into his arms
"Yes, justice has been served" he said
"But at what cost? Jason and April are gone! They won't be coming back" she cried
The others had slowly become aware of what was happening and they all came together in a group hug to comfort their friend.
"He won't hurt you or anyone again and that is good" Sally said softly
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The weeks after the sentencing were a bit chaotic for all those involved but as new scandals popped up, the story became forgotten and life returned to normal or a new normal began. With Josh's help, Jane finally went back to finish her last year in nursing school. Months after graduating from school with her degree, Josh asked her to marry him. He suggested they adopt Jace together as their son since he knew it was something Jane wanted to do. Within a month after the proposal, they had married and moved out of her brother's house to start their lives afresh. Josh liked to cook so while Jane was saving lives he managed Pop In and also spent a considerable amount of time with Jace. They were thriving. Life was good for them.
Sally had finally realized that Ben had feelings for her and had decided to give him a chance. He turned out to be a great guy. He was just the kind of man she needed. They were such an adorable couple. They made their relationship official at Jane's wedding. Jackie was over the moon when she found out her cousin and best friend had finally gotten together.she had known about the crush Ben had on sally for years. She was always pressing him to confess his feelings to her but he kept putting it off and he wouldn't allow her to hint at it to Sally either. When he got accepted into the police academy, Ben and Sally got engaged. Wedding was set for when she graduated college. Life couldn't have been any better for them.
Jackie and Todd were living their best lives. He had graduated with honor and with his can do spirit, had also passed the bar. He got recruited to the Prosecutors office. He was passionate about bringing people to justice. He was with the woman of his dreams and he had gotten the job of his dreams. He was getting married in a couple of months to his long time soon to be an architect girlfriend. They were expecting their first child. What more could he want in this life.
Life seemed to be smiling at all of them. Everything was going exceptionally well for them. But same couldn't be said about Michael. Prison life was hard. The prisoners had somehow found out how abusive he was and he was at the receiving end of a lot of violent attacks. They were relentless with their maltreatment of him. His cellmates were the worst. He spent most of his time in the infirmary than out of it.
His mom, despite the instructions from the Wesingtons to stay away from him, couldn't. She kept communicating with him secretly. The only thing that kept Michael going was his thirst for revenge against all of those people especially Jackie. Thanks to his mom, he knew what all of them were up to. Nothing irked him more than the fact that Sally, his Sally was set to marry that no good Ben who turned out to be a police officer.
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It had been almost four years since Michael was sentenced. Jane had finally calmed down. She had stopped jumping at the sound of the doorbell or knock whenever she was alone. She was almost seven months pregnant with twins. She was so excited. They had found out the gender. She was having girls. Finally, she was getting partners. Jace and Josh were as thick as thieves. Always doing boys stuff and leaving her out. Now, she gets to do girls stuff. Life was good. What made this pregnancy exciting was the fact that she was doing it with her girls. Yes, Jackie was pregnant again.This was her third child and her last according to her but they all knew that was untrue. In Todd's words, "She looks good pregnant". This time, she wanted to be surprised by the gender. She had two boys already. Todd wanted a girl because he kept whining that the boys were mama's boys. This was Sally's second pregnancy and she was terrified. The last time she was pregnant with quadruplets. She found out some weeks ago and she was dreading the doctor's appointment. She had cried so hard the day she found out she was carrying quadruplets.
"Girl, stop crying" Jackie said
"No" Sally replied
"It's not that bad" Jane said
"It is actually" she cried
"I have four children already! Does it make sense that I am pregnant again?"
"I mean, yeah because you're still having sex!" Jackie said laughing
"I'm on birth control though so how?"she questioned
"Are you really?" Jane asked with an eyebrow raised
"I mean I forgot to refill when I ran out" she groaned.
"Come on, girl. Ben's waiting for you at the doctor's for your appointment" Jackie said
"Ugh, don't say his name right now. I am so mad at him. He probably knocked me up intentionally" she whined
"Girl, how?" Jane asked
"He also wants a girl" she replied and Jackie bust out laughing
"Those two are so devious. I like it" Jane said
"You have a boy already and you are getting girls soon. Josh can't complain and so you are home free"
"Yup" Jane cosigned.
"If I'm carrying multiple babies then he's getting a vasectomy!" Sally exclaimed.
"You better leave my brother's family jewels alone" Jane joked
"That's not a bad idea, Sal" Jackie cosigned
"Uhn Uhn, don't do my brothers like that" Jane laughed
"They are going to keep knocking us up! I just got my body back!" they said in unison
"Stop whining and let's go. My break is over" Jane replied
They huffed but they stood from their table and walked out of the restaurant oblivious to the man watching them.