Their Escape

~10~

For a special treat... and for all the fanning in the last couple of days and you all helping me reach 400 fans... here's chapter 10... It's a little short but better than nothing.

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~10~



Today was the day of my first hearing. Kent was pretty confident that it would go good, at least for now. It’s been another crazy week and with Dani being sick on me, we got off lucky that it was just food poisoning. There were more than half of the kids that missed school all last week because of being sick.

As I got ready for court, I really wished that Jason could be there with me. Kent told us that it would not look good if I brought him with me to this one but he did say he wanted him to come when it was the kids turn to go. He also said that the paternity results would not be read today but on the hearing when the kids would be questioned.

Right now, I was sitting in the courthouse hallway waiting on Kent, the judge and Seth and his team to show up. I knew that I would arrive early but I didn’t care at that time. I couldn’t sat still without going crazy so I got up and walked down the hall. I saw that I had passed the restroom so I turned and went in. I went straight over to the sinks and ran the cold water and stuck my hands under the running water. I touched the back of my neck in hopes that the cool water would help calm me some how.

After I was finished, I reapplied my eyeliner and lipstick and as I was putting my things back in my purse, my phone vibrated. I fished it out and saw that I had a text message. Thinking it was one of the kids, I immediately opened it. It was a message from Jason and I smiled at his words.



    Thinking about you and wishing I was there. Just think, this is the first step to it being me, you and the kids.



Right as I was walking out of the restroom, I saw Seth and some scantily clad brunette walking in front of three men in suits. The girl honestly looked like she couldn’t be but twenty years old and she had her arm linked through Seth’s. I thought about dodging him and turning back into the restroom but that would make me look like a coward. If I’ve learned anything in these past few weeks, it was that I was no longer a coward.

I straightened myself up and confidently walked down the hallway. I also saw that Kent was walking from a side door. When he saw me, he turned my way and walked to me, smiling. I moved my eyes quickly and mouthed ‘Seth’ to  him. He looked over and saw the five people standing just ten feet away from us.



    “He brought his girlfriend?” he whispered.

    “I guess.”

    “That won’t look good on him, Mel. He’s doing everything wrong already.”

    “Kent, he has three lawyers with him. He’s paying top dollar for them to make sure he wins.”

    “Melissa, trust me. The judge will take in to consideration about the abuse. The judge that will be covering this hearing is a real stickler about things like that,” he said and then I looked up and saw that Seth and his thing was walking over towards us. He smirked at e when he was just in front of me.

    “Well, don’t you just look sad,” he said and the girl started laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. Kent stepped in front of me and addressed him.

    “There is a strict no contact order on you and I would appreciate it if you step away from my client and myself.”

    “Look what we have here. Melissa has herself a protector. So Mel, which one are you sleeping with? Him and  Ryder?” he laughed.



I continued to ignore him and Kent turned to face me. He moved his eyes and when I turned, he placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me down the hall. We turned the corner and he hit a button for the elevator. When the doors opened, we stepped in and he tapped the second floor button. After stepping out, he motioned to the left and I followed him. When we got towards the end of the hallway, he stopped and opened a door. It was a dark, quite room with a table and a couple of chairs around it.



    “Can we put a rush on this thing?” I asked, once he closed the door.

    “Mel, you’re doing good. You have nothing to worry about. The judge will probably just laugh him out of the courtroom.”

    “I wish Jason and the kids were here.”

    “They’ll be here on the next one.”

    “Why can’t it be today.”

    “These things take time. Come on, it’s time,” he said, standing and walking to the door. After he walked out he went to the right and to the last door at the end of the hallway. When we walked in, it was a kind of rectangular room that was brightly lit by the windows in the back. There was a long table in the middle of the room and chairs against the walls.

    “Here we go,’ he whispered to me.



The bailiff walked in and announced the judge. As we stood there, a tall, extremely stern looking man walked in. After he sat down, he told us to take a seat. He was silent for a few minutes and looked at the folders that he carried in with him.



    “Mr. Franklin,” he greeted Kent and then looked at me. “Mrs. Whitman.”

    “Good morning, Your Honor,” Kent greeted and I nodded.

    “Mrs. Whitman, would you like to tell me your side of the story.”

    “Yes, Your Honor. My husband, Seth, has been hitting me for a very long time...”

    “You all have been married for sixteen years. Am I correct?”

    “Yes sir,” I said.

    “And has he been hitting you that long?”

    “Well, not at first. He didn’t start hitting me until after my twins were born.”

    “Mr. Whitman, do you deny this?” he said, turning to Seth.

    “With all due respect, Your Honor. Our client has chosen his right to remain silent,” suit guy number one said.

    “Well, he isn’t being arrested,” the judge said. “I asked a simple question. Do you deny ever hitting your wife?”

    “Yes sir, he does,” suit guy number two said.

    “Excuse me, but I’m afraid I didn’t address you. Mr. Whitman, please answer the question. Do you deny hitting your wife?” he asked. Once again Seth did not answer and just continued to stare at the judge.

    “Judge Hatfield, if I may present something to you,” Kent said.

    “Yes, Mr. Franklin. What is it?” he said, slowly turning his head to look at Kent.

    “I have pictures of bruises left on Mrs. Whitman from the first day she came to visit me. She came in and told me about the abuse she endured while she lived with Mr. Whitman in Fort Worth and in the pictures, you can clearly tell that they are from a large hand.”

    “May I have them?” he asked and Kent stood up and handed the manilla envelope to him. He opened it up and pulled the pictures out. Flipping through them, his expression began to harden. “Mr. Whitman, did you leave these marks on your wife?” he asked, slamming the pictures down in front of Seth’s lawyers.

    “Mr. Whitman has never laid his hands on his wife and he was unsure why she left with their children,” suit guy number three said.

    “Judge, I can have this analyzed and it can be proven that it was Mr. Whitman’s hands that left these marks on her,” Kent said. I looked over at Seth and his team when he said that and for the first time since entering the courtroom, each one of them had some other look on their face besides confidence.

    “I am well aware of what you can do to have a hearing in your favor Mr. Franklin,” he said. “Mrs. Whitman,” he said, looking at me. “I know you want fast results but in cases like this, we need as much proof as we can get. Has your husband ever hit any of your children?”

    “Not while we were living in Texas. There was an altercation where Seth came to my parents house and there were words exchanged between myself, the father of my twins and my son. That was when he hit my child.”

    “Do you have witnesses?”

    “I believe I can get one,” I said.

    “If you can get three, we’ll continue this. Mr. Franklin, I am giving you until October twentieth to gather some more evidence against Mr. Whitman. Mrs. Whitman, I am also under the impression that Mr. Whitman is the father of only one of your children.”

    “Yes sir, he is the father of my youngest daughter. Another man is the father of my twins.”

    “Okay well, I expect a paternity test to be given to prove your statement and with that, this hearing is adjourned until October twentieth of two thousand and twelve,” and with that he banged his gavel and we all stood and waited for him to exit.



When we walked out of the courthouse, I felt my own confidence being lifted because Seth was just making himself look like a fool in the courtroom. Kent went his way and was going to start getting more evidence against Seth and I went home. When I got there, I went and changed out of my clothes and put on a pair of capris and a tank top. I slipped my flip flops on and walked back out of the door.

I drove to Jason’s house but saw that his truck was gone so I turned and headed to the gym. I immediately saw his truck there and pulled in and parked beside it. I grabbed my things out and walked in. Cheyenne saw me and smiled and told me that he was in the back ring.

I walked through the small hallway and entered the gym. There were four rings set up around the area and I sat my sights for the back one. I saw Jason sparing with another man and just as fast as the guy took Jason down, he maneuvered to where he was hovering above the man. I stood in the distance and just watched as they continued to practice. Another twenty minutes later, the guy that was in the ring with him, jumped out, leaving Jason in there by himself.

He still had his boxing gloves on and was punching the air. I still couldn’t take my eyes away from him. He loved doing this but I knew that as much as he loved it, he would give it up if I asked him to. I wasn’t going to be that selfish though. I had lived with that selfishness for sixteen years and I just couldn’t do it.



    “How long have you been perving on me, Melly?” I heard him ask.

    “About half an hour,” I said as he jumped from the ring and walked over to me.

    “You know you love it.”

    “You think?” I asked and his arms went around my waist.

    “Mhmm,” he said, leaning into me to kiss me but I pushed him away.

    “Not right now, stinky boy. You need a shower,” I said, scrunching my nose at him.

    “Oh, I thought you liked dirty boys,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

    “Shower now, stinky or no kisses for you.”

    “Yes ma’am,” he said, jutting out his bottom lip and turned toward the shower room.



Ten minutes later, Jason was walking out of the door and pulling a shirt over his wet head. He walked straight up to me and wrapped his arms around me and before I had time to say anything, his lips landed on mine. My arms moved of their own accord and wrapped around his neck as he lifted me off of my feet. I felt his teeth nibble on my bottom lip and all to soon, he pulled away. Resting our foreheads against one another, we tried to catch our breath.



    “You are the only one that makes me feel like this after a kiss,” he said.

    “Well, I better be the only you kiss from this day on,” I smiled.

    “Only you, baby. Only you,” he said, pecking my lips once more. “So, how did it go?”

    “It’s been continued until October. Kent has to gather more evidence, I have to get witnesses from when Seth hit Matty and we have to have a paternity test,” I smiled.

    “Hmm, good thing we already had that done,” he smirked.

    “Yeah, but we have a month until we got back. Kent told me that it could take a year before it’s finalized.”

    “I say six months top,” Jason said.

    “That’s still to long,” I whined.

    “I know. You just want me all to yourself, huh? You still owe me a night of just you and me.”

    “I’m still married.”

    “That certainly didn’t stop him. Did he bring his girl with him?”

    “Yeah, she’s like twenty and showed up in a little leopard print skirt that barely covered her butt and a purple silky looking tank top and her boobs almost fell out. She looked nasty.”

    “I know someone who would look good in that,” he smirked.

    “That’s gross,” I said,  pulling away from him.



We went outside and walked to our cars. I was driving my car back to  the house and then going with him. The kids would be getting out of school in a couple of hours and we were going to pick them up  and go out to eat and a movie later.

Now that I knew things were starting to look up, I was waiting for something to happen and it all come crashing down on me. I had been so unhappy for so long and I knew that I deserved only the best but I couldn’t help but wonder what would ruin it all for me. Would everything go in my favor or would I end up looking like the fool in the end.


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Okay... so I worked on this chapter and had it typed up in like 2 hours so I figured why not post. It will however be the last one until next week. I’ve got a lot to get done this week and then finals are next week. And like I said, I can dedicate a full month to my writing (as long as a play my role as house wife and mother also... :).......

Anyway... question... Do you all like my writing in the first person point of view or would you rather see second or third??? I’ll be honest with you, I write better in first person, decently in second but I suck  in third. You can ask my college English instructor. I had to write an essay in third person and it was my worst grade in that class.

So just some opinions would be greatly appreciated.

As always... leave some love...