A Life Unplanned (20 page)

"Okay, at least we have a lead on the hospital board mess. I suspect we'll be able to get that handled sooner rather than later. As for the two cases filed against you, I think it'll be pretty cut and dried. Kelly did some background work on them. Both women received a bonus, twenty-five thousand dollars each, before they filed their suits against you. We just have to follow that money trail to find out if there are more people than just Brittney behind it. I plan to get rid of absolutely everyone before this is over," Brian said firmly.

"Thanks, man. I really appreciate you having my back through all of this," Trent said giving Brian a one-armed man hug.

"Hey, you pay me, and its good practice, plus all the lady drama keeps my wife entertained. It's like real-life soap operas. Don't let this stress you. You've done nothing wrong, and if absolutely necessary, we can prove without a shadow of a doubt you're innocent. I think it'll be fairly easy to do without the tapes, but if things take a turn for the worst, then we can always fall back on them. Just take it easy and focus on getting better. You wouldn't have been able to work now anyways. Clara, it was good to see you again. Do me a favor and keep this fool from overdoing it. He's great at taking care of others, just not himself."

"I will, Brian. Thank you, both of you, for helping us out. I really feel a lot better about this whole mess," I replied.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Trent said with an eye roll.

"Yes, but I'd rather hear it from a professional," I said motioning to Brian and Kelly.

"Don't be too hard on him, Clara. Trent's not used to people wanting a second opinion," Kelly teased.

"Alright, that's enough, you two. Get out of here. I want to spend some time alone with my girl," Trent said shooing them out the door laughing.

I heard Brian taunt, "Don't tear your stitches," before he drove away. I thought Trent was just being silly, until he opened the folder he had been given by Kelly and pulled out a DVD…my DVD.

"So…ready to watch it with me?" he waved it at me, causing me to giggle.

Yeah, I was.

Chapter 24 – Bad Boys

Brian was able to get the surveillance videos from two years back, because no one had bothered to dump the old footage, and there was still plenty of storage. Of course, to get it, he had to request archive footage, and he might have given one of the board members the impression that Amy was looking to press charges against Trent for sexual harassment. Brian supposedly needed the footage to prepare a defense.

The next meeting we had with Brian and Kelly was a bit disturbing. They had discovered that Dr. Dooley had had an affair with two of the other board members, and we suspected they were being blackmailed into siding with her, since both were married men.

Kelly planned on sending anonymous tips to the wives about the affairs, before the hospital board hearing began. Being in a small town, news traveled fast when the tips were received. Any leverage Dr. Dooley might have had over them was gone.

Brian queued up the tape to the spots he wanted to play for the board, hospital HR and the administrators. I watched as Dr. Dooley, an older woman, entered Trent's office and popped open a couple of her buttons. Trent hardly noticed and shook his head no at her. There were three other incidences also recorded, two where she actually reached for his crotch, and he jumped back and pushed her hand away, then left the room.

"Well, if that's not sexual harassment, then I don't know what is," I said sure she'd be going down.

"Let's hope she doesn't see this and try and twist it around. Though I believe it's pretty clear he had no interest in her," Brian said.

The morning of the board hearing was nerve-wracking. My mother came down and was going to watch the kids, so Maylene and I could sit in and listen to the verdict.

The small room was packed, and Maylene pointed out that the administrators and HR head that were sitting in as well.

Brian started by passing out a file to everyone. It was an official complaint of sexual harassment against Dr. Dooley. HR didn't seem surprised. I was pretty sure they already had a copy of it.

Of course, Dr. Dooley stood up, appalled. "How dare you even suggest such a thing? I'm a feminist! I would never take part in such behavior!"

Kelly brought in a TV and hit play. The four most obvious cases of harassment played. There was a collective gasp. "As you can see, my client, Dr. Carrington, repetitively turned her down and had to leave his own office to escape her advances. There were several other clips as well, but since there's no sound, I thought we should go with the most graphic to keep Dr. Dooley from denying her heinous behavior. I move for her dismissal from the board."

The other four board members looked at each other and then each answered affirmatively. "Dr. Dooley, you're hereby removed from the hospital board," the head of the board answered. A paper was passed to the four remaining members. "HR would like to meet with you immediately. We will now continue with the Carrington case. I think I speak for everyone when I say reading the journal entries was very disturbing. We understand that they were signed under duress, and I think the rest of the board and I would like to see how the legal charges play out before we reinstate Dr. Carrington."

"As I understand it, Dr. Carrington will be rehired as soon as the sexual assault cases are dismissed, correct?" Brian asked.

"Yes, if they are, I don't see why we can't rehire him. He was very well liked."

"They will be. We have a rock solid defense and plan to countersue. How soon after the dismissal of the cases can he be reinstated?" Brian pushed.

"Upon the presentation of the document signed by the judge dismissing his cases, he may return to work," the board member on the far left said with a smile. "We hope to see you back soon, Dr. Carrington."

"Thank you, we don't anticipate the case taking very long to get dismissed," Trent smiled.

"Could we please get an official statement stating that the reason for Trent's termination was because of the slanderous journals, and once they're proven false, that he'll be rehired? It'll help with our countersuit," Brian explained.

"Of course, we're happy to help," the doctor on the far left answered again. There were several well wishes, and I sighed in relief. He'd be rehired shortly.

As we were walking out of the meeting, someone came running up to us and asked us to come speak with the head of HR. We all crammed into Mrs. Julie Tikes' small office, and she gave us a sad smile. "Dr. Carrington, I'm so sorry for the way things have played out recently. How is your son?"

"Less anxious, but he still has nightmares occasionally."

"It was terrifying to hear what happened, so close to my own office," she continued off topic, but Brian redirected her.

"Was there something you needed for the harassment case, Mrs. Tikes?"

"No, I have everything, but I know you're dealing with another legal mess still, and I thought I'd let you know that Dr. Dooley gave me some information that may or may not help. I know you've dealt with false accusations before, so I don't doubt that these are any different. You made it clear that you believe there's a unified group trying to discredit Dr. Carrington, so it may point you toward them. What I did find disturbing was that Dr. Dooley tried to justify her behavior toward Dr. Carrington, because of a website she had found when she'd first looked into hiring him. There were apparently some very explicit shots of him, and it's obvious he was unaware of the picture taker. The timing suggests that he was much younger, although the profile that went with it didn't give an age. You may be able to charge the poster with child pornography."

I think that had all of us stunned.

Kelly was the first to recover. "Could I please have the name of the site?"

"It was called Boston's Bad Boys. I'm not sure if it's still up. That was nearly two years ago."

Maylene gasped, shocked. "Did she say where these photos were taken? They weren't in our home, were they?"

"No, from what she described, it was some sort of locker room. I don't know if that'll help with your case, but I thought you should know that those pictures were out there."

"Thank you, Mrs. Tikes, we'll be sure to look into it," Brian said and ushered us out of the hospital. We all rode in relative silence, while Brian drove and Kelly typed like a mad woman.

"Trent, do you know a Sabrina Carter?" Kelly asked.

Maylene and Trent groaned.

"She was the reason we moved away from Boston. She was the first person to ever accuse me of rape. Even after the case was dismissed, there was too much stigma around our family to stay. Please, don't tell me this was all her doing."

"I believe she's behind the Boston's Bad Boys site. My contact says the page was taken down, but of course, nothing is really gone after it's been posted on the internet. The site was under investigation as a child pornography site, and they're tracking down the visitors to find potential pedophiles and other child pornography sites. Usually, if someone visits one, they'll visit others," Kelly explained.

I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

"If Sabrina used the same server as before, we may be able to see if she started any other sites that involve Trent. We really need to find the mastermind behind the one that's organizing the attacks against him. Once we have the head administrators, then we can really put this mess to rest for good."

The question was, why the hell was that bitch still going after my man, and where did she get the money to pay the bribes?

When we made it back to Maylene's house, my mother was waiting at the door with Tyler. He was red-faced and teary-eyed. He made to dive for Trent, but I caught him and helped him hug his daddy.

"Let's go sit down, bud," Trent kissed Tyler's head.

I carried him over to the couch, and we snuggled into Trent's good side. "Are you okay, son?" Trent worried.

"You and mommy were gone," he whimpered.

"We're here now. We just had work to do," I tried to explain.

"No, you can't go to work! Bad ladies are at work!" Tyler cried.

That night, after we settled Tyler into bed, Trent pulled me aside. "We need to take Tyler to see a psychologist. He needs help working through this before I go back to work. I don't want him to be afraid, and he's still having nightmares," he said breaking down a little.

"Do you have anyone in mind?" I asked. He shook his head no. "Okay, I'll look into it."

"I'm sorry," he sounded so broken.

"For what?"

"For causing this, I couldn't protect him! It's my job as his father to protect him, and I didn't. I couldn't get him away from her. I didn't-"

I cut him off, before he spiraled out of control. "You took three bullets for him. You did protect him, and you brought him home safe. It's not your fault." I grabbed his face in my hands, so he could see I meant business. "It's not your fault. No one ever considered even thinking it was your fault. They know you had no control over the situation and did everything you could to protect our son. You need to get that through your head, Trent. It's not your fault."

His eyes were downcast, and I wondered if he believed me. I knew he continued to blame himself. We'd been doing this since they came home. He'd be fine one minute and then snap, upset with himself.

"I think maybe it'd be a good idea if you saw someone, too," I suggested.

"You know this isn't over. The rape trial will get nasty. They'll probably try and tell you all sorts of horrible things about me. They'll do everything in their power to discredit me, Clara. They'll come after me and probably call you all sorts of names for being with me."

"The people who matter know the truth. I know the truth, Trent. I won't doubt you. You have video evidence. Even if you don't use it, it proves you're innocent."

"If I didn't have it, would you still believe I was innocent?"

"Just because you were an ass, doesn't mean you were a rapist, Trent. I'd like to think I'd still believe you were innocent."

"I'm sorry you have to go through this."

"I'm not sorry my kids have a great dad who loves them. I'm not sorry I have you in my life. I'm not sorry for the way I feel about you." I took a deep breath and steadied myself for my confession. "I'm not sorry for loving you, Trent, so don't be sorry for being a part of our family."

His eyes locked with mine, and he cupped my cheek with his good hand. I could see by the look on his face he wanted to believe me.

"I love you, Trent," I repeated.

He smiled. "I'm not sorry for loving you, either."

I let out a relieved sigh and let him pull me to his lips. The kiss was sweet and perfect. It was everything a kiss should have been between two people who loved each other.

Tyler's crying cut it short. "I'll get him."

"Just bring him to sleep in here. He can sleep between us."

"I don't know if there's enough room in the bed. I can just lay with him for a while like I've been doing," I offered.

Trent looked up at me sadly. "It'll help me sleep to have him here."

It was then I knew Tyler wasn't the only one having a hard time sleeping. I brought him in and tucked him into Trent's good side, reminding him to be careful with his daddy. Of course, once I had the pair of them settled, Katie woke up. I fed her and took her into Tyler's room, where I laid on the bed with her. My boys weren't the only ones who were struggling with what had happened. I wanted to keep them close, too. I realized as I dozed off that we all needed to talk to someone to help us deal with what had happened.

The next morning, Maylene found me in Tyler's room. She looked a little frazzled. "I'm sorry to wake you. I was a little startled when I couldn't find you and Katie. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Trent and Tyler had a rough night, so I let them have the bed. It was just easier for me to stay in here."

"Maybe we should see about moving his bed into your room temporarily."

"That could work." It'd be nice if I could sleep with Trent again. "Maylene, you wouldn't happen to know any psychologists, would you?"

"For Tyler?" she asked.

"Yes, but I think Trent should see someone as well…and maybe me."

She hugged me tightly. "We'll find someone, I promise. Just know I'm always here for you as well. Thank you for standing by my son."

"I love him," I said with ease now that the truth was out and Trent knew it.

"I know, and he loves you, too. We all do, Clara. We're a family, and we're going to get through this together. Now, let's go check on our boys and get them some breakfast."

When I walked into our bedroom, I held back my giggle. Tyler had somehow wrapped himself around Trent's head.

"Well, at least he's not anywhere near his injuries," Maylene said with a smile and took a picture. I passed Katie to Maylene and climbed onto the bed. I kissed Trent awake.

"Interesting hat you have there," I teased.

He unwrapped Tyler's arm from his chin. "I think he's a pretty cute hat."

I shifted Tyler down between us and kissed his head, so happy to have him home and safe. "Hey, sweetie, time to wake up. Maymay wants some help making breakfast."