Betrayed by Trust (20 page)

Blake woke up before Caitlyn. He brushed the hair from her forehead as she slept. He didn’t want to move, but knew they would need to get up and get dressed so they wouldn’t be late for court. He gently shook Caitlyn. “Time to get up sleeping beauty,” he said and planted a kiss on her lips.

Caitlyn
stirred. “I have morning breath so you might want to save the kisses.”

He kissed her again. “We have an hour to get ready so get up.”

Blake left Caitlyn stretching in bed. He went to his closet to locate his favorite navy blue suit. Less than an hour later, Caitlyn stood at the end of the stairway dressed in a pinstriped navy blue dress suit. Her hair was pulled back in a bun with a few ringlets of hair falling on the sides. She extended her hand out and he took it as they walked out the door to head to court.

The Dallas traffic didn’t disappoint. Despite being stuck in traffic, they made it to the courthouse with ten minutes to spare. Overton waited for them outside the court room. “I was just about to call you,” he said. He extended his hand out to
Caitlyn. “Mrs. Banks, thanks for coming. Blake’s going to need you.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it,”
Caitlyn responded.

“Follow me,” Overton said. He led them to the front of the court room.
Caitlyn took a seat first. Blake and Overton sat on the left side of her closer to the aisle.

“We
’ll sit here until our case is called. If either one of you feel unsure about a question their attorney or the judge asks you, just say so and I’ll have them clarify.”

Blake
reached over and placed his hand on top of Caitlyn’s and squeezed it.

The
bailiff said, “All rise. This court is now in session. Honorable Judge Carrie Prudence is residing.”

Judge Prudence said, “You may all be seated.” She looked at some of the files in front of her. 
Blake watched as several people went before the judge. He hoped she had compassion when it came down to his case.

“Will
Blake Banks and Byron Matthews and their attorneys come forward?”

He heard
Caitlyn gasp. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s my ex.”

Blake followed Caitlyn’s gaze. Byron Matthews, immaculate dressed in a black suit, held a woman’s hand, and walked up towards the table on the right hand side of the court, with who must have been his attorney. “I remember him. You danced with him at our reception.”

Overton
interrupted his train of though. “Blake. Come on you’re up.”

Blake
couldn’t believe his luck. How could Caitlyn’s ex be the man standing in the way of him having his son? He stood in between Caitlyn and Overton and sat only when directed to do so by the judge.

Overton walked to the podium and handed the judge some information. Time stood still as she read over the information. She addressed
him first.  After being sworn in, she asked, “Mr. Banks. Is it true that you didn’t know Christopher Matthews was your biological son?”

“Yes, your honor. Tara Spain provided me with a false DNA report.” She wrote down a few notes as he spoke.
She continued to ask questions. “Can you tell the court how you learned of the false report?”

“I was informed by my attorney. He learned of it during research for my late uncle—Jack Banks.”

“Your honor how do we know this research is accurate? It’s already been established that Tara Spain was a liar,” Byron Matthews’ attorney stood and said.

“With all due respect, your honor and Ms. Williams,” Overton said, addressing the other attorney. “Second set of tests have been done per court orders and confirmed.
Blake Banks is Christopher’s father. We are petitioning for custody of his son.”

The woman sitting next to Byron whispered in their attorney’s ear. Ms. Williams stood and s
aid, “My clients would like to appeal to the court. Christopher has only known Byron and Nicolette Matthews as his mom and dad for the past three years of his life. Taking him away from a structured and loving home could be detrimental to his mental being.”

Ms. Williams cited examples of how moving Christopher from one household to another might pose issues for him in the long run.

Blake hadn’t thought of it that way before. He whispered to Caitlyn. “What do you think?”

“You seem to love the child—sight unseen, so don’t let them play mind games with you,” she responded.

Overton turned to face him. “I’m not sure how you feel, but would you agree to joint custody?”

“I don’t want to
disrupt his life where it’ll scar him. But he needs to know that I love him and I want to be a part of his life. I don’t want him to have to grow up without a father like I did.”

Caitlyn
squeezed his hand for support. “Whatever you decide, I’m behind you one hundred percent,” she assured him.

Blake
whispered in Overton’s ear.

“Mr. Overton, have you and your client decided
how you would like to proceed?” Judge Prudence asked.

Overton responded, “Judge Prudence, my client, Mr. Banks and his wife
Caitlyn would like full custody.”

“I object,”
Ms. Williams shouted.

Overton
continued to say, “I wasn’t finished. However knowing that Christopher has grown up in a stable and loving home as Ms. Williams has pointed out, we feel that it is in the child’s best interest to grow up with two sets of parents. We are hereby asking for joint custody.”

Bryon and Nicolette didn’t seem too thrilled by this request.
Ms. Williams stood up. “My clients would like some time to think about this your honor.”

Judge Prudence said, “Your clients have had a few months to think about this. I think it’s an unselfish decision on Mr. Banks part.
He was not aware that he was a father and he could have ignored the facts; instead, he took the initiative to become a part of Christopher’s life. Since he is saving the court time by not having us go back and forth on this issue, I would like for your clients to reconsider and agree to his offer for joint custody. You will have until the end of the month to decide. In the meantime, I advise you to get with your clients and come up with a schedule for Mr. Banks and his wife to meet Christopher. The first few visits should be supervised by Mr. Matthews or Mrs. Matthews. It will be a transition, but I’m confident with two sets of parents Christopher will grow up knowing that he’s loved and that makes him one lucky fellow.”

“Thank you,”
Blake said out loud looking up towards heaven.

Judge Prudence gavel sounded.  “You all can meet in my chambers. Court is adjourned until one o’clock.”

Caitlyn hoped her weak knees didn’t give out on her as she followed everyone to the judge’s chambers. She still couldn’t get over the fact that her ex-boyfriend was Blake’s son’s adopted father. She took a seat next to Blake.

Overton and Bryon’s attorney spoke to each other. Overton addressed her and
Blake. “We’re going to leave you all to talk amongst yourselves. We’ll be back shortly.”

Byron and his wife Nicolette sat directly across from her and
Blake. Blake held her hand under the table. Caitlyn could tell Blake was uncomfortable. She decided to be the one to break the silence. “Byron, I don’t think you’ve introduced me to your wife.”

Byron shifted in his seat. Nicolette had her arms folded. “Nikki, this is
Caitlyn. The one I told you about.”

She uncrossed her arms, “You left out one thing. She was Christopher’s biological dad’s wife.”

Blake interrupted and said, “You two will have to discuss that later. We’re supposed to be talking about my son.”

Nicolette addressed
Blake. “Excuse me if I’m not too thrilled by this arrangement.”

“Nikki. I can call you Nikki can’t I? It’s not
Blake’s fault. Let’s work together because it seems we’re going to be an extended family,” Caitlyn said.

Bryon said, “
Cat is right. We have to be civil to each other. Blake, you and Caitlyn can come over to see Christopher this Saturday.”

“I don’t think Saturday’s a good time. How about Sunday?” Nicolette asked.

Blake looked at Caitlyn before responding. “Saturday works best for us.”

Byron whispered something in Nicolette’s ear. Nicolette said, “Saturday’s fine. It’ll have to be late though. Come over around six.”

Caitlyn said, “Great. Give us your address and we’ll be there.”

Caitlyn and Blake walked to the car in silence. Blake opened her door. Once they were on the freeway, Blake said, “Thank you for having my back. It really means a lot.”

She let out a sigh of relief. The past few hours felt surreal. “I don’t think I like Nikki. She seemed to have an attitude problem.”

“We have to look at it like this. She probably feels threatened. She thinks we’re going to take her child away.”

“That’s stupid, because we agreed to joint custody so she needs to chill with the attitude.”

“Wow, you’re really taking this custody thing serious.”

“Well yes. I’m going to be a mother now, so I have to.” 
Caitlyn stopped in mid-thought. It dawned on her at that moment, she was about to be some child’s role model.

“I remember seeing you dance with Byron Matthews at the reception. Did he mention anything about Christopher then?”
Blake asked.

“Of course not. We barely talked.”

“It seemed like a lot of talking was going on to me.”

“If you must know, he was apologizing for hurting me. That was it. I was just as shocked as you were to see him in court today.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to handle being a mom to Christopher? If not, let me know now because I don’t want him to get attached to you and you leave us. I mean him,” Blake said.

“
Blake I can only promise you I will do my best to love him as my own. Everything else depends on you.”

Blake
turned up the music and they rode home each thinking about the day's events. Once at home, Caitlyn escaped to the bathroom. She dialed Bridget’s number. She didn’t’ realize how emotional the situation was until Bridget answered. Before she knew it, she was crying on the phone. “Cat, calm down. Do you need me to come over?” Bridget asked.

“No. I’m okay,” she said, in between sniffles. 
She told Bridget about Christopher, what the judge ordered and Blake’s responses. “Are you really ready to be someone’s mom?”

“I have no choice.”

“Oh you have a choice. At the end of the year, you can go your way and leave Blake with his son,” Bridget said.

“I love
Blake.”

“Then do whatever you need to do and pull yourself together. A child senses things. If you’re going to be a part of the child’s life, you need to get a grip on your emotions.”

Blake followed Caitlyn from one store to the next as she took him on a shopping spree for Christopher. “I don’t know what he likes, but if we get a little bit of everything.”

“Woe slow down
Cat. You’re more excited about all of this than I am.” Blake grabbed her arm.

“I need to get a few books. I have no clue on how to be a mom,” she said.

“We’ll both be winging it,” he said, as he took the bags away from Caitlyn.

Two hours later, they pulled up in front of The Matthews. “Do you want me to wait here?”

“Come on. You’re going in too.”

Blake
opened up her door. Hand in hand, they walked to the front door. Blake rang the doorbell. They waited a few minutes before the door opened. Byron, casually dressed, greeted them. “Come on in.”

Caitlyn
walked through the door with Blake following close behind. “You have a nice place,” Caitlyn commented.

“Thanks. Chris and Nikki are in the den.”

Blake looked around as they followed Byron. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of a healthy three year old playing with Nicolette. Christopher looked in their direction and said, “Daddy.”

Blake
’s heart dropped knowing those words were meant for Byron and not him. Byron bent over to pick Christopher up. “Lil’ man, I want you to meet someone.” Christopher seemed to hug Byron tight.

“Hello Chris,”
Blake said, picking up on the name from Byron’s initial conversation.

Nicolette stood
by Byron’s side. “Say hello to Blake and Caitlyn.”

“Hew-o.”

“Can I hold him?” Blake asked.

Bryon attempted to hand Christopher to
Blake but he wouldn’t let go of Byron’s shirt.

Nicolette said, “He’s like that with strangers.”

“Give him a little time,” Bryon suggested.

Caitlyn
reached for him and Christopher went to her without any problems. Bryon looked up. “Hey, she’s a woman. Can’t blame the child.”

Blake
and Byron laughed.  Nicolette rolled her eyes. “Be careful. He doesn’t like to be held too tight.”

Caitlyn
tickled him. “I know a little about kids.”

“Each child is different,” Nicolette snapped.

Caitlyn found a seat and held Christopher. Blake sat next to her. After about fifteen minutes, Christopher felt comfortable letting Blake hold him. Blake couldn’t explain the feeling that engulfed his entire being when he held Christopher in his arms.  He closed his eyes and inhaled his scent. He wanted to remember this moment for the rest of his life.

Byron said, “Chris, you’re a lucky little boy. You have two daddies and two mommies.”

Christopher said, “Da-da.”

Blake
said, “That’s right. I’m your daddy too. I love you so much.”

“I
love you,” Christopher repeated.

Joy filled
Blake’s heart. Christopher said, “Pot-pot.”

“Come on Chris, let’s go.” Byron picked up Christopher.

“He’s potty trained already?” Caitlyn asked.

Nicolette said, “Yes, he’s a quick learner.”

Blake could feel the tension between the two ladies. “Nikki, thank you for letting us see Chris today.”

She looked in the direction Byron and Christopher had just gone and then turned around to look at him and
Caitlyn. “This isn’t easy for me.”

“We understand,”
Blake said.

Nicolette sat in the love seat across from the sofa. “No, I don’t think you do. I didn’t like Tara.”

“I didn’t know her and I don’t like her,” Caitlyn cut in and said.

“Trust me, you’re better off not knowing her.”

“Ladies, it’s not polite to talk ill of the dead,” Blake interjected.

They both looked at him and rolled their eyes.

Nicolette said, “I apologize to you both for coming across kind of harsh, but I love that little man in there and I just can’t imagine my life without him.”

Blake
assured her. “We have no plans to take him away. We want what’s best for him and I can tell you guys love him very much.”

“We do. Oh where was I
? Tara, as Blake you should know, was a character. She did her best to break up Byron and me. When she died, God forgive me for saying this, I was glad she wouldn’t be a thorn in our side. We had no idea who Christopher’s biological father was, but we didn’t want him going into the system.”

“I appreciate that, because I might not have ever gotten to know him, if he had.”

Nicolette admitted, “We tried to find you. We didn’t know your name, but we had an investigator look for his real father. Once we hit a dead end, Byron and I decided to adopt him and make him officially ours.”

Blake
’s face lit up when Christopher walked into the room. He tuned out everything else as he spent time with his son. Caitlyn was unusually quiet. He wondered how she felt about their first encounter. He would soon find out.