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"Hmm," Brenda said finally. "I'm afraid I don't think that will be possible."
"Is he going to Kuala Lumpur? I thought he might be going. He hasn't seen Maureen and Chris for weeks."
"No," Brenda said. "He's not going. Maureen wants him to stay in town in case she flies in for the weekend."
"Oh," I said, frowning. "But it's not certain she will?"
"No. She's thinking she might fly back to Manhattan for a few days so she can see Liam, but it's up in the air in case Chris has something going on and she has to stay."
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"Huh," I said, frowning. "I could always book a room for Liam and if Maureen doesn't end up coming back, he could fly with us. We won't be leaving until the day before anyway."
I heard her exhale like she was frustrated. "Look, Drake, I'm sorry, but I don't think Maureen wants Liam to go anywhere with you at the moment."
"Why?" I tried to damp down the anger that threatened to boil up. "I thought we agreed that Liam would spend time with me on weekends when he was off school."
"Maureen thinks that with all the publicity around the trial, especially given the recent, uh, videos that have been released, it would be harmful to Liam."
"What?"
"I don't agree with her, but she's the mother. She wants you to wait until the trial publicity blows over."
I felt my blood pressure rising, but took in a deep breath, trying to not let Maureen's unreasonableness get the better of me. I didn't need the aggravation considering I had to testify in the afternoon.
"Whatever," I said and exhaled, trying to let it go. "I'll still book a room and flight for him on the off chance she has a change of heart by then. The trial will be over so I hope the publicity will have died down.”
"I wouldn't waste your money," she said softly. "I don't think Maureen will change her mind. She was pretty clear on this."
"It's my money to waste," I said a little too harshly. Then, I felt bad. "Look, Brenda, I don't mean to sound mad at you. I know this isn't your choice or decision. I'm going to book for him anyway. I can cancel if things don't work out. It's no problem. Thanks for being so reasonable about all this. I'm hoping to come by and see Liam this Sunday, and take him out for brunch if that's okay with you."
"Sunday isn't a good day," she said, her voice soft. "Liam has a birthday party to go to. Maybe next weekend."
I closed my eyes, hoping there really was a birthday party and Brenda wasn't just making an excuse. "Okay. I'll call back next week to arrange a time."
"Take care, Drake."
"You as well."
I hung up and turned to Kate, whose eyes were warm, her expression sympathetic.
"Well, that sucks," I said and forked some cold eggs into my mouth. I chewed for a moment, trying to calm myself. Kate reached over and rubbed my shoulder affectionately.
"Things will calm down and you'll be able to see Liam more often."
"I hope so." I drank down my juice and tried to pull myself out of the funk I felt coming on. Beside me, Sophie chirped and I glanced at her, noticing her smile when our eyes met.
She was such a beautiful child. She was mine. I may not have Liam with me, but I had Sophie and I was determined to make her as happy and healthy as I could. While I was deprived of being Liam's father, I could be a great father to her. I turned to Kate and reached out, taking her hand and squeezing.
"I'll be fine at exactly 3:30, after my testimony is over. And then, what I want to do is turn off the television, switch off my internet, and spend the week with my two favorite ladies."
"We're all yours," she said and leaned over to kiss me.
* * *
I left the house at 2:00, John driving over to Lara's office on the way. She wanted to come with me to offer moral support while I waited for the call to enter the courtroom, and then we were going to go out after and talk about how it went, and then put the case to bed with a drink. I'd be having non-alcoholic beverage just to be on the safe side, but Lara deserved a cocktail. Then, I'd go home and implement my plan to completely disregard the case from then on.
When we arrived at her building, I sent her a text and we waited for her to come down. Sure enough, within five minutes, she stepped out of the building, looking like a million dollars in her long black coat, high leather boots, a grey pinstripe suit and white blouse underneath, her platinum blonde hair pulled back into her signature tight bun. She looked every inch a dominatrix, and I could easily imagine her intimidating business men in her dungeon.
