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“Good. Let’s focus on Christian today, and I would keep that tidbit to yourself. It is not going to help anything in there if Ellis discovers that you have another three-year-old son.”
“I would like to keep it as quiet as possible right now. I know eventually it will get out, but in court for Christian is not the place that I would like for it to happen.”
Ellis would be all too happy to use Jeremy against me. It was bad enough I was still having to deal with Francis. I did not need to give Ellis more ammunition. It was going to come out, obviously, in a couple of days when it was Jasmine’s turn in court, but that was later and not something I wanted to stress over today.
“Perfect, I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. They are already in there, so we need to go and join them.”
I gave a nod, and I followed Alvin into the room and saw that it was similar to a conference room. Ellis and her lawyer were sitting on the right side of the table with the mediator sitting at the head. Alvin and I walked over to the left side and took our seats. I could see the annoyance and anger written all over her face. She was sitting with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn’t want to be here any more than I did, but I was at least going into this with zero expectations or attitude. She apparently was going at this completely differently.
“Thank you both for coming here today. My name is Richard Holland, and I will be your Mediator today. I would like to inform you all that this is being recorded and even an unofficial agreement is not legal until the Judge signs off on it. Do any of you have any questions?”
I simply shook my head and when no one said anything, Richard indicated for Ellis’ lawyer to start the mediation.
“Given the nature of Mr. Mitchell’s career and how often he is away for business, it only makes sense for Christian to reside with my client. She works from home and is able to give Christian the attention that a child like him needs without him being with babysitters or nannies.”
“My client runs a multi-billion-dollar company that supports your client. Mr. Mitchell has a live-in nanny to be there when he is unable to due to work. He also has a babysitter that he uses on rare occasions when his nanny needs a couple hours off. Nannies and babysitters are not the area of concern. It is your client’s behavior,” Alvin started. We had decided it would be best if he spoke, and I allowed him to do what he does best.
“I don't have any behavior that is of any concern,” Ellis immediately said, and her lawyer gave her a pointed look.
“The behavior in question is the excessive amount of alcohol that is being consumed by your client weekly. Having empty and full liquor bottles all over the house. Getting intoxicated when she was supposed to be watching Christian, and that is just recently. She has been gone for over a year. No contact the whole time. Before your client left, she was disappearing for weeks at a time to get drunk, do drugs, and cheat on her husband. When she left Christian, she did so while she was the only one home and left him in his crib for hours until my client returned home from work.”
“That is all in the past, and there is no proof that my client has done any drugs in her life,” her lawyer jumped in.
It was taking everything in me to not call bullshit, but I knew I had to stay quiet.
“The drug test has already been approved by Judge Allen. By the next hearing we will know that she has been taking illegal drugs for years now. I see no reason to try and hide it. Your client should be honest and then we could work something out, but we can’t if she is going to continue to lie and have destructive behavior.”
“I’ve never done drugs. And you want to talk about my behavior? What about his?” Ellis snapped.
“My client hasn’t done anything wrong. He has been more than willing to work with you, but you refuse to admit that you have a problem.”
“Nothing wrong? Just neglected me and his son. Just went off without any notice to travel all over the world and cheat on me. Why isn’t he being subjected to the humiliation of a drug test? Why isn’t his actions being called into question? He’s mentally and emotionally abusive to me and my son,” Ellis seethed, and I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
“Really? You want to sit there and claim that I am the one with a problem? You cheated on me, not the other way around. I caught you in our bed having sex with some random guy you brought home from the club. You were both drunk, and there was white powder on the bedside table with a straw. All of which was during a time when you were alone with Christian and were supposed to be watching him. I told you to go to rehab, and the next week you left for over a year. You don’t get to claim that I’m abusive when you have done nothing but abuse that beautiful boy.”
She didn’t get to play the victim, fuck that. Christian was the victim, not her. I didn’t care what she had to say; she was never going to get to see him until she straightened up her life and proved to me that I could start to trust her again. Until then, she was never going to be a mother to my son.
She scoffed before she spoke, “You think your OCD doesn’t affect him? Or your anxiety towards a mess. What child should have to live in a house that they can’t even get a speck of dirt on anything because Daddy’s losing his shit?”
“Unlike you Ellis, I’ve been working on bettering myself. Is my house clean? Yes. But I can go to bed knowing there’s some dirty dishes in the sink and not feel like my skin is crawling. Christian made sugar cookies from scratch and got flour all over the place. We decorated cupcakes and finger painted together. We made a fort in the living room and built mud castles on the beach. All of this is something you would know if you had been around.”
Some of that was done with Jasmine, but I had gotten a lot better on messes. Me and the boys had enjoyed playing in the mud on the beach, and they got cleaned up before getting back in my car. But they loved it, and I loved seeing the infectious smile that Christian had on the whole time. The other day, the boys showed me how to build a fort, my very first one, and we spent the day in it watching movies and playing games. It was all cleaned up afterwards, but that was okay, because I had done it in the first place. There was a balance, and I was finding it.
“My client doesn’t want to keep your client out of Christian’s life. He merely wants to make sure that his son is safe whenever he is around her. All we are asking is for your client to admit that she has a problem and seek treatment. Once she can prove she is sober for three months, then she can start to see Christian and work up to overnight visits,” Alvin said, trying to get this back on track before I said something that could hinder us.
“I’m not some criminal that needs to be watched,” Ellis snapped.
“My client does not have a problem, nor does she need treatment. She is not looking for visitation. She wants full custody and all rights to determine when your client can see the child in question. We will not settle for anything less,” her lawyer said, and Alvin closed his notebook as he spoke.
“Then this is wasting everyone’s time. The drug test will speak for itself.”
“It would appear that you both are not going to be able to resolve this today. We can adjourn and try again at a later date,” Richard said, but he knew we were way too far apart to ever come to some sort of middle ground.
It was disappointing, but I had expected as much. All we could do was wait for her to do the drug test, and then maybe once she had hard evidence in front of her, Ellis would do the right thing.
Jasmine
“It’sgoingtobeokay,” Liam said as he took my hand in his for a moment as we walked up the steps to the courthouse.
