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Bree and I decided if this was going to work smoothly with the kids, we would all have to get along. The kids would need to see this firsthand. We wouldn’t have to be friends, but we could be cordial and respectful of each other. I was apprehensive at first, but Landon and I talked about it, and I decided to go over to her house, and Bree and I took the boys to the park. After the initial awkwardness, we got right to it, there on the park bench.
“He has your name written across his heart, Lacey, literally. I’m not angry with you. Jealous? Sure. You had something from him I never had.”
“What’s that?”
“His heart. He’s a good man and a good father; I can admit the truth even with our differences. His time with me was temporary. Then he found you again, or I should say our sons found each other.” She smiles. “I’m not going to go into hysterics with you. No need for the drama. It is what it is.” She looks at our sons playing with the other kids. “I got what most women still want: husband, child, a home. I didn’t pressure him for any of it. He gave me those things. What I want to know is, what makes you so unforgettable? Why did you break up, if your love was that special?”
“He didn’t tell you?” I ask, shocked, eyes still trained on the boys.
“No. He refused. Discussions of you were off-limits. I left it alone.”
I think about it. If I want to tell her. If I want to open up myself and my son to yet another person.
“I think you owe me that, since it looks like you’ll be heading off with my soon to be ex-husband, and you’ll be picking up where you left off as college sweethearts.”
She absolutely needs to know the truth. “No, I don’t owe you an explanation, but you probably need to know the truth. So you know how hard this is, especially for Landon to be stepping into Jacob’s life, being the male role model in his life. Assuming the role as a father figure.”
I wave to my son and watch him laugh, happy, without a care in the world. That makes my heart sing with joy.
“I was raped. He couldn’t handle it.” She gasps, hands covering her mouth. “Not that he couldn’t—I found out I was pregnant as a result of the rape, and I decided to keep the baby. He couldn’t handle that. That was Jacob.”
“Oh my God, Lacey. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. If I did, I wouldn’t—”
I stop her, because I’ve heard a lot of apologies from people who had nothing to do with it. The only one I should have gotten never came. I wouldn’t want it, if it ever did. “It’s fine. It is now, but back then it was a disaster. My whole life was wrecked. I lost everything in me.”
I tell her the entire story from begging to end.
“Mr. Stanton, are you sure?”
“Yes. We were kissing, and just as I was about to enter, she stopped me. She changed her mind. She didn’t want her boyfriend to find out. I said okay. Pulled up my pants and left. Didn’t see her again till she left the party. There is a house full of people who can verify where I was. They have,” he says smugly.
“So you are absolutely sure there was no penetration? You didn’t enter her body at any time during the night? Just to be clear, that’s what you are saying?”
“That’s what I’ve said. We didn’t have sex that night. She wanted me to stop, and I did.”
“Are you sure?”
“You can keep asking; my answer won’t change.”
“Your Honor,” my lawyer says.
“Mr. Stanton, please answer the question.”
“I’ll repeat it again, just in case you’ve forgotten, Mr. Stanton.” My lawyer smiles at him, looking straight into his eyes. “You did not enter her body at any time during the night? Oral, manual, or penile-vaginal intercourse?”
“Yes. I’m sure. I am not her attacker. She has the wrong guy.”
“Mmm...” She walks back to her desk and opens a file. “You’re a religious man. Do you believe in miracles, Mr. Stanton?”
“No.”
“Your Honor,” his lawyer interrupts. “Where is prosecution going with this?”
“I promise this relates to the case, Your Honor.”
“Proceed.”
“No miracles. Do you believe in odds and statistics?”
