It got worse from there.
Anne Billingsley walked Christine through a series of misleading events related to my job, virtually putting words in her mouth. The charade concluded with the trip to Disneyland, which the lawyer dressed up as some horrible minefield of dangers for Little Alex, whom I “abandoned” to go searching through Southern California for a psychopath who could terrorize my family again.
Chapter 35
THEN IT WAS MY TURN.
The time Ben spent interviewing me on the witness stand was the hardest and trickiest ordeal I’d ever faced, with the most at stake. He had coached me not to address the judge directly, but it was hard not to. My little boy’s future was in her hands, wasn’t it?
Judge June Mayfield. She looked to be about sixty, with a stiff beauty-shop kind of hairdo that was more middle-America 1950s than new-millennium Seattle. Even her name sounded old fashioned to me. As I sat in the witness chair, I wondered if Judge Mayfield had children. Was she divorced? Had she been through anything like this herself?
“I’m not here to say negative things about anyone,” I said slowly. Ben had just asked me if I had any concerns about Christine as a parent. “I just want to talk about what’s best for Alex. Nothing else matters.”
His nod and the pursing of his lips told me that was the right answer—or was the look merely for the judge’s benefit?
“Yes, absolutely,” he said. “So could you just please explain to the court how Alex Junior came to live with you for the first year and a half of his life?”
Sitting there on the stand, I had a direct sight line with Christine. That was good, I thought. I didn’t want to say anything here that I wasn’t willing to say to her face.
I explained as straightforwardly as I could that Christine hadn’t felt prepared to be with me or raise a child after what had happened in Jamaica. I didn’t need to dress it up. She had chosen not to stick around, period. She’d told me that she was “unfit” to bring up Alex. Christine had used that word, and I would never forget it. How could I?
“And how long would you say it was between Ms. Johnson’s abandonment—”
“Objection, Your Honor. He’s putting words into his client’s mouth.”
“Overruled,” said Judge Mayfield.
I tried not to invest too much in her response, but it felt good to hear the overrule anyway.
Ben went on with his questions. “How long would you say it was between that abandonment and the next time Ms. Johnson actually laid eyes on her son?”
I didn’t have to think about it. “Seven months,” I said. “It was seven months.”
“Yes, seven months without seeing her son. How did you feel about that?”
“I guess I was surprised to hear from Christine more than anything else. I had begun to think that she wasn’t coming back. So had Little Alex.” That was the truth, but it was hard to say out loud in the courtroom. “Our whole family was surprised, by both her absence and then her sudden return.”
“And when was the next time you heard from her?”
“When she said she wanted Little Alex to come live in Seattle. By that time, she had already hired a lawyer in D.C.”
“How much time had passed this time?” Ben asked.
“Another six months had gone by.”
“That’s it? She abandons her son, sees him seven months later, goes away again, and comes back wanting to be a mother? Is that how it happened?”
I sighed. “Something like that.”
“Dr. Cross, can you tell us now, from the heart, why you are asking for custody of your son?”
The words just poured out.
“I love him tremendously; I adore Little Alex. I want him to grow up with his brother and sister, and his grandmother, who raised me from the time I was nine. I think Jannie and Damon are my track record. I’ve shown that whatever faults I have, I’m more than capable of raising happy and, if I may say so, pretty amazing kids.”
I looked over at Jannie, Damon, and Nana. They smiled my way, but then Jannie started to cry. I had to look back at Ben, or I thought I might lose it, too.
I noticed that even Judge Mayfield had looked over at the kids, and that she seemed concerned.