Cross Country Chaos Read online

  “Dammit!”

  Mart tried turning it on, but it immediately shut down again. He fought the urge to throw it against the wall.

  Miracle of miracles, the flight was on time. He boarded and tried to calm the knot in his stomach. He felt horrible he wasn’t there for Kelly, and a more than a little angry she didn’t think she could confide in him.

  Not angry at her—angry at himself. Obviously he wasn’t doing a good job earning her trust.

  It was almost dark when the flight arrived a few minutes early in Dallas, but the connecting flight was late. Mart sat by the window at the gate, watching the luggage carts parked and ready to load in the plane when it arrived. His suitcase was on top, easily identifiable from the large, round neon orange ID tag on the handle. Twenty minutes after their scheduled departure time, the plane still wasn’t there. Mart grew more nervous. Every minute the plane was late arriving was another minute later getting into Tampa.

  After an hour of generic excuses, Mart rolled up to the gate agent. He smiled and forced himself to remain calm.

  “Hi. Look, I have a family emergency in Florida. I have to be in Tampa by six in the morning. What’s going on?”

  “It’s coming from O’Hare, but it hasn’t left yet. There’s some really bad thunderstorms in the area. They’re holding traffic for a little while longer.”

  “It hasn’t left O’Hare yet?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. We’re trying to get another plane, but it’s going to be at least an hour before we have a terminating flight here that we can prep to send to Tampa.”

  “So, we’re at least two more hours before we’re in the air again?”

  She nodded. “I’m so sorry.”

  He did the math. “No guarantees either.”

  “I’m afraid not. It’s possible they might cancel the flight.”

  “I can’t spend the night here. Can you get me on something? Anything?”

  “There aren’t any more flights to Tampa tonight.”

  He repeated the back and forth he’d had with the LAX agent. Anything to anywhere in Florida tonight? Nope. Any connecting flights to Florida?

  She looked it up. “There’s a flight to Raleigh-Durham, the connector lands at TIA a little after six in the morning. But it leaves here in a half-hour.”

  “Get me on it, please. I have to get home. My fiancée’s son had surgery, she needs me. Please.”

  The agent started to argue, but then she looked at him and changed her mind. “Hold on.” She got on the phone, tapped her computer. “Okay, but your bag might not make it—”

  He pointed to the window. “It’s on top of the cart. I can see it from here. If one of your ground crew can grab it, it’s the only one I checked. They could stow it in the hold with my chair at the other gate.”

  She nodded and talked to someone on a radio. “Okay, show me.”

  He went to the window and pointed it out. A ground crewman with a radio went to the luggage cart, looked, pointed.

  “Yeah, that one,” Mart confirmed.

  She spoke into the radio again, and the crewman grabbed his bag. “That’s the right one,” she said. A moment later, he brought it up to the gate counter for him.

  “Thanks,” Mart said, shaking his hand.

  “No problem, man. Thanks for your service to our country.”

  Mart smiled but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t the first time someone erroneously assumed he was a disabled vet. This time, he didn’t bother correcting them.

  As long as it got him to Kelly in time.

  The agent finished the ticket and asked one of her co-workers to take over. She grabbed his suitcase and carry-on. “We have to run.”

  He wryly smiled. “No problem, I’m a racer.”

  They made the gate with five minutes to spare. Mart profusely thanked the agent for her help. Settled on the flight, Mart had time to worry how Kelly was doing. It was already after ten at home, too late to call even if his phone wasn’t dead.

  * * * *

  Kelly lay in bed. She’d tried Mart again, left another voicemail an hour earlier, still no answer. And no reply to her text messages, either. He wasn’t mad at her for calling him so much, was he?

  She closed her eyes and fought the tears. They were right—her mom, Patty, Michelle. She needed him. She should have called him immediately and told him what was going on. She wasn’t strong enough to do this alone.

  Giving in, she left him a voicemail. “Mart, it’s Kelly. Everything isn’t okay. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but David filed paperwork on Wednesday trying to get custody of the boys. The hearing’s tomorrow at ten. I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to worry because there isn’t anything you can do. Please don’t be mad. I didn’t want you to miss more work because of me. Give me a call when you get this. I love you.”

  She ended the call and stared at the phone. She’d said it, couldn’t take it back. She just prayed he didn’t hate her.

  * * * *

  They landed in Raleigh on schedule. Mart had plenty of time to get to the bathroom and grab a sandwich at a snack bar before catching the connecting flight. Again he smacked himself. The cell charger. He could have grabbed it before his case was loaded in DFW and totally forgot. Wouldn’t have been much, but a few minutes of charge would allow him to send a text message.

  God, Rawlings, you’re too stupid for words.

  Without his phone, he had no way of looking up Sharon’s number, or even sending Kelly a text message. He hoped Kelly wasn’t too worried. At least now he was on the way home, would be there for her at the hearing.

  He went to the gate for his flight and found it delayed. He groaned and approached the agent. “How late?”

  She looked at her screen. “It’s en route, but it had to divert around some storms.”

  “How late will we get to Tampa?”

  “At least an hour.”

  He swore under his breath, out of options. There was nothing to do but wait.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Kelly awoke at five and checked her phone. No messages, no calls, no voicemails.

  That wasn’t like Mart.

  Maybe he was really mad?

  She didn’t want to think about that. Today, she had to focus on getting through the hearing. Kelly fingered the pendant and prayed she hadn’t ruined her relationship with Mart.

  Her mom was already up, had coffee brewing. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  She sat at the table. “I hope so.”

  “Did you talk to Mart last night?”

  Kelly tried to fight the tears. “I couldn’t reach him. I sent him text messages and left him a voicemail, but he hasn’t replied.”

  “Did you tell him?”

  Kelly nodded. “I left it on the last voicemail.” She looked at her mom. “You don’t think he’s mad, do you?”

  Sharon shook her head. “I’m sure he’s not. Do you have his hotel info? You could call him there.”

  “I meant to get that from him and forgot with everything that happened.”

  “Oh.” Sharon looked at the table. “Well, I’m sure he’s not mad.”

  “What if he is? Oh, Mom, what if I’ve royally screwed up and he’s so angry he won’t talk to me?”

  “Kelly,” she said firmly, “I can’t believe after all Mart has been through with you that he’d be like that. I’m sure he’ll be hurt you didn’t tell him sooner, but I refuse to believe he’d do something drastic.”

  The coffee finished, and Sharon poured Kelly a mug. “Go get a shower. Once the boys are off to school, I’ll come to the courthouse. I’m sure everything will be fine. Michelle would have demanded a continuation if she had any doubts. Right?”

  Kelly sniffled and took a sip of her coffee. “You’re right.”

  “Go on.”

  She did.

  Sharon tried Mart’s phone—straight to voicemail.

  “Mart, it’s Sharon. Please call Kelly. She’s worried you’re mad,
and she’s a wreck. We don’t have your hotel information, and it’s almost five-thirty here. Call her before the hearing, please. It would put her mind at ease.”

  That was all she could do.

  There was no reply from Mart by the time Patty arrived at seven to get Kelly. It was too early, but Kelly wanted to make sure they weren’t running late with traffic.

  They arrived at the courthouse at a quarter till eight and even had time to drive through Starbucks on the way. Patty didn’t try to pull conversation out of Kelly. Sharon had privately told Patty of her brief talk with Mart the day before.

  Michelle was on time and smiling. “This will be fine, really.”

  Kelly nodded, still unconvinced. She needed Mart. Why had she been so stupid? At least talk to him. Now he was probably so mad he didn’t want to talk to her. Why else wouldn’t he call? Unless something had happened to him…

  Kelly closed her eyes and fought her threatening tears. That was both unrealistic and unproductive. There could be lots of reasons why he hadn’t called back yet.

  Unfortunately, none of them good or comforting.

  Kelly nodded while Michelle spoke, unable to focus.

  Michelle’s harsh tone cut through her haze. “Kelly, dammit, I need you pissed off in there. I need you awake and aware and ready to fight for your boys.”

  “I’m worried.”

  “That’s fine. This dirtbag isn’t getting your kids, but I need you looking like a momma bear, not a limp dishrag, all right?”

  Kelly tried to smile. “Okay.”

  “And we’re going to slap him with revocation of visitation. The judge probably won’t hear that today. He’ll set another hearing and want witnesses, but we can subpoena Asswipe’s girlfriend for that. That should, if nothing else, put enough of a twist in Asswipe’s shorts to make him rethink this and possibly drop it.”

  “I don’t want to fight—”

  “Kelly, if we don’t end this once and for all, he’ll keep pulling this kind of shit. The only thing a guy like him understands is a show of superior force. Unless you give it to him, he won’t back down. He’ll keep chipping away at you.”

  “I don’t want to take the boys away from their father.”

  “You aren’t. The judge makes that decision. If I have to, we’ll get an ad litem involved. I have no doubts you’ll win this.”

  Kelly nodded and twisted her hands. She’d feel better if she could talk to Mart and know he wasn’t mad.

  Sharon arrived a little after nine-thirty. “How are you?”

  Kelly shrugged. Still no word from Mart, but she was taking deep breaths and trying to focus. Michelle was right. This was a load of garbage, and she could stick up for herself. The worst thing she could do was let David see her upset.

  They hadn’t seen David yet. Michelle left them in the snack bar to look for him and make the offer of dropping it. She returned at ten till, her lips pressed in a tight line. “He won’t dismiss.”

  “So what now?” Kelly asked.

  “We kick his ass from here to eternity.”

  Judge Donaldson was a pleasant, balding, older man, with a thick grey moustache that danced when he talked. His glasses gave him a librarian look, but from the way he eyed David when they were sworn in, Kelly suspected he was already forming his opinion.

  Michelle had warned Kelly to let her do all the talking unless the judge directly addressed her. He started by talking to David, asking him a few questions. Then he turned to Michelle. “What’s your client’s version, Counselor?”

  Michelle presented Kelly’s evidence, knocking down the various charges one by one, until they were left with the last—the unstable moral environment.

  The judge looked at David. “What exactly is your claim? This is pretty vague.”

  David swallowed hard. For the first time, Kelly realized he was nervous. That calmed her. She took a deep breath as she touched her necklace.

  “Well, she’s been seeing this guy,” David said.

  The judge waited for further explanation, and eventually said, “And?”

  “Well, sometimes he spends the night there with them. And they were all at the hotel when they went out of town when my son got sick.”

  The judge took off his glasses and leaned back in his chair. “And?”

  David swallowed again. “I don’t think that’s right. They’re not married.”

  Michelle barely concealed her smirk as the judge looked at her. “Counselor?”

  “Your Honor, Mr. Alexander has had a woman living with him for over a year now, unmarried, when the boys spend time with him. The boys know Mr. Alexander isn’t married to her. My client’s fiancé, Martin Rawlings, is a medaled Paralympian, a successful computer programmer, and he’s well-respected among his peers. He has no criminal record, and the boys adore him. Mr. Rawlings was even asked by the boys to propose to their mom. They love him. He has been nothing but a good and stable influence on them in the time he’s known them.

  “Yes, they were at a hotel together last weekend when Denny got sick, but they were at Denny’s wheelchair sports competition, where Mr. Rawlings was also working as a volunteer official. And they had two rooms—one for the boys, and another for Ms. Alexander and her fiancé, directly across the hall.

  “The first time Mr. Rawlings spent the night with my client when the boys were home was just a couple of weeks ago, after a drunken attack by Mr. Alexander. This was witnessed by both boys. And Mr. Rawlings—who is paralyzed and in a wheelchair, mind you—had to intercede on Ms. Alexander’s behalf to protect her from Mr. Alexander’s drunken attack. Mr. Rawlings spent the night at her house at the boys’ request, because they were afraid of their father trying to hurt their mother again. Mr. Alexander is lucky my client didn’t press charges, but she wanted to spare her sons further emotional distress.”

  David looked shocked. Did he really expect this wouldn’t be brought up? Or maybe he was too drunk that night to remember.

  Judge Donaldson frowned and turned to David. “Well?”

  David stammered and sputtered until the judge held up a hand. “Mr. Alexander, I don’t see any proof of your claims.” He looked at Michelle. “You have counter-motions?”

  Michelle nodded. She listed their demands and presented their evidence. Kelly listened, her hands twisting in her lap under the table.

  David tried to protest. The judge glared at him. “You had your turn, Mr. Alexander. Now it’s their turn. Don’t make me slap you with contempt.”

  David shut up and glowered at Kelly.

  She refused to meet his gaze, instead watching Michelle and the judge.

  The judge looked at Kelly. “Ms. Alexander, I don’t see any basis for the claims against you. I’m dismissing them all. As for your counter-motions, I’m granting all of them temporarily, based on your evidence and statements. I want a full hearing on this, Counselor. Get with my clerk to set up a date, preferably early next week, and no later than the week after, to present your evidence as to why it should be made permanent. And I’m assuming you’ll draw up the order to this effect?”

  “You’ll have it this afternoon, your Honor.”

  He nodded and looked at David. “Mr. Alexander, I suggest you hire an attorney between now and the hearing. I am granting all of your ex-wife’s motions temporarily, pending the outcome of the next hearing. And I am denying all of your motions. I suggest you prepare better for the next round.” He dropped his gavel and left the conference room. Michelle and Kelly stood.

  Kelly tried to talk. Michelle shushed her while she scooped up her paperwork. She propelled Kelly ahead of her out the door before Kelly could ask questions. The hearing had taken less than twenty minutes.

  Sharon and Patty sat on a bench outside in the commons waiting area. As they went by, Michelle shushed them and motioned for them to follow. David hadn’t appeared in the hallway yet, and Michelle wanted to be as far away as possible when he did. When they were out of sight in the snack bar, Michelle grinned.
/>   Kelly was still stunned—it hadn’t sunk in. “What happened?”

  “We won, girlfriend. I told you so.”

  Patty and Sharon both let out relieved sighs. “Oh, thank God!” Sharon said.

  “Ditto,” echoed Patty, who hugged Kelly. “We told you this would be okay.”

  “What were all the countermotions?” Kelly asked. “I read through them, but honestly, it didn’t stick.”

  “Asswipe no longer has unsupervised visitation. Temporarily, at least. And no overnight visitation. He can talk to the boys on the phone, and if you wanted to take them somewhere to meet with him, you could. But he isn’t allowed to take them anymore unsupervised. He’s not allowed to be drinking or intoxicated when he’s visiting them, either. You have the right to take them out of state on trips without his permission. There’s a few other things, minor, but enough to bug him.”

  Kelly’s chest tightened as a wave of nausea swept through her. “I don’t want to take the boys away from their father,” she whispered.

  Michelle’s face hardened. “Kelly, we have to quit dicking around. David was trying to take the boys away from you, and you know damn well that’s not what’s best for them. You can still let them visit, but only under controlled, safe circumstances.”

  Kelly nodded, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to calm her stomach. It was too much. And still no calls or messages from Mart.

  * * * *

  Mart swore and honked at a slow-moving car that pulled in front of him and poked along. He hadn’t left TIA until after eight, and morning traffic on I-275 through St. Pete was at a stand-still due to a major accident. He headed east instead and jumped off I-275, over to the Crosstown Expressway. He took that east and made up some time. Maybe he could get there before the hearing ended.

  Unfortunately, when he merged onto I-75, traffic southbound was also backed up. He found the Tampa XM Radio traffic channel and learned there was another accident a few miles south. Both 301 and 41 southbound were also jammed as a result.

  “Dammit!” Mart pounded the steering wheel. Everything conspired to keep him from getting to Kelly. And worse, he realized his cell phone car charger wasn’t in the van. He must have taken it inside the house and left it when he packed for the trip.