How are you not Shaken?

Dearest Diary,

Something happened that is making my insides crawl out in anger. You guessed it. Monica!

That lawsuit we've been waiting for is finally here and even though I am sad, I am glad since Troy finally gets to see his mother in her true colours.

I am not lawyer so I don't know how this will play out and there is also the issue of whose side Troy will take. I know I should be ashamed to think like that, but I like to keep all my bases covered.

After all Troy is just a man and even he can crack under pressure. Ask me, I know it. Family can either be your biggest asset or liability.

************************************************************

I finish typing that last bit and smile, gazing at my cousin, poring over my documents like his life depends on it.

His white dress shirt is folded at the sleeves and his grey trousers are wrinkled around the knees. Dark circles are beginning to form under his eyes and his usually neat blond mop is tousled, the result of continuously, running fingers through it, as he struggles to solve my legal problems.

"I don't know Attara. Why don't you just get a family lawyer. I can do corporate, but this, this is plain tortue!" He complains, slamming the bunch of papers on my desk.

"Come on Dom. You're great. I know it."

He looks up to face me, his bedraggled appearance looking more apparent than it did before. One look at my face and the tired expression gets pulled up into a frown.

"Why are you smiling?" He snaps. His entire outlook is so comical, that I can't help but laugh.

"I wasn't aware that it was a crime to be happy?"

His frown grows deeper and his lips narrow into a serious line.

"Attara. I don't think you get the magnitude of this lawsuit. She is not only suing you for custody, but theft among other crimes against her granddaughter and family..."

"None of which is true. So I have nothing to worry about!"

"You're so naive." He says shaking his head in disbelief. "When it comes to law it doesn't matter if you are innocent or guilty. It's how the case is presented and the strength of your evidence."

"Exactly," I reply still smiling "I am convinced that I have a great lawyer. Whatever else you need, you just have to ask."

Dominic groans and a chortle escapes from my mouth.

"I just hope you're right Attara. For your sake, I hope that you're right."

At that particular moment, his phone rings and he looks at it in surprise.

"It's Troy."

"Go ahead. Take it. I'll be right outside."

I walk out of the room to give him privacy, even though curiosity is chewing serioisly at me. I think back to the summons and laugh, thinking of how efficient Monica was, in making sure that the papers reached me. As it now seems, there is no place I can go to run away from her. Not that I was doing that, but it is always good to know what a crazy mind and a little too much money can do.

My office door opens and Dom looks out. He finds me pacing the front hall, thinking and he beckons me over.

"Dom, stop being ridiculus and say what you have to say."

"Fine. Blame me for minding curious ears, but he said that he is coming. He just got the news from one of his associates."

"Where is he? Why didn't he call me?"

"He was getting on the plane and I am guessing that he thinks that you're mad. Also, I may not know much about relationships, but isn't it key to talk things through, face to face?"

Dom is right, but that doesn't mean that like it. In fact, I know for a fact that if I tell he is right, I will never hear the end of it and we are running on a strict deadline.

"Urgh...Okay! Go back to work!" I finally tell him. My cousin scowls at me and turns back into the room. As he closes the door behind him, I swear I hear him say the words 'slave driver' and that alone is enough to make me laugh.

Even as I laugh, I think through Dom's earlier words. It's true, I should not be laughing. My situation is so dire that the normal thing to do is cry. However, I don't feel sad, or panicked or all those other emotions that one would be expected to feel when they are on the verge losing their only child or about to face several years in jail for a crime they did not commit.

No, I don't feel any of it.

Instead, I am filled with peace. Overwhelming peace and Joy as the words of Philipians four- seven are made real in my situation.

"And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

As I think through those words, an idea forms in my head and I start climbing the stairs to my room. I open the door to the master ensuite and walk to the bedstand where my phone is lying. I scheme through my contacts and find my cousin Caleb's number.

I press the call button and I smile when I hear the phone ringing on the other end.

"Attara! I knew you would miss me eventually."

I laugh at my cousin's unorthodox greeting and move on to explain my situation to him.

"You're right. I am a family lawyer and you're just in luck. Just yesterday I decided to postpone my going back to the States. I don't know why, but it just felt right."

"Well, God loves me."

"He does. He truly does. When can we meet? I am assuming that you don't have much time to prepare, and I happen to be idle."

I laugh, thanking God that things are falling into place. I give him the adress to my home and he ends the call, promising to be there in the next thirty minutes or so.

~~~~

"This is serious! How are you not shaken?" Caleb asks, his jovial and playful facade, gone.

"I asked her the same, but she keeps strolling around here, grinning at me like an idiot." My other cousin Dom replies.

I gave him the time off to rest, but it seems that that was not adequate and he's getting more spleenful by the minute.

"There is thing called 'committing it to the good Lord' and I have already done that. I trust Jesus to do his part and I am also doing mine..."

"Laughing around like a loon?" Dom asks and Calebs laughs out loudly, despite the gloomy mood he had worked himself into.

"No. Rejoicing."

My cousin Caleb stares at me with wonder filled eyes.

"That's deep! I didn't take you for a religious person."

"I am not. Jesus and I kind of have an agreement."

"You mean a covenant?" He asks me grinning.

"Same thing. I know he won't let me burn."

Caleb nods and unlike Dom, he seems to light up with that newly found knowledge. We begin to go through the papers and I produce the evidence of my and Bri's dual citizenship, our passports, tax returns, receipts and anything that Caleb thinks will help our case.

To say that he is surprised at my bank statement is an understatement. The 'O' that his mouth forms is only matched by the one that he formed when he arrived at my new residence.

I express my need to maintain secrecy and we agree to keep my pseudonym and other such details covered up until it is absolutely necessary. At one point Linda arrives to provide documents from the publishing house that may support my claims and I also ring up my banker in order to organise a seating where he can give us a sworn statement.

"This is good progress." Caleb says, putting the last of the documents into a folder.

"Yea. I think we've got most our the bases covered. It's also great that that woman undermines you, that way she will not see it coming when we pull that rug from under her feet." Dom says tiredly.

It's true, Monica undermines me and maybe, just maybe, that will prove to be our biggest asset.

"By the way, that was a clever thing you did back then. Changing Bri's surname and incorporating the 'White' name into it? I can just say that it came as a blessed at this time."

I nod again and turn back to Caleb.

"What next?"

"We wait for your boyfriend to get here. Hopefully he can also give us a sworn statement."

I nod, thinking of the odds of him refusing, but catch myself just in time. I am supposed to be positive, rejoicing, and negativity is hardly that way to do it.

We store away the documents in my safe and get out office to join the rest of the household for dinner. My mother and father are also present, David too and I assume that he is bringing an update from the meeting he had with one of the companies.

After supper, Shea helps Caleb settle in and I move back into the office to talk with David.

"How did it go?" I ask him.

"Great. They signed and we start supplying in March."

"Really?" I shout and David nods, smiling at the exuberance I am exuding at that great piece of information.

"We did it." He nods. "We did it Lord." I add, much more softly, closing my eyes as the first tear rolls down my cheek.