Eighteen

Everyone in the room is frozen on the spot; except Lucas, who looks confused. Ava is the first to react, and rushes to her side, cooing her softly and trying to distract her with a dip in the pool. Emily quickly forgets what she has said and rushes out of the room, Ava quickly trailing behind her.

Once they are out of the room, I slam the door shut and everyone lets out a deep breath, eyes turning to look at Lucas.

"Do you know how close you were to revealing a rather large secret to a little girl who might not be able to handle it, let alone understand it?" I say to him with narrowed eyes.

"W-what do you mean?" Lucas asks.

Charles rolls his eyes. "Emily doesn't know that Ashton is her father," he says. Lucas's eyes widened and his mouth popped open in shock.

"She has grown up without a father figure, and to be honest, I have no idea what Ava has told her when it comes to why she doesn't have a father in her life, or if she has even asked. This might be the first time," I say. Charles and Lucas both look at me with a mixture of shock and sympathy. Though it has always been at the back of my mind, it's a topic we've never had the time to breach, and every time we did have the time, the moment was so peaceful I didn't want to ruin it.

"What are you going to do when all of this is over, and you want to start a life with Ava and her? As she gets older, she is going to start asking questions. When will she be old enough to handle the big reveal?" Lucas asks.

"Well, thankfully she is young enough that maybe, she will gradually forget everything during these years, and will remember me as always being in her life, as her father. I've already spent enough time with her, she has grown attached to me."

Lucas gives me a look. "Ashton, the influence of parent's in a child's life is very important, throughout every milestone of their life, no matter how young. I wouldn't take this so lightly, there may come a day where she asks if you are her real father or not, and where you were for the first bit of her life, if she does remember."

I don't want to hear anything he is saying. I don't ever want that day to come.

I excuse myself for the night, leaving Charles and Richard to help Lucas find a room for the night. With Ava and Emily here safe, and Amber out of the country, it's time to get down to work. We have found a great lawyer I hope, and gathered enough solid evidence to build a case with him. The sooner we meet, the better, with Ava out of it as much as possible.

When this is said and done, I don't want her name a part of it at all.

***

Come the morning, Charles, Lucas and I are ready to meet the lawyer, while Ava and Emily are still sound asleep in bed. I task Richard to watch them and tend to their needs as much as he can while I'm away, and make sure that if my mother calls or arrives at the house, that he can make up a good enough lie to keep her off my tracks for the day.

We drive to downtown New York, to a tall glass building. The plaque on the door is gold with white writing, reading 'Jack Newton, Defense Lawyer'. I take a deep breath, folder in hand, and knock on the door. A crisp, middle-aged man answers the door, a bright smile on his slightly tanned face.

"Welcome, gentlemen," he says and opens the door further for us. He turns to me and holds out his hand, "you must be Ashton Bradford, I recognize your face from a few adverts around town, you're quite the young business man, I must say. Mind me asking how old you are?"

I'm a little taken back by his question, though I should expect them by now. Though my family name carries a lot of meaning, even now a day, I haven't been out in the public recently, or gone to any public events, and have forgot the limelight I despise so much.

"I'm 22, sir."

He nods approvingly. "Well, you've done a fine job. And who are you gentlemen?" he turns to Lucas and Charles, introducing themselves, before offering us all seats in front of his large wood desk. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"There is a lot you can do for us. We are attempting something that isn't usually done in court, unless of course something drastic happens, like–" Charles starts to babble on.

I clear my throat and cut him off. "I'll explain, Charles," I mutter, causing him to fall back in his chair, grumbling to himself. I suppress the urge to roll my eyes at his childish behavior, and turn back to Mr. Newton.

"We have hard evidence against my mother, Marion Bradford, for various crimes, some possibly worth jail time, and we want her to face them all in court," I explain briefly. Mr. Newton nods as if he is thinking everything over, before turning his steely gray eyes back on me.

"Well, this is an unusual request, something I personally have never received," he mutters to himself, throwing a look at Charles. "Though, that isn't to say it hasn't been done before, many times I will say. Is that the evidence there?" he asks and points to the folder in my lap. I nod and place it on the table, a little hesitant to slide it over. "May I take a flip through?"

I push the folder across the table and he quickly flips through the pages, stopping on a few to get a better look, frowning to himself every once in a while, causing my chest to tighten every time, wondering what he is thinking.

"My, this is some serious stuff. This is your mother?"

Charles and I nod, our faces bleak.

Mr. Newton lets out a small breath. "Well, I'm glad you have this. With this little bit of evidence alone, I really think we can build a great case against your mother, and have her serve some serious jail time. There is a lot we still have to do, but we got a good chunk of it right here."

"You really think so?" Lucas asks and practically jumps out of his seat.

"Absolutely, these are serious crimes, and there is quite a bit here. Now, before we start digging a little deeper into planning, I will say I am more than willing to take on this case, if you are willing to take me on as your lawyer. I assume so, since you have sought me out," he says and flashes us another bright, blinding white smile, and reaches into his desk drawer. He throws a few papers on the table, sliding one of them over to us.

"These are my rates and prices, policy and blah blah, take a moment to look through it–"

Charles grabs the paper and throws it back before he can finish speaking. "I'll give you 10,000$ right now to take on this case. If you win us this case, I'll hand you a blank check at the end and you can write down any number you want and I will sign it," he says, and is reaching into his jacket pocket to pull his wallet out and a folded bunch of papers. He pulls one out and starts writing down a check for 10,000$, and slides it over to Mr. Newton.

He stares at Lucas and I in shock and confusion, unsure of what to do. I just shrug and Lucas says nothing, nodding his head towards the check, urging him to write down his name and business, before Charles signs it off.

"Now, shall we get down to business?" he says after Mr. Newton takes the check and puts it into his desk.

"I suppose so," he mutters and clears his throat, turning towards his laptop to flip it on and begin our research and brainstorming. He calls for a secretary to come and bring some small snacks and coffee, knowing we have a long morning, and possibly afternoon ahead of us. I didn't want to be away from Ava and Emily for long, but I wanted to get as much of this done, before my mother figures everything out.

I know it isn't going to take her long.

"Alright, so there is a certain way we have to go about this. First off, we need to involve authority, and press charges against your mother, accusing her of these crimes and bringing evidence to police. Second, your mother will then most likely plead not guilty, and the case will then go to trial. That is where I come in, as your lawyer and prosecutor, it will then be up to your mother to gather together her defense team, and I can imagine with these crimes and her financial stability, you can bet she will be bringing a lot of fire power."

Mr. Newton quickly turns around and starts flipping through papers.

"Now, I have been in this business for a while, and have been stationed in New York long enough to know all the names and skills of all other defense attorney's in this state," he adds.

"Skills?" Charles asks.

"You know, their strengths, weaknesses, whether they're hot-tempered, impatient, whatever makes them so great at their job, and so terrible," he says and slaps a few papers down on the table. "We can't use any of the information in the court of law, but we can keep them in mind when fighting against them."

I like where this conversation is going so far. My family is known for playing dirty, and I won't put it past my mother and her lawyers to play the same game. It's good to know Mr. Newton here might be alright with getting his hands a little dirty as well.

***

By the end of the meeting, we have organized our case and Mr. Newton has helped teach us how to file our report with the police. Charles and Lucas go to the police station to do that, while I return home to see Ava and Emily, and finally tackle another demon.

I received several texts from Ava throughout the meeting, telling me Emily is still questioning who her father is, though she isn't sure if the little girl understands what she is asking, and is therefore freaking out over it. When I get home, I'm happy to find Ava occupied in the pool, while Ava is sitting on the side, watching her with worried eyes. She looks up to see me, looking slightly relieved.

"So, how did it go?" she asks, biting her lip. I wrap and arm around her waist and bring her close, pecking her lips softly before pulling away. I feel her relax in my arms and rest her head on my chest.

"It went great, the storm should be hitting soon," I joke, but she pulls back with a confused look.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Charles and Lucas are at the police station now, filing a proper report against my mother. Now, we wait until she is arrested, and we finally end things."

She wraps her arms around me again, squeezing me, silently showing me how relieved she is to hear that. I am just as relieved, knowing after all this is said and done, I will finally be free, and have the life I've always dreams of.

Emily finally sees me, and rushes out of the pool to come and give my pant leg a wet hug. I pat her head gently and smile timidly down at her, waiting to see if she will bring up the earlier conversation. She smiles up at me, her eyes glinting with delight.

"Do you know who my daddy is?" she asks. My heart drops in my chest, and I instantly look towards Ava.

"She has been asking all day, the only thing to get her to stop for a few minutes was the pool. But now that you are here, she is distracted from the pool," she says and frowns, looking exhausted.

"I'm sorry," I mutter.

She gives me a tired smile. "It isn't anyone's fault, this is something I knew we would have to tackle someday, I was just hoping she wouldn't understand until she was a little older."

I nod, agreeing completely with her. This isn't a topic I wanted to touch, I'm not even sure I'm ready for it.

Ava looks down at Emily and grabs her hand while Richard rushes up with a towel. She wraps it around her then carries the little girl inside. We stop in the living room, and I tell Richard he is relieved for the day, he has done more than enough.

Babysitting was never in his job description.

Ava takes a deep breath and faces Emily. "Honey, you know that you have only had me in your life, right?"

Emily nods, clearly understanding everything, completely blowing my mind once again. She is so little, yet knows so much.

"Your Daddy has been away for some time, he wasn't able to be in your life for reasons that aren't his or your fault."

I stand in the background, giving her the space she needs to explain all of us this to Emily. I can't help but feel such great admiration as I look at her, speaking to our little girl with such grace and poise, like she isn't a three-year-old girl.

A smile touches my lips, admiring the two miracles that have fallen into my lap, despite everything I have gone through. I am still granted this once in a life time happiness.

Ava turns to me, a small smile on her face, indicating that it's my turn to come over. She grabs my hand and I kneel down in front of Emily on the couch, still bundled up in her towel.

"Emily, this is your Daddy," she says softly, and gives my hand a trembling squeeze.

"Hi, sweetheart," I say. Emily looks at me with wide eyes, before grin breaks out on her face and she throws her arms around my neck, giggling in my ear.

"I knew you were my Daddy," she manages to say through her gleeful laughing. My heart swells at both her word and the sound of her laughter. Nothing could ever compare to this moment, except maybe the day I marry Ava, and make this beautiful family complete.

With this one step accomplished, I feel the confidence boost I need, to stride into the court room, and take my mother down.

Knowing I have a family, and happiness, waiting for me on the other side.