Damon (28 page)

“That’s a lie!
I never knew a damned thing
. S
he probably wrote those when she found out I wanted to see my son for the first time,” Brody said to the judge.

“Sit down
. G
ibbons, I don’t tolerate stupidity in my court room, nor do I like someone to yell louder than me
. S
it your butt down or else
. P
roceed, Grant, what else
you got in your bag of tricks?
Hand that stuff over to the bailiff and let me see it as you present.”

“Thank you, Your Honor
. I
have a letter from Hart and Hart, the then attorney firm for the Gibbons family, stating that if my client put Mr. Gibbons’ name on the birth certificate, she would be sued
. T
here is also a DNA test that was performed at the insistence of the mother of Brody Phillip Gibbons and the results are a positive match for this man and Connor
. Y
ou’ll see here where Mr. Brody was required to sign for the information.”

Everyone watched as the judge read over each sheet as it was handed to him
. T
here wasn’t much doubt that Connor was Brody’s and that the man had known of his existence
. B
ut proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt was what they had to do. 

“What do you have to
say for yourself, Mr. Gibbons?
There’s a lot of evidence here that disputes everything you’re claiming was done to you
. S
eems you had every opportunity to claim this boy as yours and you didn’t.”

“I don’t know what to say, Your Honor
. I
t’s all lies
. I
never knew about the boy until I saw his picture in the paper some weeks ago
. I
also don’t believe you should take her word over mine
. I
’m an upstanding citizen in my town and my family is one of the founders of it
. W
e have money and things like this just don’t set right with my family.”

Damon wanted to get up and knock the guy on his pompous ass
. W
hen Connor reached over and took his hand, he winked at him
. D
amon couldn’t believe how much he loved this kid.

“So you have money and
that makes you above the law?
I don’t think so,” Devin said as he referred to his notes again
. “
I have records here stating that Mr. Gibbons has been sued twice on charges of child support and rape. Each time, Mr. Gibbons has denied being the father even after tests prove the opposite.”

“Got anythi
ng to say about this, Gibbons?
Three kids in four years makes me want to send you to sex ed classes, not that I think you’d pay attention
. Y
ou should learn to wrap that thing before you go sticking it wher
e you don’t intend to pay up.”
Devin cleared his throat and the judge looked over at Devin then at Connor
. “
Sorry, kid
. F
orgot you were here.”
With a wink, he continued
. “
You want to explain to me how three times makes you a family man and you don’t have any of these kids with you?”

“I don’t believe any of them are mine, Your Honor
. W
omen will say anything to get a wealthy man to marry them. And Charlotte was from the wrong part of town anyway. It stands to reason she’d set her sights so high.”

“You say that about my momma again and I’ll kick your butt. Momma said you weren’t nothing but a sperm donna anyway, you mean man
. M
y momma is a good person
. B
esides, I wouldn’t want you as my daddy if you ha
d all the money in the world.”
The court room burst out into laughter. Even the judge was having a hard time trying to look stern
. D
amon pulled Connor back to his seat when he had finished yelling at the “sperm donna.”

“Your Honor, these charges against my client are ridiculous
. M
r. Gibbons was made aware of Connor
. H
is family was aware of him as well
. M
y client has not now, nor has she ever made any kind of financial claim against Mr. Gibbons, and we believe that his current state of affairs is the only reason he is claiming anything now.”

“What state of affair
s are we talking about, Grant?
You think he’s in this
for a bit of the Grant money?
You claiming this boy now because you think something is owed
to you?”
Judge Tyler turned to Brody so quickly that Damon was startled for a second.
“I want to see my boy, that’s all
. T
hose other women had girls
. T
homas is my only son and I have missed his early years
. I
do think that she should have to pay for that, yes
. I
deserve some sort of compensation for missing his first years
. I
don’t care where she gets the money from. Hell, Your Honor, that lady in the paper is supposed to be a billionaire
. S
he can well afford it.”

“
Why you dirty, rotten bastard!
Your long lost son is Connor, not Thomas you stupid idiot
. L
et me get this straight, you want my fam
ily to pay for your raping me?
You think that you should be compensated because I struggled to make ends meet for us so that I could go to college and become some
one Connor could be proud of?
Because of you, I had to leave home and if you had have just owned up to what you did to me, Anthony wouldn’t have kidnapped us.”

“This is your fault
. I
had to drug you to have sex with you in the first place, you stupid cunt
. Y
ou wouldn’t put out another way
. A
nd what do you care anyway?
You’ll have all the money you want, bitch
. I
just want a little for myself.”

The courtroom was silent
. D
amon looked from Gibbons to the judge
. G
ibbons didn’t seem to see what major mistake he’d made yet
. B
ut everyone else in the room did
. D
evin simply sat down and folded his arms over his chest
. D
amon was sure if he could see his face, that Devin would have his brow raised to his hairline
. T
his was going to be good.

“You drugged Ms. Kirkpatrick to have sex with her
. Y
ou
know that’s rape, don’t you?”
Gibbons paled as the judge continued
. “
This birth certificate says that she was only seventeen when she had Connor
. A
nd according to the records here, you were twenty-two
. T
hat’s going to cost you, boy
. I
don’t take kindly to—”

“I didn’t rape the bitch
. S
he wouldn’t put out and I wanted her
. S
imple as that
. I
have money and money talks.”

“You’ll not interrupt me again
, you sorry excuse for a turd!
This is my playground and my rules
. S
it down and shut up
. G
rant! How mu
ch money does this idiot have?
I want to know right down to the last penny.”

“With his holding in his family’s business, property owned by him personally, the trust fund that he only gets interest from until he turns thirty-five, and his job with the company, Mr. Gibbons’ net worth is just under three million dollars
. H
e does have three outstanding debts that total more than that, however
. I
t seems Mr. Gibbons has a bit of a gambling problem.”

“Good
. B
ailiff, take this man into custody
. G
rant, I want you to file a claim against his worth and seize his money and funds
. I
don’t take kindly to stupid people and less to ones who rape children.”

“Wait! Why am I being arrested? I didn’t do anything wrong
. S
he kept me from my son Corby
. I
want my money!”

Gibbons fought against the bailiff, trying to cuff him as he tried to reason with the judge
. C
onnor slipped past Damon and stood next to the man that had helped create him.

“My name is Connor Joshua Kirkpatrick, you stupid man
. A
nd I think you’re a weenie
. I
hope you go to jail forever.”

Brody lunged at Connor, but before Brody could touch Connor, Damon hit the man in the nose
. B
lood poured over his shirt and jacket as he fell to the floor. 

“You touch my son again and I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your life
. A
nd I don’t care how much mo
ney you think you might have.”
Damon pulled away from his brothers as they held him back
. A
fter straightening his tie, Damon reached out and took Connor’s
hand as they went to Charlie.

~~~

Connor kept looking at Damon on the way home
. H
e wasn’t sure what to make of Mr. G, but he was happy that the whole thing was over
. H
e didn’t like that his momma had cried, but Jamie had told him she was happy
. C
onnor didn’t think he’d ever understand girls
. W
asn’t even sure he wanted to try
. T
hey were just weird.

But Damon had called him his son
. N
ot just between them like he was calling him son like it was his name or something, but said that he was his son
. H
e’d even had to be held back like he was going to hurt Mr. G
. C
onnor looked up in the mirror again and noticed that Damon was looking back at him too.

“Connor, you don’t have to worry about that man trying to get you or anything
. D
evin said he’ll be put away for a long time
. G
ibbons won’t be bothering you or your mother ever again.”

“Yes, sir, I know that. Uncle Devin told me
. H
e said that Mr. G was going to pay for his mistakes like he should have a long time ago
. A
nd I asked Momma. She said I wasn’t a mistake like I thought he meant. She said I was a blessing.” Connor wasn’t sure what that meant either, but if his momma told him that with one of her happy smiles then he believed her
. S
ometimes when he talked with the grownups in his life now, he thought it was easier to ask his momma what they meant. 

They pulled up in front of the restaurant that they were going to celebrate in and Connor didn’t jump out like he normally did
. H
e had a lot on his mind and he figured that he’d feel better if he just asked Damon rather than let it stew around in his head
. W
hen his momma turned to look at him, he grinned at her
. I
t was a fake grin, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“Momma, do you think I can talk to Damon for a minute? Alone
. I
have…I want to ask him something about …about my new computer
. G
uy stuff, you know?”

Connor felt bad for lying to his mom, but he didn’t want to talk to Damon with her around. She’d never make him feel bad, but he would all the same
. S
he just nodded her head, kissed Damon, and got out of the new car
. S
he went over to Byron and Taylor and they went inside the restaurant. 

“You want to come up here and talk to me or do you
want to do it from back there?
I can see you better if you come up here
. E
ither way is fine with me.”

“You called me your son
. T
oday in the law place you called me your son to that man
. I
’m not, you know.”

Connor squirmed in his seat when Damon didn’t say anything for a few minutes
. W
hen Damon turned around and looked at Connor, he wanted to squirm more but sat on his fingers instead
. C
onnor finally looked up at him.

“Did
that bother you? Or was there something else?
I thought we were a family, but if you don’t want me to call you that…well, I was going to say that would be fine, but I like thinking you’re my son.”