Part 4



After Brian’s testimony, Judge Walker called a short recess.  Justin and Brian both headed for the men’s room in the hopes of finding some sort of privacy.



“You kept them?” Justin asked.  “And you brought them with you?”



“Of course I kept them,” Brian said.  “And I intend to use them before we head back to the Pitts.  Marriage is actually legal up here.”



“Really?”  Justin asked with a bright sunshiny smile.



Brian rolled lips in for a moment but then let his smile free.  “Yeah.  But I think I might have to use an actual ball and fucking chain on you to keep you out of trouble.  If you think I’m letting you go anywhere without me after this, you have another think coming Princess.”



“Asshole,” Justin said with affection and leaned up to kiss his fiancé.



Soon they were locked in a passionate embrace.  Of course, that was when the flash went off and the news photographer gave them a sheepish grin.  “Sorry, but that’s what they pay me for.”



“If it’s any good, I’ll buy a copy,” Brian said and handed him his card.



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Court resumed and Doug began calling John’s friends.  When the first was called up, Judge Walker said, “What is this?  What are you trying to prove?”



“I intend to prove that Mr. Taylor is a better option than the Anderson to parent these two boys,” Doug said calmly.  “In order to do so, I will bring witnesses who can attest to the way they raised their own child.”



It was obvious to everyone in the room that Judge Walker wanted to put a stop to this, but he really had no choice but to allow it.  It was a legitimate line of questioning.  And he knew then what he had been trying to ignore all morning: this hearing was not going to be over quickly and the outcome was no longer assured.



“Mr. Runyon, you were John Anderson’s best friend in high school, is that correct?”  Doug asked.



“That’s right,” Runyon said.  “Me and John were like brothers.  Even after he went off to college and then got married and everything, we stayed close.  He was the best friend I’ve ever known.”



“Can you tell me about the first time John stayed at your house overnight?”



“Yeah,” Runyon said.  “We were like 12 or 13 at the time.  We’d just moved up from our town elementaries to the county middle school.  Anyway, John was all shy about getting his pajamas on.  I teased him about it a bit and so he took his shirt off and I saw the bruises.”



“What bruises were those?” Doug asked.



“His chest and back were covered in bruises.  Some were dark purple, like they were new, and some were that ugly green color they get then they’ve been around a while.”  Runyon took a deep breath.  “So I asked him how he got the bruises and he says his mom and dad.”



“Objection!” Landon cried out and rose to his feet.  “Hearsay!”



“According to precedent set in Hartman v the State, hearsay is allowable in cases where the party in question is deceased,” Doug said.  He’d been prepared for this one.



It looked like it cost Judge Walker everything he had to say, “I’ll allow it.”



Brian glanced over at Esther Anderson and saw that she looked ready to kill someone.



“Did he give any more details?” Doug asked trying to get the momentum back.



“Um not that time,” Runyon said.  “Over the years, there were a lot of times we talked about bruises and such, like the time he broke his arm in 8th grade.  He told the teachers that he fell off his bike, but he told me later that his mom had hit him with a bat and when he’d put his arm up to protect himself, it broke.”



Justin looked sick when they heard that and Brian didn’t feel so great himself.  He grabbed Justin’s hand and squeezed it to give them both some comfort.



“How did John feel about his parents?”  Doug asked.



“He hated them,” Runyon said.  “He always talked about how he was gonna get out of here and as far away from his parents as he could.  He did it too.  He got out.  He’d hate to think that his kids got stuck back with them.  He’d hate that.”



“No further questions.”



Landon rose and walked up to the witness stand.  “Mr. Runyon, did you ever see either Mr. or Mrs. Anderson hit John Anderson?”



“No, but I wasn’t allowed to go to his house,” Runyon said.  “None of John’s friends were allowed over. The Andersons didn’t like kids.”



“But you didn’t see this abuse?”



“No.”



“No further questions.”



Runyon was excused and Doug followed up with similar testimonies from three other friends in high school who testified that they had seen bruises and even belt lashes on John on a regular basis.  Then there were the two teachers who had tried to report their suspicions only to be blocked by friends and relatives of the Andersons.  They broke for lunch and when they came back, Doug called an independent doctor whose specialty was orthopedics to review the x-rays from John’s broken arm.



“In your opinion, Dr. Johnson, is the break on this x-ray consistent with a bike accident?” Doug asked.



“No it is not,” Dr. Johnson said.  “You see the way this bone fragment is placed?  That only happens when a bone comes into direct contact with a blunt object.”



“Thank you doctor,” Doug said.



Landon was up and asked, “Is it possible that the blunt object that broke that bone was the handlebar of a bicycle?”



“It is possible…but…”



“No further questions,” Landon said.



“Redirect,” Doug said.  “Dr. Johnson, in your thirty-five years as an orthopedic specialist, approximately how many broken bones from bicycle accidents have you treated?”



“I would say somewhere between three and four thousand.”



“And have you ever seen a bone that looked like this in one of those patients?”



“Not once.”



“So, in your expert opinion, what is the likelihood that this fracture was caused by a bicycle accident?”



Dr. Johnson chuckled.  “Since the rider would have had to have been facing the ground in a very award position and his arm stretched out in front of him while riding to actually catch the handlebar at this angle, I would say it is not likely at all.”



There was testimony from John’s therapist in Boston next.  They also heard testimony from several of John and Daphne’s friends about who the couple had wanted their children to go to.  And then, late in the afternoon, Doug finally called Justin to the stand.



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“Justin, in your own words, can you tell the court how you came to agree to provide the sperm for Daphne and John to have Alex and Robbie?”



Justin nodded and took a deep breath.  “Well, Daphne and John always knew that he wouldn’t be able to father a child.  John said it was from a childhood trauma.  Daphne said it was because of his parents, but I never saw any of his medical tests or anything, so I don’t really know.”



“I submit copies of John Anderson’s medical records with the notes obtained from the fertility specialist the young couple used highlighted.”  Doug gave one to the judge, one to Landon and handed one to Justin.  “Justin, can you read what that paragraph says?”



Justin looked at the highlighted paragraph.  “It is my opinion that cause of Mr. Anderson’s sterility is due directly to blunt force trauma at an early age.  Mr. Anderson agreed that it was a likely cause as his mother liked to kick him in the testes as punishment for disobedience.”  Justin shut his eyes and mourned for the man who had to suffer through this horror and prayed that his boys would never be subjected to the same.



“Okay, let’s go back to my earlier question,” Doug said.  “You were telling us how your friends came to you with this unusual request.”



Justin nodded again.  “Right.  Well, I think Daphne got the idea from Brian, at least indirectly.  See, Brian donated sperm so that his friend and her partner could have a child together.  In that case it was two women, but the same premise applied.  Or at least that’s how Daphne explained it to me.  We talked it all out over several weeks and then sat down with a lawyer and signed a contract.”



“I submit exhibit E,” Doug said.  Again he distributed copies of the contract.  “I’m sure no one wants to sit through a reading of this entire contract.  Justin, can you give us a summary of what it says?”



“It says that I gave up my right to any child that may result from the treatment,” Justin said softly and sadly.  “It also gave John the right to adopt that child, or in this case children.  Which he did.  The last stipulation of the contract was that if anything should happen to John and Daphne, then those children would revert to my custody as their godfather and as their biological father.”



“Why didn’t that happen?” Doug said.



“Because Mr. and Mrs. Anderson came in the middle of the night to steal them away!”



“Objection!”



“Sustained.  Control your witness counselor.”



Doug nodded at the judge and turned back to Justin.  “You received a phone call the night of the accident?”



“Jessica, Daphne’s friend from work, called to tell me what had happened,” Justin said.  “I was devastated.  Daphne was my best friend since we were toddlers.  But then Jessica went on.  She said that she had been watching the babies, but that the Andersons had come to take them home with them.  They were very insistent and she felt like she had no choice but to let them.  She said she felt threatened by them.  She’s just a small thing and I’m sure she wasn’t thinking all that clearly in her own grief…



“I called the Andersons to talk to them reasonably, but Mrs. Anderson told me that I would never have the boys no matter what that contract said.  She said they were hers now and nothing I could do would change that.”  Justin’s voice grew thick and his eyes filled with tears.  “I had heard the same stories as some of John and Daphne’s other friends.  I knew that there was no way I could leave my children alone in their care even long enough to get help.  So I came up here to fight for them.”



“One last question, Justin,” Doug said.  “How do you feel about being a father?”



Justin’s eyes were still watery, but his smile was its sunshiny best.  “I love Alex and Robbie.  I would do anything for them. I love seeing them grow and change.  I love the way Alex has to examine everything and figure out how it works.  I love the way Robbie just draws people in.  I love my boys and I just want them to be happy.”



“Thank you.”



“That is very touching from a man who would give up his children before they were even born,” Landon said snidely.



“Objection!”  The objection of the crowd outside echoed Doug’s outcry.



“Sustained,” Judge Walker sighed.  “You know better than that, Jared.”



“Sorry Martin,” Landon said, but his smirk said he wasn’t sorry in the least.  “Mr. Taylor, isn’t it true that you once danced as a go-go boy at a gay nightclub?”



Justin chuckled in disbelief.  “Wow! That was a long time ago.  Yeah.  I was eighteen at the time.  Not old enough to drink or serve alcohol, but I could dance in a tight pair of shorts for a bunch of drunk men.  I made great money doing that.”



“So you openly admit to living a licentious lifestyle?” Landon said.



Again Justin laughed.  “You’ve obviously never danced every night and tried to go to school at the same time.  I didn’t have enough energy to live a licentious lifestyle as a go-go boy; I barely had enough energy to get to classes.  Which was one of the reasons I quit after only a couple weeks: it was affecting my schooling.  There were easier ways to pay for college.”



“And what would those be?” Landon asked, with a leer.



“Brian gave me a loan,” Justin said.



“You were 18 and he was what?  30?”



Justin sniggered.  “Yes.  He hated turning 30.  I bet he misses being 30 now.”  Brian glared at him but Justin grinned back.



“And you were already close enough that he would offer you a loan to pay for your education?”  Landon persisted.



Justin sighed, and good humor draining away.  “I know where you’re going with this.  I was 17 when we first met, which is legal in the state of Pennsylvania.  My father didn’t like that I was gay, let alone that I was dating an older man, so he kicked me out.  But Brian was there for me then and has been there for me for the last eight years.  We have a strong relationship and a good relationship.  I love him and he loves me.  The fact that I was only 17 when that began does not change anything.  It happens.  Some people are lucky enough to find their perfect partner the first time out.”



“You say you have as strong relationship, but you lied to Mr. Kinney when you left New York.  He had to hire a detective to track you down.”



“Yeah I did.  I was stupid.  But there was not a single day when I doubted that if I called him that he would come for me.  Even after lying to him and running away.  And when he found me, he read me the riot act.  Rightfully so.  But he loves me enough to forgive my mistakes.”  Justin looked Landon in the eyes and said, “That’s what love is.”



“Nothing further,” Landon said.  He’d been cowed by Justin.