Chapter 52

When Jordan awoke the next morning, she was right on top of things that needed to be taken care of. She called her attorney as soon as she knew that he was his office. His assistant answered the phone. "Thank you for calling the law offices of Gregory Feingold. How many I direct your call?"

"I need to speak with Mr. Feingold please."

"Whom may I ask is calling?"

"Jordan Draiman."

"Right away, Ms. Draiman."

There was a brief period of silence then she heard her lawyer on the phone. "Ah, Jordan. I've been wondering when I would hear from you. Now ya been?"

"Can the crap, Greg. You know good and well how I've been and you know what I've been up to. Now do me a favor and pull your head out of your ass so that you can give me the information that I need for the court hearings for this divorce."

"Sorry Jordan. I know you've been having a rough time here recently. Anyway, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that Davina is NOT contesting the divorce. She signed the papers at her attorney's office the other day. Bad news is that she is contesting custody of Jasmine solely. I have no idea why she just wants Jasmine when she's citing that you're unfit and not of sound mental faculty."

Jordan let out an exasperated laugh; a very unhappy sound. "I'm not of sound mental faculty?  Who the fuck does this bitch think she is?"

"I have no idea, but I do hope that you have awesome character witnesses that will testify to the fact that you're a better parent than she is. More than just your family. I mean, is Reece involved in the kids' lives still?"

"Yes he is. As a matter of fact he was out to visit with my parents recently and has been keeping the children to give my 73 year old father and 70 year old mother a break."

"Are you keeping away from them?"

"I haven't seen my kids since the day my niece Rina was born."

"That's good. Leverage for us, though if your parents are in their 70's, then maybe you need a new provision if you should marry again. Your brother Jacob perhaps?"

"I'll have to talk him and his wife about that later. Not one of my priorities, though I'm sure that Ronnie will testify on my behalf. She was never a big fan of the way Davina treated me or the kids."

"Get ahold of whoever you need to and have them call me so that I can collect my statements and all that good stuff."

"I'll get on that after I eat a little breakfast.  When is the first hearing?"

"We've got a week. And the judge has already said that she wants to talk to Levi. And please have your parents contact me as well. As the children's ad litem guardians the court will want to hear from then as well.  Would it be easier for me to come out to talk to them?”

“I’ll ask them and get back to you by lunch.”

“Cool.  Well dear, I’ll let you get some breakfast.  Thanks for finally calling me.  I was starting to get worried.”

“I understand that.  I was starting to get worried too.”

“Eat, talk to everyone you need to talk to and I look forward to your call later.”

Once they hung up, Delilah made Jordan some breakfast while Jordan made phone calls.  She called all of her personal friends that she knew would testify to her ability to be a good mother.  These were close friends whom she trusted around her children.  They’d all seen the way Davina treated the kids.  They’d all seen her and Davina fight.  A few of them had even broken up fights.

She’d call her parents after she ate breakfast.  She knew that they would have their hands full with her kids.  She missed them terribly, but she knew the rules.  She couldn’t see them.  Neither could Davina.  It was against the rules.  If Davina tried, she would go to jail.  Though she would love to see it happen, she certainly didn’t want it to happen in front of her precious angels.  That would be too traumatizing.  She knew that watching her be hauled off in handcuffs would mess them up far too much and she only wanted what was best for them.  If Jordan Hannah Draiman was guilty of anything, it was loving her kids too much.

---------------

As David and Brie Draiman were preparing for their day, they made breakfast for themselves and the two of their precious grandchildren that were living with them.

As they prepared the breakfast spread- which included pancakes and turkey bacon- David's phone started ringing in their bedroom. David hurried off to answer it. He didn't recognize the number when he checked it. "Hello?" he asked.

"Mr. Draiman?" a female voice said.

"Speaking. May I ask who's calling?"

"You don't recognize the voice of your daughter in law?"

"Davina?"

"Yep. I'm calling to talk to my kid."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't stutter. I want to talk to my daughter."

"Umm... Let me think about that for a moment. No."

"Let me talk to Jasmine."

"No."

"My attorney told me that I have every right to contact my child. Now let me speak to her."

"That may very well be true, but as one of her guardians I have the right to say no."

"I'll go to the judge."

"Go right on ahead. Brie and I are the kids' guardians' ad litem which translates to we decide what is in their best interests. I don't feel that talking to you is in Jasmine's best interests. A judge will back me up on that."

"Look, all I want to do is tell her that I love her and that I'll see her soon."

He chuckled. "You're so full of shit Davina, but I'll make you a deal. I'll let her decide if she wants to talk to you. If she doesn't then you'll just have to get over it and wait until you see her at the courthouse. If she does, I will be in the room and the phone will be on speaker so that I can monitor the conversation."

"That's an invasion of my privacy."

"Again, that's one of my rights as her guardian. Hell, it's my duty as her guardian. And, just so you know, that's the only way this is going to go down."

She sighed. "Fine."

She heard a beep in her ear and David cleared his throat. "Jasmine, come here for a moment please baby", he said.

She walked over to him from where she was sitting on the couch. "Yes Grampa?"

"Your Mama wants to talk to you."

"Mama Jordan?" she asked and her eyes lit up.

He shook his head. "No sweetie. Your mother."

Her wide eyes filled with fear. "I don't want to talk to her. I wanna talk to Mama Jordan."

"I'll see if I can arrange that for you sweetie", he said and walked out of the room. "From the mouths of babes comes the honest truth."

"No, that's an sign that you've been turning my daughter against me."

"We don't even speak of you in front of them. They have their opinions of you and none of them are good."

"I'm going to let the judge know that you've tried to turn my daughter against me."

"Do what you feel you must. We'll see you in court, Davina."

David hung up and went back out into the main part of the house. Brie looked at him with a shake of her head. "She's something else."

"She accused us of turning Jasmine against her", he said after walking back into the kitchen.

"Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yep. She thinks that we're turning Jasmine against her. Where she got that fucked up notion is beyond me."

"That's pretty fucked up."

"Oh I agree. She's got a few screws loose."

"What other than she wanted to speak to Jasmine, what did she say?"

"She threatened me with the judge like that was going to scare me. I told her to do what she felt she needed to do."

"She really thinks we're trying to turn those kids against her?"

"No. Just Jasmine. She doesn't seem to care about Levi."

"What?"

"She was only interested in Jazz. She didn't care about Levi."

"Why ever not?"

"I don't know". He took a deep breath and sighed. "I wonder when the court hearings are going to start."

"Well, when Jeremiah and Jona come out here to watch these two to let Mattie and Jazz play together, we'll head in an ask Jordan what's going on. That's all we can do."

He nodded. "I just don't want the kids to be poorly affected by this."

She curled against the front of his body as he pulled her into his arms. "I know, baby. I feel the same way."

---------------

Jordan was just hanging up with Ronnie when Morbus walked into the house. "Any news on when you go to court?" he asked when he saw Jordan hanging up her phone.

"Yep. In a week. Now, I have q question for you, Morbus."

"Shoot", he said as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Seeing as you know better than anyone how things go behind the scenes when we're on the road, would you testify at the hearing on my behalf?"

Morbus grinned. "I thought you'd never ask. What do I need to do?"

"Take down this number and talk to Greg Feingold. He's my attorney."

When he was ready, she rattled off the number to him and made. "You got it. I'll be sure to give him a call."

"He might be coming out to talk to Mom and Dad later. I'm sure that he won't mind talking to you if he does while he's here."

Morbus nodded. "Not a problem". He looked her over. "It's good that you’re doing better after everything that's been going on."

"One crisis at a time. I'll fall apart over my lost innocence later. Right now, I have a divorce to get ready for and children to fight for custody of. Well, a child."

"Davina's only going after one of the kids?"

"Yep. Just Jasmine. Well, she's got another thing coming if she thinks I'm going to let her take that little angel from me."

Morbus chuckled. "Get her, Jordan. And yes, I will gladly testify on your behalf. I know what kind of person you are."

She smiled. "Thanks Morbus.". She looked at him cautiously for a few moments. "You do realize that you're going to have to use your birth name for court purposes, right "

"Yes Jordan, I realize this. After this whole fiasco with you is over I plan to retire call it good."

"So Morbus will be no more?"

He nodded. "Yep. Once this is all over, Morbus will be no more."

---------------

After Jeremiah and Jona arrived with their kids and Miri and Ira, David and Brie went into the main house to see what was going on. David also wanted to let Jordan know about the phone call he'd received from Davina. When they walked in, Jordan immediately started in with the details. "Morning Mama and Daddy. I have updates", she said with a smile.

"Well it seems like you have been a busy bee this morning", Brie said with a smile.

"I have. I've been making phone calls all morning. After having another break down last night when Reece came in for bed I decided that I needed to find out when I was going to get my divorce. I got it but she's fighting for custody of Jasmine."

"So, when do we go to court?" David asked.

"In one week. My attorney wants to talk to the two of you and possibly one or both of the kids."

"Not a problem, but it would be a little easier on us if he came out to us. We're still trying to recover from the traveling we did yesterday and the night before."

"That's fine. He offered to come out here if it would make things easier on you anyway". She called Greg and let him know that coming out to the would be easier on her parents and that the family bodyguard was willing to testify if need be. By the time she was off the phone David had a cup of coffee and was sipping it patiently as he waited. "Ok that's done."

"Good because there is something that you need to know", David said and set his coffee cup on the table.

"Ok Daddy", she said cautiously. "What's going on?"

"I got a call from Davina earlier demanding to speak to Jasmine."

"That whore did what?"

"She called and demanded to speak to Jasmine. I told her no several times, then decided to give Jasmine the choice on the condition that if Jasmine said yes that I had to be in the room and the phone had to be on speaker. Jasmine said no."

Jordan turned red for a moment then took a deep breath and nodded. "You know what? When Greg gets here tell him about what happened."

David nodded. "Will do. I just felt that you needed to know that happened."

"I did and I thank you", she said as she sighed.

"Jordan, you know we're always going to do our best to look out for you", he said laying his hand on hers. "We're your parents. It's what we do."

"Thanks Daddy. If it hadn't been you or Mom there when I woke up I don't know what I would have done. I probably would have freaked out to be perfectly honest. You and Mom have always been there for all of us. We could all stand to learn a thing or two from you both."

"It doesn't matter how old you kids get, all ten of you will always be our babies", Brie said with a smile. "We will always do whatever we can to take care of you, even if it means we have to jump up and catch a flight from Ben Gurian to do so."