"Good moring, Mr. Sasser. This is James Draiman. I'm David and Brie Draiman's son", James said cordially.
"Ah, yes, one of the many Draiman kids. You're the one that was going into law school, right?"
"Yes, sir. I'll be starting Law School in the fall. I needed a little bit of a break between my undergrad work and the grad school stuff."
"I totally understand. Where are you attending Law School?"
"Harvad Law."
"Congrats. You must have rocked your LSAT's."
"Scored better than my father."
"And he scored better than me."
"Looks like I did better than you as well. But, Mr. Sasser. I didn't call to discuss Law School. I'm actually calling to discuss business with you."
"My apologies, James. What did you need to discuss with me?"
"My now ex- girlfriend and I are going to have at least one child together and I adpoted her son. First, seeing as you know more about this branch of civil law than I do, I was wondering what kind of legal standing I have with the boy should I feel that he doesn't need to be with his mother anymore."
"How long ago was the adpotion and where was it done?"
"It was over a year ago now and it was done in Illinois."
"In Chicago, I presume."
"Yes, sir."
"Well, Illinois State laws state that once an apodtion like this is more than a year old, the adpotive parent have the same rights as the birth parent. Are you wanting to fight her for custody of the boy?"
"Yes, I'm wanting to fight her for custody of both the boy and any children resulting from our relationship."
"Well, you can do it and get away with it. Would you like me to get started on the papers?"
"If you would please. After the baby or babies are born, it will have to be amended, won't it?"
"Well, if we take her to court ASAP rather than waiting for the baby or babies to be born, then no and the ruling can to extended to the unborn child/ children by order of the judge."
"Really?"
"Yep. Gotta love the laws of our day and age, son. So, do you want me to get started? The sooner we get this over with the better."
"That's fine, Mr. Sasser. Is there anything you need from me?"
"I need you to start collecting evidence that she's unfit an a parent. Cover your ass, James. Document everything you see and hear. Take pictures. Do what you have to do in order to prove that you're a bettter parent."
"You got it, Mr. Sasser. I'll get on that right away"
"Oh, James. If I were you, I wouldn't flag on this. Stay strong and don't let her try to convince you to back off."
"If you'll forgive my language, Mr. Sasser, there's not a chance in hell of that happening. She put her hands on me last night. I won't be backing off with this. She doesn't get to hit me and get off without consequences."
"I'm glad to hear the conviction, son. Now, I need some information from you and I'll get started on the paper work for this."
"What do you need?"
Abe asked his questions and James answered. He knew the answers to all of the questions Abe had. Abe was grateful for it. "Well, that's about all I need for now. I'll let you know what I come up with as far as dates to meet with her attorney and such."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Sasser. I very much appreciate this."
"Always a pleasure to work with the Draiman family. Goodbye for now, James."
"Thanks again, Mr. Sasser. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and sighed. "That's one load off of my mind."
"Is he going to do it?" David asked when James put the phone on the table.
"Yes. He wants to do this as quickly as possible so that the judge can make a ruling that will result from our relationship."
"Wow. He's not wasting any time with this is he?"
"Nope. And, I'm absolutely alright with it." He heard yelling in the other room as well as the name of the child he was just discussing with the family attorney. "Excuse me a moment. I need to do check that out."
As he walked into the room, Hunter came running to him. "Daddy, make Mama stop."
"What is she doing?" James asked the little boy. Hunter looked up and James saw the red mark on Hunter's face. He looked up at the siblings in the room. It was his little sister Jessykah. "Jessi, did you see Kim slap him?"
"I sure did. I told her that if I saw her hit him again, I was going to beat the hell out of her", Jessi responded.
"Would you swear a statement to that?"
"Sure would. Where do I sign?"
"Just type something up and sign it for me. Get it to me as soon as you can."
"No problem, big bro. I'll get on that right now so that I don't forget."
"Thanks little sis. Meanwhile Hunter, let's go into the kitchen with Gramma and Grampa real fast. Ok?"
He nodded. "Save me from Mama, Daddy. She's getting scary again."
"She's done this before?"
"Yes, sir."
"Ok, Hunter. Ler's go into the kitchen with Gramma and Grampa and I'll handle it from there."
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"Do we really have to get up, baby?" Jona groaned when the sun came up.
"No, we don't. I'm sure that Mom and Dad won't object to us hiding in here for the rest of the day", Jeremiah laughed.
"I wonder what the screaming from downstairs a fe moments ago was all about."
"So do I, to be honest. What did Hunter do now that Kim's yelling at him and when is James going to do something about it?"
"There's only one way to find out. We have to get up to find out, baby.. Problem is that I really don't want to."
"Neither do I, beautiful. I'd love to stay here all day with you and maybe make love to you a few more times. But, we have to take your family back to the airport today."
"I know. And that sucks even more. I don't want them to leave. I want them to stay."
"I know, baby girl. I'd like for them to stay too. I like hanging out with Damien but he has to head back to school soon."
"Yeah. Accupuncture school waits for no one and Maddie's chomping at the bit for him to graduate next year so that we have a staff accupuncturist."
"Maddie's just excited to see your business taking odd like it is. You guys are doing really good from what I understand."
"We are. I'm glad I went into business with her and Delilah."
"I am too, baby. You're going to do awesomely."
"How soon until you''re done with your degree so that you can start teaching?"
"I'm almost done. I'll start teaching this fall."
"Cool. It will be nice to get out of the house and do something, I bet."
"I can't wait. Now, why don't we go see what's going on downstairs?"
"Sounds good to me, baby. Let's do that."
----------------
"I don't give a fuck, Kimberly. You don't hit that child in the face and if I see you raise your hand to one of MY children like that, I'm going to beat the hell out of you", Jeremiah and Jona heard Delilah say as they made their down the stairs. "Slapping a baby in the face is un- fucking- called for. I don't gave a damn what you THINK they deserve, you don't slap a baby. I see it again, I'm reporting you to child welfare,. you dumb whore."
"You and what fucking army, Delilah. You don't scare me."
"Let me make this perfectly clear. Touch one of my kids the way I saw you just hit Hunter, and you'll die a very horrific death. Remember, my husand is a doctor. I know ways to kill a human that you couldn't even begin to dream."
"Lilah, don't stoop to her level", James said. "Just swear out a statement that you saw her hit him in a way that was inappropriate and that will take care of that."
Delilah Cheyanne Draiman looked at James. She no longer thought of him as her brother in law, or as her husband's brother. No, James Matthew Draiman was her little brother. And she knew he was right. She looked to him with that knowledge in her eyes. "You got it, Jay, I'll get right on that sworn statement. Hell, I'll head out to the house and get that done now. And if you'd like, I'll include every other time I've seen her smack that baby around and I'll have Jake do the same."
"That will help my case. You killing her, however, won't. It will help hers."
As Delilah walked off, Kim looked at James like he was insane. "What case are you babbling about?"
"You'll know once you're served with the papers. You might want to find an attorney. It would certainly behoove you to do so."
"And if I don't?"
"Do it, don't do it... it's not really my problem. I have one, he's doing something for me and that's about all you need to know. Have a good rest of your day and keep your hands off of my son. Take a chill pill and relax rather than act like a psycho bitch." James walked away.
Jeremiah and Jona walked into the living room and beyond to the kitchen. "What just happened in there?" Jeremiah asked when he and Jona hit the kitchen.
"I've decided that enough with Kim is enough. She's always acting like a psycho so I'm doing what I have to to keep my son and any children we have together away from her."
"What do you mean she's acting like a psycho?" Jeremiah was confused.
"She fucking hit me, brother! She tried to slap the shit out of me last night, man! Then, in the matter of just a couple of hours, she's slapped Hunter twice."
"I know he calls you Daddy, but you're not legally his father, Jay. It really has nothing to do with you."
"Actaully, 'Miah. She made the fatal mistake of dragging me in to a lawyer's office and making me adopt him when he had just started calling me Daddy. He's legally my kid."
"So, what are you going to do, twin brother?"
"Abe's working on papers for court and I'm suing for custody of Hunter and any children we have together. Abe said that the decision on Hunter can be extended to our child."
"Whoa. Good for you, Jay. You do realize that getting a girl is going to be more difficult now, right?"
"So? My kids are more important than a girl. If I find one that can love my kids as her own, then I have a winner. That's what matters."
David and Brie over heard what the oldest of the twin boys was saying and neither could help the swell of pride they felt in their chest. "Good for you, James. Put your kids first. That's the way it should be", Brie said with tears in her voice.
James smiled. "Thanks, Mom. I'm just doing what you and Dad taught me to do. Hunter means the world to me and any child or children I have with Kim will mean the same. I'm tired of being treated likek trash and seeign her treat Hunter like trash. It's done. I'm done. She won't continue this if I have my way about it."
"And that's how it should be", David said with a smile.
--------------
The rest of the day went the same. Every time Kim would wig on anyone, James was there to break it up and take whatever verbal abuse she could dish out. And the sad thing was that she didn't seem to care whether they had company or not. Angela would sit in horror and listen to the things that would come out of the young woman's mouth. But, James would put an end to her ranting. He would calmly put an end to the ranting then go to tend to Hunter. He was sure that she would flip her lid when she was served with the papers for the custody hearing. But, that wasn't his problem. He wasn't worried about that. The only thing he was worried about was the way she acted toward his family and his son. Everything else was negligible. He could work everything else out as it came.
That night, she tried to apologize to get back into his good graces. Unlike his brothers, he could ignore a teary eyed woman. A woman in tears didn't move him. It didn't piss him off, but he didn't soften him up either. "Jay- jay, I'm so sorry for the way I've been acting. Can you forgive me?" she sobbed from outside his bedroom door.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Could you get away from my door, please? You're going to wake Hunter and if that happens I'm going to be pissed. Believe me, Kimberly, you don't want to see me pissed."
"What are you going to do about me standing here?" she said. She was suddenly not crying anymore.
James had to take a deep breath and picked up his cell phone. "Jessi, could you please remove Kim from in front mf my door please?" he asked when he called down the hall to his baby sister.
"Not a problem, Jay. I'll grab Mae and Kayla while I'm at it and we'll get her back to her room", Jessi said in response.
"Thanks, baby sister."
"No problem, big brother. You'll hear us in a minute." Jessi hung up. He heard rustling in the hallway followed by the hushed voice of his foul mouthed little sister. "Kim, I thought I heard our brother tell you to stop acting like a psycho. What part of that did you not fucking comprehend?"
"This is between your brother and myself. Jessykah. You really don't need to concern yourself with what's going on."
"Actually, yeah, we do", Makayla said. "That's our brother in there. We take care of our family. That's what we were taught to do. If you don't leave our brother's door, then we're going to have to remove you. It's that simple. Now, are you going to leave willingly or by force?"
He could sense Kim defiance of his sisters' words. "Choose, Kimberly, before we choose for you", he heard Meagan say to the mother of the child laying in his bed. When he heard footsteps leading back to the room that Kimberly was staying in until the baby was born, he assumed that she backed down from a fight.
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