"You worked many hours, and your brain may have been too tired or just didn't want to see or accept that everyone was right about him. Add that to the daily verbal abuse and it fits. He was sly and always made it seem as if he was trying to help you.” “I have seen many men and women in the same situation. Some people just know how to play the game. And I'll bet that up until finding the two of them in a compromising position, Derrik had gotten his way in everything in your marriage and your wants had been pushed to the side." Milton raised his eyebrow but Pandora nodded, knowing he was right. She had to accept her responsibility for Derrik's behavior towards her. After all, she allowed and even encouraged it. "So when you didn't give in to his demands during the divorce, it sent him down the path to making you regret it. Only he made mistakes, he's not as smart as he thinks he is. He will pay the price, for everything he has done. The District Attorney is filing charges and intends
"I know, Momma," Derrik said, sounding like a little boy. "Hey," Ron called, kissing the side of Pandora’s head. "See that, she just lets him kiss her and does nothing! That just proves that she's sleeping with them all like you think. I bet she's lying and is just saying that doctor is her partner so the judge will look kindly toward her." "Who let the dog out?" Ron asked loudly. Miriam huffed and glared at them. "Ron," Milton said in a warning tone. "Not here." Miriam gave Ron a big smile, showing her teeth because she felt she had won something with her little show. "Preston v Leonard," the court clerk called. Benjamin growled a little but took Pandora’s hand and led her into the courtroom. The Judge that granted the restraining order walked in. His eyes flickered to Derrik and stayed there as the case was read by the court clerk. Once they were told to be seated, Mr. Hill remained standing. "Your honor, may counsel approach the bench?" "Yes," the judge stated as both Hill
"We have proof those babies are Mr. Preston's," Derrik’s attorney stated. "Now, you look here!" Miriam yelled, standing up. "He was drunk and she raped him. He was ashamed and embarrassed about it so he lied." "Mrs. Preston, you were warned and are now in direct contempt of court and have gained yourself thirty days in county lock up and a fine of five thousand dollars. Bailiff, remove her!" Miriam's mouth just opened and closed as she was put in handcuffs and led away. The room was silent, and Derrik looked as if he had seen a ghost. "Your Honor, Detective Milton Banks is present with a bench warrant for Mr. Preston due to breaking the restraining order," the bailiff stated from the door and Milton entered the courtroom. Milton walked up to the bench and handed the paperwork to the judge. The judge read it over and looked at Derrik’s attorney. "Since you and your client are both here, I'll allow you to have fifteen minutes of conference time, and we will hear your client's defe
Pandora yawned when the alarm went off. She reached out and looked at the display to see that it was seven before she clicked off the buzzer. "Go back to sleep, love," Benjamin whispered but she shook her head. "No, I want to make you a good breakfast before you leave for your first day back to work," she told him as she got out of bed, wishing the past eight weeks hadn’t gone so fast. When she got to the kitchen, she started to cook bacon and pancakes. Not long after she began things, she heard Jack crying through the baby monitor. Pandora sighed and switched off the stove before going to get him. "Good morning, Jack," she grinned as she picked him up. She set about changing his diaper before sitting down to feed him. She got him fed and settled back down, and started to head for the kitchen. She barely made it to the door, when Micheal started to fuss. "Come on, my sweet little man," she said, picking her up. Again, she changed a diaper and sat down to feed the baby. As he was
It only took Benjamin a few minutes to come back to the table. He had a tray with their drinks and what looked like a couple of desserts. Pandora dug out the sandwiches she packed, and he set out the drinks. "I'm sorry that I didn't pack that much, I just wanted to have lunch with you." "This is perfect and really, you couldn't have carried more than this anyway, along with the boys and their diaper bag. Besides, they had some yummy desserts up there, and the cafeteria always has milk which is good for you right now." She smiled at him. "Next time you want to do this, pack whatever you want and call me. I will come out to the car and help you," Benjamin said, making her look at him. She smiled at him because he was always thinking of her as well as the boys. "How have they been today?" he asked, taking a bite of his sandwich. "They've been okay, but I think they are missing you— I know I am." "I'm missing all of you, too, so much," he confessed and leaned over to kiss her. Just
"Sorry, he's in surgery," Emily sighed as she sat down beside her. Pandora hummed as a reply and felt Emily take her hand. "Are you okay?" she asked and Pandora nodded immediately. "Yeah, I know he works hard and..." she sighed, trailing off. She worked long hours, too. Derrik, at first, complained she worked too hard. Until now she never saw it from his point of view. Right then, she felt that she may have played a bigger part in his cheating on her than she had ever accepted. "Can you walk with me back to my car?" she asked and Emily smiled sadly. By ten o'clock at night, Benjamin was still not home. She left his cake and gifts on the table and headed to bed. "I am so sorry, love," she heard Benjamin whisper as the bed dipped. As soon as she knew he was settled, she opened her eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost one in the morning, so he was at work on his day off, his birthday, for over sixteen hours. She closed her eyes, biting her lip. The next was a normal work da
"Parks residence," she said sleepily. "Pandora?" she carried on right away. She was sure she heard Jack screaming. "Jack is sick, really sick and I can't get a hold of Benjamin. Lana, I don't know what to do?" she sobbed into the phone. "We're on our way," she told Pandora and she let out a breath. It felt as if it took them hours to get there, but she knew by the clock it had only been ten minutes when she heard the door open. "Here, here, Jack," Peter said, taking him from Pandora. "Where's Benjamin?" he asked. She shrugged and he frowned at her. "What… Has something happened?" Lana asked. "He arrived home but got a call to go back to the hospital. He said he had to leave and go back to work. I've called twice asking them to page him, but nurse Leena," she spat out her name, "said he wasn't there and that she had paged him and he hadn't responded." "Pandora, I think he has a chest infection," Peter stated softly. "I think it would be best to take him to the hospital." She gu
When Benjamin was finished talking, Pandora gulped. But her inner voices were all in agreement with what he has said. "I know that I hide my feelings, and I'm sorry. It's just hard for me to confide in anyone. But when could I have talked to you about it? We've barely had an hour together without someone —the hospital— interrupting." Just as if to prove her point, Benjamin's pager went off. Benjamin seemed to just sit there and his pager went off again. "You should probably get that," she told him and he sighed as he stood up. But before he could walk out, the door opened."Hi, Benjamin, I've been paging you. I saw Minnie and she told me you were here," a woman's voice said. "Nurse Leena, is there a problem?" he asked as her head turned to the door. "I brought you a late dinner. I know that you missed out on dinner tonight and I thought you'd be hungry. You will need something in your stomach to work these extra hours." Before Benjamin could say anything, Pandora leaped up. "Fanc
"Looks like you are going to have a baby," Emily said, showing her the test. "Or maybe two. Knowing you and Benjamin, it will be twins again," she laughed. "Hush," Pandora gritted out and glared at her. "Hey, you never know, it could be three this time," she smiled. Pandora snorted and slapped her arm. "No, thank you! Now, not a word about this to him. I want to surprise him!" Emily nodded. "Just glad I know someone that's having a baby who will be around this one's age," Emily rubbed her tummy as she spoke. "Maybe you'll have a boy and I'll have a girl and they'll get married," Pandora joked. Emily’s eyes lit up and Pandora knew her joke backfired when she got a big smile on her face. "That would be so awesome," she said. Pandora heard Benjamin yell her name and Emily winked at Pandora. "I better get back to work. Text me when you tell him!" "I will," Pandora replied and she opened the door and ducked out. "Give me three minutes, and then you'll be free to get out of here wi
"It was just some homeless man. I really don't know why they even followed up on it. But I was blamed, and then put in jail. JAIL! When I got out, I was a laughingstock. No one wanted to know me. No one, not even the people I had made great. They all left me to rot. My daddy left with all the money he had and started over in another country. I had nothing. I have nothing and it's all your fault." At that point, she stood and charged at Pandora again, but Pandora easily deflected her arms, grabbed her, and held her down as Raegan hissed and growled at Pandora. "Oh shit!" she heard Milton say and he moved quickly to her, restraining Raegan. "I told you to stay away from this place," he said. "This is all your fault. You and that bitch took my life. I was meant to be Mrs. Parks—it was my life!" she yelled and Milton sighed. "Handcuff her. We have to drop her off at the hospital again," he sighed to the female officer as Pandora watched her place handcuffs on Raegan. Pandora stood, a
Their imperfections, and the fact that they didn't want to be perfect, or have a perfect marriage made them able to cope when one of them made a mistake. Thankfully, Pandora was very kind, and since it was Benjamin that normally screwed up, that made him lucky. Benjamin glanced at Pandora who was hugging his mother, and he noticed she had a warm glow around her. He had always seen it, but it had become more evident to him since they renewed their wedding vows. Benjamin wanted—needed—to marry her again, not because they were both drunk the first time, but because he needed her to know that he meant it all and that he wanted her to be his wife. Pandora looked stunning in the wedding dress that Maisey had made her, but he thought she could have worn a trash bag and still shone like a star. She was so happy and cheerful that he made it his vow to make her that happy at least once a day. He hated to let her dance with anyone else at their reception, but it did give her a chance to hold
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Jack asked. "The zoo," Amy answered with a roll of her eyes. "We can't all be great at remembering stuff," he replied, making the rest of them roll their eyes at him. "It's on the family schedule on the fridge... Oh wait, that's right, you don't look at that because then you would need to do your homework," Beth was quick to point out. "You're just jealous that I can do it in five minutes flat and still pass," Jack boasted. "That's not always going to work, and you will no longer be doing the work moments before it's due to be turned in; do you understand me?" Pandora asked him. "But, is it more important to get it done right or promptly?" he asked, making Benjamin stifle the chuckle that was starting to bubble up, knowing he just stepped into it. "No, mister smarty pants, and you'd be wise to use those smarts to mind what you argue. Getting your work done promptly and done correctly are both important and if you keep doing it at the last minute,
"They must have been naughty, they're back to being just mine," he said with a chuckle, knowing full well that they had been fighting all day. He gave her one last kiss before walking away. "Okay, Amy, you're up first," he said, pointing in front of him as he sat down. He took them one at a time, listening to what they each had to say. As it turned out, this was just a fight about whose turn it was to pick something to watch on the television. So as a punishment, he removed their TV time for the rest of the day and the next. "I can't believe I am going to miss watching golf!" Jack tutted. "What am I going to do now?" "You could read, like Amy," Beth told him with a touch of attitude. "I am not reading one of her silly books!" he bit back. "They were Mom's books," Micheal reminded him. "And Dad said he read them, too." "Yeah, I guess, but what about tomorrow? No TV tomorrow and I planned to watch the tournament. I wish school started already." "Jack, we have plans for tomorrow–
Benjamin took his time looking at the screen. He looked over all the measurements and made sure the spine was straight. Next, he paid close attention to the beating heart and found that it, as well as the other organs, were seemingly perfect. He let out a soft breath when everything looked good, and looked up with a smile. "Mackenna," he said softly as she had her eyes tightly closed. "Come on, open your eyes and look up here at the monitor. She's fine– everything looks great," Benjamin whispered. Mackenna had four miscarriages in the past ten years, and where Benjamin couldn't prove that they were caused by the mistreatment that she received at the hands of Derrik, he stood firm in his belief that the drugs he had given her had some long-lasting effects. About eight years ago, Pandora and she ran into each other while out around town. They got talking and Mackenna accompanied Pandora to the tattoo store Benjamin frequented. The couple had planned on getting matching tattoos on the
“On the twelve counts of Identity Theft Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the four counts of Attempted Murder, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.”“On the three charges of Breaking and Entering, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the five counts of Mortgage Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the six counts of Aggravated Assault, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” The reading went on, covering all the different charges. Meanwhile, Miriam was wailing. Pandora closed her eyes, feeling a sense of relief, as each charge came back guilty. "Mr. Preston, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers; you will be remanded in custody and sentenced on Friday at ten a.m.—" "No! No, not my boy! You've made the wrong choice, you stupid people! I'll end you all for doing this to my baby
Benjamin and Pandora arrived just as the court was starting up. First up was Derrik, who sat there for almost three hours, trying to paint himself as the victim. It was hard sitting there listening to him spew out how Pandora was trying hard to ruin him, and she did all that herself to set him up. Miriam was the next to take the stand and she just glared at Pandora as she was sworn in. "I would first like to ask you about your son, who is he?" Derrik's lawyer asked. "Oh, my sweet Derrik is such a good boy. He was a star football player, but she..." Miriam hissed with a nod in Pandora’s direction, "made him give up his dream. She was always bossing him around, telling him what to do, and what to wear. He wasn't allowed friends, and she even tried to stop him from talking to me. But I wouldn't allow that to happen. I would walk through hell for my son." "So, Mrs. Preston, you are saying that Mrs. Parks was controlling your son?" "Oh yes, he wasn't allowed to work because she was af
During her testimony, Pandora learned that she was also known as Brownie. As she continued through the questions she was asked, Pandora had to bite her lip to stop the sobs from coming out. She told the court how she was paid to pretend to be Pandora. It was one thing to hear how she pretended to be her, but then she told the court how Derrik had sex with her several times inside Pandora’s home. She talked about being in Pandora’s bed, and it just about broke her. For the first time since all of it had started, Pandora was grateful that she had sold her home. "We have one more witness, Your Honor," the District Attorney said and with a nod, the Bailiff walked out. "We call Hannah Song to the stand." Pandora looked over to see a girl who looked like a teenager walking in with her head down. She was sworn in but her head remained down. "Can you tell the court your age?" the District Attorney asked. "Nineteen," she answered quietly, so the Bailiff adjusted the microphone in front of