Chapter 27

The next afternoon after Jeremy got to work, he called the lawyer Charlotte had hooked him up with. He’d spoken to the guy before, but hadn’t settled on him to finalize the divorce. He’d wanted to talk to Robin first before he made any definite plans.

Now was time to get the ball rolling.

Albert Grayson was the name of the lawyer. He told Jeremy to make sure that he got copies of any and all the police reports to file in the divorce decree, although, he really didn’t feel they would need them. Mr. Grayson told Jeremy they would be in there for leverage, just in case Robin tried to put up a fight.

Jeremy was also reminded that the papers would also ask that each party leave the marriage with what they came into it with, with the option of each person keeping their car. Jeremy even told the lawyer to go ahead and let her have everything left in the house.

After finding out the sick things that Robin and Greg were doing in the house, he figured he might as well just let her have it. He was going to start over with Charlotte anyway.

As they were still on the phone, Mr. Grayson handed Jeremy’s paperwork off to his assistant to get it filed in the computer. The two men were talking about what process was next when his assistant interrupted them.

“Mr. Grayson, I can’t file this petition. Robin Johnson’s lawyer has already filed a claim this morning,” the assistant said. “I am printing out a copy of the petition for you.”

There was some commotion on Mr. Grayson’s end before Jeremy heard him curse under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy asked.

“Your soon-to-be ex-wife filed a petition for divorce this morning. In the claim, she has stated that she is 16 weeks pregnant. I thought you told me she was only 8 or 9 weeks?” the lawyer asked.

“According to her when she was in the hospital, she was. I guess that goes to show you that you can’t trust anything that she says,” Jeremy stated and scoffed.

“Well, there’s more here, too. She’s also asking the court to deny you any rights or privileges to the child upon birth if said child does turn out to be yours. I cannot see a judge granting this, but you never know.”

Jeremy was quiet for a minute. He would not have imagined, no matter what was going on between the two of them, that Robin would stoop so low as to keep his child away from him, if it came down to it. Out of all the things in the world that she could do, this one would hurt the most.

“I can’t believe it,” he finally said.

“Don’t get too upset yet. We still have to determine whether or not the baby is yours. You might be about to blow up for no reason,” his lawyer told him. “Why don’t you go home and get some rest, do something to take your mind off this for a while. Let me handle this end of things for now, see what I can dig up, and I’ll call you in a few days and let you know what I find out,” Mr. Grayson said.

Jeremy agreed to try not to worry too much. The lawyer was right, one never knew which way a judge would go when it came to situations like this. He figured he needed to try not to get too worked up. It could all be for naught.

He packed up his things and headed home. Just thinking about the fact that he called Charlotte’s “home” now, instantly put a smile on his face.

Thinking about that got him thinking about the future. Having Charlotte in his future, it was starting to look up already.
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A little over a month has passed since Jeremy’s lawyer filed a counter-petition, asking the judge to throw out the demands of Robin’s initial petition. The paperwork went through, in Jeremy’s favor. The judge, who was raised by his single father, couldn’t believe that Robin would deny a man the opportunity to help raise his child. He even went as far to give shared custody to the two of them, making it mandatory.

Jeremy couldn’t have been more pleased. He didn’t want to push things by asking for sole custody, so for now, he was extremely happy.

Robin was starting to show a little bit now, and it made Jeremy a little sad to know that he wasn’t around for the growth of his potential child. When he thought about all the moments he was missing out on, he always got a little down. But then he would think about Robin and those feelings would go away.

He couldn’t wait for the baby to be born. He and Charlotte were even preparing for it at their house. They’d gone out and bought just the essentials. They were practical, not stupid.

Then, exactly three months from the day Robin filed the petition for divorce, the final decree was finally granted. Jeremy was free of Robin, as far as her being his wife.

The second Jeremy got the call that Robin had left court and everything was all said and done, Jeremy called Charlotte. He told her the good news and told her to get ready because later on that night they were going to celebrate. He then called both his mother and Charlotte’s, to let them know that they were all going out.

After hanging up the phone with everyone, Jeremy jumped in his car and headed to the bank. He made it there, took care of some business and then headed back to work.

At six o’clock that evening, he headed home. Once he got there, he had a quick celebratory drink with Charlotte, jumped in and out of the shower and got dressed. They were both dressed to kill as they stepped outside. There, as they headed out the door, was a limo waiting for them.

Earlier that day, after Jeremy had gone back to work, he set his plan in motion. He’d called the limo company to hire one for the night. He’d called both mothers back and told them to be ready by 7 pm because a limo was going to come through and pick both of them up. He wanted to surprise Charlotte, so he didn’t tell her about it.

When the driver opened the door for her to get in, she was surprised to see her mother and Jeremy’s mother already waiting inside. She got excited because he was pulling out all the stops and she was wondering what was next.

They talked about how happy they were that everything was almost over. Once they got to the hotel, they went inside and up to the “S” level. When the elevator stopped, they got off on the floor where the Spindletop Restaurant was. Charlotte had always wanted to go there and have dinner.

The Spindletop is a restaurant in Downtown Houston, atop the Marriott Hotel. Its located in one of the tallest hotels and sits on a slow-spinning axis. The “walls” are made of glass so that you can see the view outside at any angle.

As they walked up to the host stand, Charlotte was beaming. She couldn’t believe that Jeremy was doing all this. He did say that he wanted to go out and celebrate, but he was doing it in a way that coordinated with one of Charlotte’s perfect date nights. She was falling in love with him all over again.

They were quickly seated at a table in the middle of the room, one where they could turn in any direction and see beauty all around. Jeremy took the liberty of ordering a bottle of champagne and they toasted to the good news of the day.

After they’d all ordered their food and eaten and talked and laughed, Jeremy got really serious. He was getting nervous, fidgeting and stuttering.

His mother kept asking him what was wrong, she’d never seen him act like that, but he kept assuring her that he was fine.

As the meal was winding down and they were having their coffee, and Charlotte her tea, Jeremy pulled out a small brown box and set it on the table next to Charlotte’s tea cup.

She was talking to her mother, not paying attention, until she noticed her mom’s vision looking down at the saucer.

“What’s…” she started to say.

When she looked down, she saw the box and immediately looked over at Jeremy.

He reached out and took her hand then slid off the chair and got down on one knee.

“Charlotte Renee’ Roberts… I’ve wanted to do this since I was in pre-K, the first day I met you. I didn’t even know what love was, but I knew that there was something special about you. We grew to become such great friends, but my love for you never faltered or diminished, it only grew. I really wish that I’d done this 10 years ago, but as I see it, right here, right now is the most perfect moment in the world to change this, what we have going on. I’m asking you, Charlotte, to spend the rest of your years with me, continuing to grow together, to love together, to be one, together. Charlotte, will you marry me?”

Jeremy opened the box and showed Charlotte the ring. It was perfect, just what she’d described to him her perfect left hand ring jewelry would be. It had a tri-colored (white gold, gold and copper) band, with 6 small diamonds on either side of the setting, which had a 2 karat square-cut diamond in the middle.

He watched her shakily extend out her free hand to him and he took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. As soon as he did, Charlotte lunged at him and knocked him to the ground, kissing him all over.

“Is that a yes?” he asked her through the kisses?

“Yes,” she screamed, as the room erupted in applause.
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A month and a half later, Jeremy and Charlotte were just lounging around their house, having a lazy day, when Jeremy’s cell phone rang. He took his time answering it, not really wanting to be bothered, happily spending the day with his fiancée.

When he checked the caller ID, he noticed that it was Robin’s number. He really didn’t want to answer it, but thought that if she was calling him, something might be wrong with the baby.

“Hello?” he said, hoping his suspicions were wrong.

“Jeremy, its Greg,” Greg started. “Look, I know I’m the last person you want to hear from, but I just thought you’d like to know that Robin went into labor about an hour ago. We’re at Hermann right now, we just got into a room. They’ve checked her and she already dilated about 6 centimeters. I thought maybe you’d want to be here for the baby’s birth.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Jeremy stammered. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He hung up the phone and stared at it.

Robin was in labor. She was about to give birth to a baby that could’ve been his son or daughter. He wished he knew what she was having. He’d always wanted to experience walking into the delivery room with a huge bear and balloons that said “It’s a Boy” or It’s a Girl” on them. But Robin was adamant about being surprised about the sex of the baby.

Jeremy clunked down in the chair closest to him as Charlotte walked back into the room.

“What’s wrong, babe? You okay?” she asked.

“Robin’s at the hospital about to have the baby. That was Greg,” he said, still in a shocked state.

Charlotte jumped up and grabbed her purse and keys.

“Well, come on, let’s go,” she said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door.

They got in the car and drove to the hospital. They parked in the first spot they saw and ran inside, frantically trying to find the labor and delivery wing.

As soon as they found it, they saw Greg pacing the waiting room. He looked relieved when he saw them walk in. He ran up to Jeremy.

“Look man, I know you don’t like me and don’t really want to have anything to do with me, but I can’t go back in there. She’s possessed! She’s yelling and screaming and they won’t give her anything for contractions that she can still feel because the epidural didn’t take down the left side her body. She’s crazy!” He rambled.

Jeremy almost felt sorry for Greg, but then he quickly shook that off. He wasn’t there to ease Greg’s pain. All he wanted to do was be there for the birth of the baby.

He asked Greg what room she was in and Greg walked them to it.

Charlotte peeked in the room and saw that Robin was sleeping. Mrs. Mathers was sitting on the sofa across the room from the bed and looked up when the door opened.

Charlotte smiled at her and let the door close back. She didn’t want to start anything and figured it would be best if she stayed in the waiting room, and told Jeremy as much.

Jeremy poked his head into the room and Mrs. Mathers looked up again.

“I’m not sleeping, you know,” Robin told Jeremy. “And you can tell you little girlfriend that she is not allowed in here. Period.”

Jeremy shook his head. He couldn’t believe that on such a special day, Robin was still trying to stir up mess.

“First of all, she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my fiancée, and second, she’s fine with that. She didn’t want to cause any problems, so she decided to wait in the waiting room.”

Robin’s mother walked out of the room then, rolling her eyes at her daughter, while Robin still hadn’t picked up her jaw from hearing fiancée flow from Jeremy’s mouth.

She didn’t say anything else about Charlotte after that.

The doctor came in not too long after to check Robin to see how much more dilated she was. She had two more centimeters to go and she was ready to push. Hearing that started her crying. She was terrified, she confessed to Jeremy. Greg was no help, he couldn’t stay in the room long enough to even hold her hand and her mother was nagging her.

Robin looked up at Jeremy, glassy eyed. She begged him to stay with her through the birth and he told her that he would. He wanted to be there, especially if this baby was his.

Robin started to cry even more then. She apologized profusely for cheating on Jeremy and for everything she’d put him through.

After a few minutes of silence, Greg poked his head in the room. Seeing Robin calmer than she’d been since they arrived at the hospital, he walked all the way in the room. He stood on one side of the bed as Jeremy stood on the other.

“I asked Jeremy to be here when I give birth,” Robin told Greg.

Greg just nodded his head at that. He was actually relieved to hear it, but didn’t want to let it show.

The nurse came in about ten minutes later and checked Robin again. She told them that it was time to start pushing and called for the doctor to come back in.

After all the technicians and nurses and doctors got set up, Robin started pushing. She screamed and panted and cursed everybody she’d ever met, but she pushed through and delivered a healthy baby girl.

Jeremy ran out to tell Charlotte and to bring her back in the room to see the baby. She wasn’t so sure because she didn’t want to upset Robin, but Jeremy reminded her that sooner or later they were going to have to get along anyway, especially if he was going to have joint custody of the baby. He told her that now was as good a time as any to start.

Charlotte, reluctantly, walked back to the room with Jeremy. When he opened the door, Robin was laying in the bed holding the baby. She looked up at them as they tiptoed into the room. Robin smiled instantly faded, but was almost immediately replaced by a fake one.

“Here, Jeremy, come see your… the baby,” Robin said, correcting herself.

Jeremy walked over to the bed, holding Charlotte’s hand and pulling her along with him.

“Hi, Robin,” Charlotte said quietly. “Look, if you don’t want me in here, its fine, I’ll leave.”

“No, no it’s okay,” Robin said, eyeing Jeremy. “We’re gonna have to get along regardless, right?”

Charlotte nodded her head and told Robin how beautiful the baby was. She even got a chance to hold her for a second, before Robin gave her a look.

“I think I want to name her Morgan, Morgan…Mathers, for now,” Robin said, looking between the two men in the room.

Mrs. Mathers beamed at the mention of that. Although she knew the name would be temporary, to have her first grandchild with her namesake, it was like an honor to her.

Suddenly, the attending nurse came over to Jeremy with a Q-tip swab. She asked him to open his mouth and swabbed the inside of his right cheek. She did the same thing to Greg. Then she told them that they would have the results in two days.

Jeremy and Charlotte stuck around for another hour or so, when they noticed that Robin was getting ready for a nap and the baby had finally dozed off.

After they left, they went and got something to eat and then headed home.
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Three days later, Jeremy got a call from Greg telling him that results had arrived in the mail and that Robin and him would wait until he got there before they opened it. Jeremy told Charlotte what was going on and they headed over together.

On the way, Jeremy called his mom and let her know what was going on. She was anxious to see her grandchild, if it was so. She excitedly told Jeremy to call her as soon as they knew something.

As soon as Jeremy and Charlotte walked through the door, Robin was ripping the envelope open. Her face went from lit up to completely hitting the floor. She didn’t respond when both of the guys asked her what the results were, she just dropped the paper and sat down slowly on the sofa, hands clasped over her mouth.

Jeremy was the first to reach for the results and seemed just as shocked. He yelled out a curse, to no one in particular, threw the paper at Robin and stormed out of the house. Charlotte still didn’t know what was going on, so she followed Jeremy outside to find out.

When she caught up with him, he was just hanging up the phone with his mother. He turned and smiled at Charlotte, reached out his hand to take hers and they headed home together.
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Epilogue

Only about six months have passed since Jeremy, Robin and Greg got the paternity test results.

The Robin/Jeremy/Greg triangle should’ve been more like a square. Little Morgan, whose last name will probably remain Mathers still, has an unknown father. Morgan turned out to be 99.99% NOT Jeremy’s OR Greg’s child.

Greg, so upset over finding out that Robin was cheating on Jeremy with more than just him, decided to leave her and moved out a week after the paternity test results came in. He had no clue that Robin was cheating on him and refused to stay in an unfaithful relationship.

Robin, after losing both of the men she was in a relationship with, also lost her job and all her co-workers starting blackballing her. She couldn’t get a job anywhere that was worth it, and in the end, decided to move closer to her parents, literally. She sold the house her and Jeremy lived in together, and after splitting the money from that with Jeremy, she bought the house across the street from her parents.

As for Jeremy and Charlotte, they finally began planning their wedding. With Charlotte being in the business already and having great contacts in the industry, vendors were jumping at the chance to be involved in the Roberts/Johnson wedding. The couple is well on their way to a very happy ending.