The Parent Trap(85)
“What do you have in mind? I’m not very creative when it comes to this kind of thing.”
Sarah grinned. “I am. I was thinking a little dose of their own medicine.”
He chuckled at that. “I was thinking we should thank them for setting us up, but I like your plan better.” He took her hand again, ran his thumb across her palm. “What are you suggesting?”
She pulled her phone out of her bag. “I say we send our daughters a text message and say we’ve agreed that a time-out for both of them will be the best thing for everyone.”
“Oh, now you’re thinking like a teenager.” Jonathan took his phone out of his jacket pocket.
They tapped out messages to their girls, reading them out loud, making each other laugh before they sent them.
“You two lovebirds, you are wanting to order some food?” Maria stood beside their table, beaming.
Jonathan leaned back in his chair and smiled at her. “Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“What about the girls?”
“If you ask me, we should let them stew for a while.”
“I like the way you think.”
Maria set menus on the table, went away and came back with a lit candle. “Very romantic, yes?”
It was romantic, and even better than that, it felt real.
KATE KEPT AN eye on the driveway from her bedroom window and she could see Casey doing the same. Their parents had been out for more than two hours, and after she and Casey had received those text messages, they were both trying to figure out if that was a good thing or a not-so-good thing.
Finally two pairs of headlights pulled into the yard, first Sarah’s and then her dad’s. He stepped out first, jogged around Sarah’s car and opened the door for her.
Kate’s phone buzzed to signal an incoming text. It was from Casey, who was watching from her room next door.
They’re here! Wonder what took so long.
Don’t know. Do U really think R plan backfired?
Hope not. L
Me 2
She saw Sarah take her dad’s hand, watched him help her out of the car.
They don’t look mad.
She hoped Casey was right. Sarah closed her car door and then they stood there, probably talking. It was too dark to tell, but they looked the opposite of mad.
Can’t see much.
Me either.
She and Casey had been stunned by the messages from their parents. Hadn’t they figured out that this had been a trap? Or were they messing with them? Did they think it was funny, or were they mad at them?
Sarah looked up then, first at Casey’s bedroom window and then at Kate’s. She said something to her dad, and then he held out his arms and Sarah stepped into them and... Ha! She fired off another message.
Do U C what I C?
Yes! High 5!
And they each slapped a palm to the glass.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ON THE DAY of the custody hearing, Jon and Sarah and Kate and Casey made the trip by car and ferry to Vancouver. He’d never been to court before and had no idea what to expect. He’d felt somewhat reassured, though, when his lawyer told him the courtroom would be closed. Child custody cases were closed to the public, so it would be the four of them, plus his lawyer and Georgette’s lawyer.
Finding out his ex-wife hadn’t been able to make the trip here had been no surprise and a huge relief. He couldn’t tell if Kate shared the sentiment, and he sure wasn’t going to ask.
After they arrived, Kate had spent nearly an hour in the judge’s chambers. She’d seemed quietly confident when she emerged and disinclined to discuss what she and the judge had talked about.
Finally, half an hour later, they were ushered into a small courtroom and shown where to sit.
A clerk stood and faced them. “Madame Justice Constance Burgess presiding. All rise.”
Everyone stood as a small woman with wiry brown curls entered, black robe swishing around her, and took a seat behind the large desk at the front of the room.
They all sat again, and Sarah placed a reassuring hand over his.
Finding out that a female judge would hear the case had unnerved him. Would a woman be more inclined to think a child should be in her mother’s care?
Judge Burgess perched a pair of reading glasses on the end of her nose and opened a folder on the desk.
“In the case of Georgette Ogilvie and Jonathan Marshall...” She peered over the top of her glasses at Georgette’s lawyer and speared him with a sharp gaze. “Where is Ms. Ogilvie?”
He stood. “My client is unable to attend today, Your Honor. She resides in Europe and she had prior commitments. She’s asked that I speak on her behalf.”
Sarah squeezed Jon’s hand and glanced at him. What he saw was his own resentment mirrored in her eyes. All this, and Georgette couldn’t be bothered to show up?