“You can tell them also that I haven’t spent any of the money he left me. I understand they might feel cheated somehow.”
Anna was actually surprised by feeling absolutely no envy of that money. In fact, oddly, she was relieved to know that in the end Chad had done something decent. Admittedly, her life would have been quite different had she known about Amy sooner. “It must have been what Chad wanted or he wouldn’t have done it. And though it won’t be soon, you will have more college tuitions to finance—best to tuck it away. Thank you for being honest.”
Amy nodded and looked around Christos. “This place is fantastic. Maybe we’ll meet here again sometime.”
“Whenever we can,” Anna said. “We’re going to stay in touch.”
Anna’s court roster was heavy with cases and Phoebe, her best friend and clerk of court, complained bitterly. And that’s how her Monday began.
“I’m not trying to rush you or crowd you, I don’t want you to take on more than you can handle emotionally, but let’s make getting these cases on the calendar a priority. I’ll get you the help you need. But we have to mop up!”
“Absolutely,” Anna agreed. When Anna took note of the number of files that made their way to her desk, she knew it was going to be a brutal week, complete with plenty of homework. One of the holdovers from the days of the pandemic was the frequent use of video conferencing for meetings, which cut down on the time factor and helped them get work done in a more efficient manner.
It was September; children were back in school and thankfully attending in person and not remotely as had been the case last year. They were booking cases to be heard all the way into November. In addition Anna was signing off on multiple divorces where there was no contest, child custody issues with CPS, search and seizure warrants and other miscellaneous cases. She was able to push many to Family Court. Lunch every day was brought in and eaten with staff members while working. Her secretary, Irene, was riding the law clerks hard. Anna’s had always been a busy courtroom. Her briefcase was full when she left the courthouse every evening, and on Saturday there was no rest for the wicked and Anna was back at her desk. Phoebe and a couple of the clerks were also there giving up their weekend to help catch up.
Grueling workweeks were not unusual for Anna, but in the past she might’ve called Chad and asked him to stop at the grocery store or grab some takeout—a pizza or Chinese. The only work he did on weekends was routinely done at home and he used his days off to golf or get together with friends. She’d been finding over the last six months that these little things—not having someone to grab dinner or run an errand—added up over time.
She called Joe. “How was your week?” she asked.
“Busy, but I bet not as busy as yours. Is your courtroom packed?”
“Standing room only, in person and virtually.”
Joe had called a couple of times during the week and all she had done was complain about how busy she was. “I haven’t even had time to talk to you and I wanted to tell you something. Amy called me last weekend, we met and some questions were answered.” She told him about their discussion over lattes at Christos. “It has weighed on my mind ever since. I’m trying to think of how and when to tell the kids. They need to know they have a sister.”
“Have you come up with a plan?” he asked.
“Just a very bad one. Except for holidays and special occasions, we’re not usually all together as a family and I want them to hear the news together. I think telling them one at a time could just set up trouble. I could tell Jessie and she would call Michael and give him her version or vice versa. And where Bess is concerned, I don’t have any idea what her reaction will be or who she would talk to about it. She has a boyfriend, it seems, but I haven’t met him. I want them to know the facts. But I don’t want a thirty-year-old indiscretion to tear my family apart.”
“It wasn’t your indiscretion, Anna,” he said. “How could they blame you?”
She actually laughed. Did he know so little about families, about kids? They blamed their parents all the time! Sometimes until they were old and gray. It wasn’t uncommon that people blamed their parents after they were long dead. She’d seen it all through her legal career as an attorney and judge and it was impossible to determine if it was justified or not. The only thing she was completely sure of—she had loved her husband and had done her best to be a good wife and mother. But is that what her children thought?