She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife (Natasha and Chase) novel Chapter 139

(Natasha)

The hearing is set for nine.

It does not start at nine.

It does not start at nine fifteen, or nine thirty.

By the time the bailiff opens the courtroom doors at nine forty-two, I’ve been standing in a corridor in shoes that hate me, holding a six-month-old who’s decided this is the morning to discover the concept of refusing to be still.

Sarah's daughter has chickenpox, she’s at the pediatrician with her right now.

Which is why she can’t be here to help me with Lily.

Lily has tests later. The hospital is less than five minutes from the courthouse.

The hearing is procedural and not supposed to take more than twenty minutes.

Leaving her with my mother and driving back and forth seemed silly.

So Lily is here on my hip in a pale pink romper, wriggling around like it’s an Olympic event.

I’ve made worse decisions this month.

It’s a less comforting thought than it ought to be.

Chase is across the corridor with three lawyers and the worst expression I’ve ever seen on his face.

It looks like he’s been sleeping even less than I have.

The skin under his eyes has that papery quality men get when they’re operating on caffeine and hatred.

He hasn’t looked at me once.

He’s staring at a point on the wall about six inches above his lawyer’s head with the fixed concentration of a man who’s decided that’s the only safe direction to look.

I haven’t heard from him since hanging up on him a few days ago.

Which means he still firmly believes I slept with Julian.

Maybe I did.

I feel like admitting that I was too drunk to remember is even worse than having actually done it.

It will only be more fuel for his lawyers to add to the bonfire of Why-Natasha-Is-An-Unfit-Mother.

At some point we’ll have to talk about Bauer and what all of this means for Warren Global.

The media is hounding me for a statement after Jeffrey's impromptu press conference, where he broke ranks with his legal team.

But I haven’t had time to decide what I think about any of it.

I haven’t responded to his dinner invitation either.

This custody battle is taking up all of my energy.

The hearing finally starts at nine fifty-two.

Both sets of lawyers stand up and say things into a microphone for the judge's benefit.

My lawyer requests the medical clearance be entered into the record.

Chase's lawyer objects to the form.

My lawyer objects to the objection.

The judge, who has already decided she does not enjoy any of us, says she will rule by Friday and adjourns.

Nine minutes. Almost an hour of waiting for nine minutes of nothing.

We file out.

I try to keep Lily's face turned into my shoulder so she won’t be photographed by the cluster of reporters I can already hear through the doors at the end of the corridor.

In the lobby a clerk hands me a folder of paperwork I don’t have the hands to take.

I tuck Lily into the crook of my left arm, take the folder with my right, and start moving toward the exit.

I push through the doors.

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