Disclaimer: I still don't own Mort Rainey or Secret Window, so suing is pointless.
AN: I'd like to remind everyone that I know nothing about law, so please don't bite my head off if I have anything wrong. I'm working off of Law and Order episodes (I own nothing of theirs), but if anyone has a lawyer for a relative or knows something about law, feel free to e-mail me. Otherwise, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7: Torments of the Heart:
Amber's POV:
The next ten days passed by in a fog. We adults were constantly going over the notes our lawyers left us, trying to prepare for every twist and turn that my parents' attorneys could throw at us. Of us all, only Elizabeth seemed to be unaffected by the impending storm her grandparents had brought down upon us. As Mort, Mike, Kaitlyn, and I poured over document after document, memorizing everything we could, our precious Lizzie played with her toys and crawled into our laps, trying (unconsciously) to ease our tension as best she could.
Three days before the trial, Shannon and Melanie (they insisted on being called by their first names, being Mort's friends and all) appeared at our door; the expressions on their faces hovered between absolute joy and utter worry. I was the one to open the door and give them a blank, blinking look as they stood there, grinning at me. Recovering from my surprise, I raised an eyebrow at them.
"Is there a reason that you two are smiling like idiots, or are you doing that to scare me?" I asked, eyeing the two women.
"We'll tell you, but we need you all here with us," Shannon said, her black eyes sparkling at me.
Melanie winked a blue-gray eye at me as she and her cousin entered our apartment. After putting Elizabeth down for a nap, we all gathered around the dinning room table to see what Mort's expensive lawyers had come up with this close to the trial. Mort sat on my left, holding my hand and squeezing it occasionally as he ran his thumb over my knuckles; it was a touching gesture to get us both to calm down and focus on whatever was going to be brought up.
"I have news, and it's both great and semi-bad news," Shannon said, glancing around the table. Her eyes met mine, Mort's, Mike's, and Kaitlyn's. "Which do you want first?"
"Bad," I instantly replied. That way, the good will make up for the bad…
"Well, the great news is what actually leads to the bad news, so the good will have to be first," Melanie said, folding her hands together.
Shannon nodded as she turned towards us. "Amber, the charges against your husband have been dismissed by the judge as unfounded," she said, smirking at me. "In other words, you're not going to prison, Mort."
"Well, technically that's not true, Shan," Melanie quickly said, snapping our shocked attention to her. "The charges have been dropped, but there are new ones brought about by the prosecution. These new charges are a mystery at the present time, but we have been invited to a private conference with your parents and their lawyers to see what has been brought up against you this time, Mort."
"So what, exactly, does that mean?" I asked, clutching Mort's hand. I couldn't lose him again so soon after the last time! Would these horrors never stop following us? Why couldn't we be left in peace as a family?
"It basically means that although the previous charges have been dismissed, your parents aren't giving up that easily," Mort growled, his hand gripping mine tightly in a possessive manner.
Shannon nodded. "That's why we're meeting them at the D.A.'s office tomorrow morning to see what they have to throw of us this time." She turned her businesslike black eyes towards us all. "Amber, you and Mort will be going with us, but no one else; court orders."
Mort's arm slipped around my shoulders, clutching me to him as I began shaking. He gave me a firm squeeze to give me strength and love.
"We'll be there."
The Next Day, Amber's POV:
I could feel my heart turn cold as ice in my chest as Mort and I entered the small conference room of the State District Attorney's office. My parents were already there, their lawyers apparently fully armed and ready to take us on. They didn't know Shannon and Melanie, though…our two crackshot lawyers were also prepared to take on Hell itself to keep our family together.
"Mr. and Mrs. Rainey, please sit down," asked the D.A. "My name is Clint Rockwell, and I will be a sort of mediator for this conference." He was a tall black man, middle aged, with a round body and a semi-jolly face…not the sort of person one expected a lawyer to look like.
"We're here to discuss new charges brought against your client, Miss McKnight and Miss Black," Mr. Rockwell continued. "Miss Kapusta, Miss Perez, would you care to inform them of these new charges?"
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Rockwell," stated Miss Kapusta. "These new charges are similar to the previous charges, but are primarily stemmed from the psychological nature. Mr. and Mrs. Olson believe that Mr. Rainey is a mentally disturbed man who took their daughter, forcefully, and has mentally and emotionally convinced her that he loves her and she him. Her parents assure us that Amber has been an emotionally unstable woman since her teens, and that they have had some difficulty with her. They merely seek getting their daughter and granddaughter home with them as soon as humanly possible for psychological treatment, and for Mr. Rainey to pay for his crime of mental and emotional trauma on Amber and her family."
Miss Perez took up the conversation. "The background is simple: Mr. Rainey, a lonely writer, recently suffering from the divorce and loss of his wife, and living alone in the woods with no outside contact." She turned to focus on Mort. "On his latest book tour, he spots Amber, sees how vulnerable she is, and abducts her. He then forced her into marriage and did all he could to convince her to fall in love with him. We have various examples of cult leaders using the same techniques when persuading people to join their cause. The fact that she has borne him a child, especially after taking her on a tour of Europe during her pregnancy, only adds to the mental reinforcement of the idea that he loves her."
"Or it could be that he truly loves her and wanted to take his wife on a romantic tour of Europe," Shannon snapped. "Mr. Rainey did suffer from the scars of his separation from his first wife, Amy, but has found happiness in his marriage to Amber. There is no proof whatsoever of any sort of manipulation on Mr. Rainey's part."
"This makes all of the charges mere speculation," Melanie put in, frowning. "It takes a great deal of time to manipulate a person's mind, and Amber had only been with Mr. Rainey for a short amount of time before they married, willingly. The signatures have been verified by handwriting analysts as valid. Also, over the past six years, Amber has had numerous opportunities to seek numerous kinds of help, be it psychological or otherwise. She has also had many chances to escape with her daughter and yet did not do so, proving that she is truly in love with Mr. Rainey and is happy with him."
Mr. Rockwell nodded. "I feel very inclined to agree with Miss Black and Miss McKnight," he said. "However, I would like Mr. and Mrs. Rainey to submit to psychological evaluations. You will use a psychologist of the State, and the results will be admitted to a private trial, which has been granted by a court judge." He looked around the table. "And I expect everyone to be there." He stood up. "I'm afraid I have another case to deal with in court. If you'll excuse me."
He left, closing the door behind him with a soft 'click.' As soon as he was out of hearing range of the room, I whipped my head around to glare at my parents, who were looking both smug and worried. I, on the other hand, felt as though the world had been turned upside down and shaken, like a snowglobe. The fact that my parents' lawyers had come remarkably close in recreating the circumstances under which Mort and I had first met scared the crap out of me. And now Mort and I had to go see a psychiatrist to prove that we were both sane! I really didn't know how much more of this I could take…
"How dare you do this to me?" I hissed at them. "How dare the two of you ruin my life like this! I'm finally happy with my life, and you want to take it all away from me!" I stood up, Mort standing with me.
"Amber-" my father said.
"Shut up," I snapped. He did. "Come on, Mort. We're leaving."
The four of us left the conference room, despite hearing my parents call out for me to come back. If I had gone back into the conference room, I would have strangled them for what they were doing to me and to my family. I was going to do everything I could to keep Mort out of jail, and to keep our family together. I was not going to let my peaceful, love-filled life be taken away or destroyed in any way, and I'd die before I let my parents lay a hand on my daughter!
Needless to say, the ride home was eerily silent as the four of us were lost in our own thoughts.
The Next Day, Mort's POV:
The previous night had been tense in the apartment after they had returned from the meeting. Amber did her best to appear happy, but Mort could tell that the meeting with her parents had seriously disturbed his wife. As the three of them had dinner together (alone, for the first time in months), Mort could tell that Amber was doing all she could to keep from either exploding in rage, or turning into a living river of tears. He swore that he would help Amber with her troubles before the night was over.
After Elizabeth was in bed, Mort watched his beautiful, beloved wife slip into a new white-lace nightgown that he'd ordered via the Internet and presented to her a few days ago. As she slipped under the covers, Mort grabbed her and pulled her on top of him, smirking when he heard her squeal with surprise.
"Mort, what's gotten into you?" she giggled, looking down at him.
Mort smiled softly up at her. "I wanted to talk, and that was quickest way to get your attention."
Amber's eyes softened as she reached down and caressed his face. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked.
"I want to know what's bothering you," he whispered, rubbing his hands up and down her back.
Amber sighed. "I'm just scared that my parents will win and that they'll take you away from me," she said, looking down at him, fearful tears in her eyes. "I don't think I could bear it."
Mort tightened his grip on her, pulling her fully down on his chest and into a hug. "They'll never win," he whispered to her, her head resting on his chest. "We'll pass the psychology tests and make it through the trial, no matter what happens. We'll always be together, and we'll always be a family."
Amber sighed, nuzzling her face against his neck. "I hope you're right, for Lizzie's sake."
"I know I am," Mort murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Now go to sleep."
She snorted. "On top of you? I'd crush you! I told you I needed to lose that pregnancy weight."
Mort growled as he pulled her head up to look at him. "You do and I'll force-feed you until you gain it all back," he semi-mock threatened. "I told you that I like women with curves, and that I love how sexy you are with them."
A smirk suddenly spread on her face. "Prove it," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his lips.
His hands clutched her tighter. "Oh, believe me," he said, rolling over so that he was now on top of her, "I will."
Amber's POV:
I was nervous as hell about the psychiatrist visit I had to make in a few days. After all, the last thing I wanted was for them to find out the truth about Mort's life before we met. And let's not forget about the abduction and the events after it! I felt as though my heart were going a million miles an hour, and like the world was against me. I'd never been happy before I'd met Mort, and now that life was perfect, someone wanted to take it all away from me…was there no sense of fairness in the universe? I'd waited my whole life to be a wife and loving mother, and now that I was, it was all in jeopardy because my parents were possessive idiots.
"Mommy?" Elizabeth called, interrupting my thoughts. "Someone on the phone for you!"
Well, that caught my attention.
"Lizzie, what are you doing answering the phone?" I gasped, racing to grab it before the caller heard something they shouldn't. I took the receiver from her and pushed her towards her father's study. "Go play with Daddy for a little bit while Mommy talks on the phone."
"But Daddy's working," Elizabeth protested weakly. She loved playing with her daddy and always tried to find a chance to do so, but didn't like bothering him while he was writing.
"He needs to take a rest, so go distract him," I said, smiling and winking at her. She eagerly nodded and I turned my full attention to the phone. "Hello?"
"Amber, it's Mel."
"Melanie, what's wrong?" I asked, worried. Shannon and Melanie never called unless it was bad news. "What's happened?"
"Amber, your parents' lawyers just called me with what they called a "deal," but what I call a threat," Melanie said, her voice angry. "They say that if they lose this trial and if you don't come home with them, they'll sue Mort for emotional trauma after being deprived of their visitation rights with Elizabeth and you." There was a small pause. "They also say that if you don't come back to them willingly, they'll sue for custody of Elizabeth."
I went cold. They'd take Lizzie away from me just to get back at Mort? They'd sue for money if they lost the trial? Did they really think that money mattered to us? They could have it all if they wanted, as long as they left us alone! I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any second.
"Amber, are you there? I asked if you wanted to settle this outside of court," Melanie's voice came through the receiver. "Or if you had any other ideas about what we could do for the trial."
Shaking my head to clear it, I turned my attention back to the phone. I had to take care of this.
"Um, how about witnesses that we could call up to the stand?" I asked. "You know, to testify on our behalf, to tell how happy we are and everything. Do we have any of those?"
"We do, but they're mostly writers, and they seem to be incommunicado," Melanie said. "Seems that winter is the perfect time of year to hole up somewhere and write a book, so we can count those people out. Others are either promoting on the road and won't be free until it's too late, and some are even in Europe."
"So it's hopeless," I said, my shoulders slumping.
"No, not exactly," Melanie said. "I'll think of something, Amber, don't worry. Shannon and I are going to work our asses off to save you and Mort. We'll take care of it, I promise." She hung up.
I stood there, holding the receiver, listening to the hollow sound of the dial tone and thinking of how to make sense of the situation. So our writer friends were out of contact, busy, or both. What did that leave us with? Nothing, that's what. With no witnesses to talk about how content Mort and I were, we didn't have much to go on, and if that psychiatrist decided to bad-mouth us on the stand, the happy life that I knew and cherished would be over. Mort would be locked up either in jail or the mental hospital, I'd probably be locked up with him or treated for some sort of mental disease, and who knows what would happen to Lizzie?
'Knowing how my parents are working, my precious baby-girl would end up with them,' I thought, horrified. 'Mike doesn't have a job, he's too busy going to school, and Kaitlyn is only his girlfriend and not related to us in any way. Elizabeth will be taken to the other side of the country and I'll never see her again. Oh, God, what are we going to do?'
"Amber?" called a voice, forcing me out of my thoughts. It was Mort.
"In the living room," I answered back, turning off the phone and returning it to its proper place. "Mort, I need to talk to you."
Mort's POV:
"Sue! They're threatening to sue us?" Mort couldn't believe it. Well, perhaps he could; after all, these were his in-laws. But sue them for money? Where did they get that idea?
"It gets worse," Amber said, covering his hands with hers. "It's possible that, if worst comes to worst, they'll sue for custody of Elizabeth."
Silence filled the room, and Mort felt ready to kill something…or someone. No, he couldn't have those thoughts; he was a good man, Amber always told him so. Still, he couldn't bear to lose his daughter to his wife's parents. That could not, and would not, happen, not ever. They would beat her parents and keep their family together, no matter what.
"Mort, are you okay?"
He looked up. Amber's velvet, doe-brown eyes were focused on him, and they were filled with worry and fear...fear for their family, fear for their daughter, and, of course, fear for him.
Mort forced a small smile and squeezed his wife's hands. "I'm okay," he whispered. "What else did Melanie tell you?"
His wife sighed. "She said that there aren't any witnesses to testify on our behalf," she said, her voice soft. "All of our writer friends are either on tour somewhere and can't make it back in time, or are in isolation, working on their latest book. We have nothing to help us, Mort."
He could hear the tears preparing to fall, and instantly got up to sit next to her, his arms finding their way around his wife's body. As she leaned into him, Mort felt her tears moisten his shirt and could feel her shoulders shake as she silently cried against him. If there was one thing in the world that Mort Rainey couldn't stand, it was to see he wife cry. It always broke his heart and made him want to turn the world upside-down to make things alright again. But this time, he didn't know how to do that.
"Mommy?" called Elizabeth's small voice.
They both looked up to see their tiny girl standing in front of the table, her thumb in her mouth. Amber forced a smile on her face and opened her arms towards the little girl, who eagerly raced forward and jumped into her mother's lap.
"What's wrong, Mommy? Why are you crying?"
Amber kissed Elizabeth's forehead. "I'm okay, darling," she cooed. "Mommy's just had a bad day."
Elizabeth nodded her understanding and snuggled down for a nap in her mother's lap. Meanwhile, Mort watched the scene quietly, staring in wonder at how lucky he was to have such a beautiful family. His in-laws could not win. That was it. Losing this case was not an option. If he had to do something drastic, then so be it, but he was not going to lose his family; no matter what.
AN: Oh, is Mort's up to something? Guess you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out! Oh, and sorry if the chapter is too depressing or anything. Review and tell me what you think, please!
