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Chapter 17

"What do you mean Tess has Jack?" Isabel said, almost screaming in rage. "I don't know," Liz said, as Naima and Maria tried to calm her down. "Alex said Max got a call from Tess's lawyer and that her lawyer said she wanted custody of Jack. According to Alex, Max wasn't in the mood to talk and that's why he made Alex call." "This is absolutely crazy!" Naima exclaimed as the phone rang again. Liz picked up. "Hello?" It was Max. A few minutes later, Liz went into her room and changed out of her wedding dress. "I feel so bad for her. I can't believe her dream day's destroyed," Maria said. "Yeah, I feel for her man. I can't believe what I would have done if my wedding day was destroyed," Isabel said. Liz came out wearing jeans and a spaghetti top. "Let's go to my place," Liz said, as she wiped the tears off her eyes. Isabel, Naima and Maria went up to give her a huge comfort hug. "Thanks guys," Liz said as she grabbed her car keys off the table and took Nairia with her as the 4 of them went towards her car.

"Liz, what are you doing here?" Max said as he opened the front door and saw Liz, Isabel, Naima, Maria & Nairia. "Look, we can't go through with the whole thing without Jack so let's just cancel today," Liz said, as fresh tears welled up in her eyes. "Honey, I'm so sorry," Max said as he hugged Liz and kissed her on her forehead. Liz couldn't help but cry on his shoulder as he led all of them inside. "So what are we going to do about Jack?" Isabel asked, as all 8 of them just looked at each other. "Let's just make calls and cancel on today then work out the rest," Max said, as he laid a protective arm over Liz, knowing that she was really upset about it.

An hour later, the 8 of them settled down in Max & Liz's living room as Liz's parents came to pick up Nairia so that they could discuss things without having a baby to disturb. "I say that Max has a right to custody. Tess has literally no right at all. She abandoned him, for goodness sake!" Michael said as the rest of them agreed. "Maybe you should talk to her, Max. Ask her what her reason is for suddenly coming back and dropping this bombshell on you," Liz said. They all agreed and Max called Tess at the number her lawyer gave him. They arranged to meet at Halo, a café near the Crashdown so that the rest of them could hang out at the Crashdown.

Max and Tess met an hour later at Halo. "Where's Jack?" Max asked Tess, staring angrily at her. "He's in good care; you don't have to worry about that." Tess replied. "Ok, so tell me, what's the reason for all this, Tess? What's your motive?" Max asked her. "Max, I'm sorry for suddenly coming back. I've been gone for like two and a half years and throughout that time, I felt nothing but guilt. I couldn't believe that I was so selfish as to just abandon my son just like that. And that's why I decided to come back. I couldn't live with that guilt. I don't want him to know that his mum just abandoned him like that. I can't live if he grows to hate me so that's why I want to fight for full custody of him. He's my son as much as he's yours." Tess told Max point-blank. Max was furious at Tess's so-called "speech". "I can't believe you can even say all this! Did you even think about it when you left Jack with me? Do you even have the right to come back and say you want custody of him? I took care of him for the past 2 over years. I raised him well and I was responsible for him, unlike some people. So don't you dare come and raise the custody subject when you've done nothing!" Max told Tess in a very strong and firm voice.

Tess just looked down and started tearing. "You have absolutely no idea how much I want him back," Tess said softly. Max looked at her and saw how much she wanted Jack. "Tess, I know you want him just as much as I do but taking him away like that and fighting for full custody isn't helping him. Can you imagine how afraid he must have been when you took him from the backyard? Tess, why do you want to torture him like that? He's only two years old!" Max said. "I'm not being egoistic or anything but Tess, you don't have a chance against this. My dad's a lawyer and I've seen many people in custody cases. There was a father who abandoned his daughter and then later, he wanted to fight for her but it was of no use. The court won't grant custody to someone who abandoned their child. It's not fair to the one who raised the child and took the responsibility. Please, spare Jack of all this. Do the right thing and drop the case. We'll work this out if you want to see him, ok?"

Tess looked up at Max with tears running down her face. "I can't have him, can I?" she asked Max hopefully. "Is that fair to me?" Max asked her in return. "No. But is it possible that he could stay with me for a few days sometimes? Can I still see him?" Tess asked. Max thought for awhile. "We could work that out. But just so you know, you just destroyed my wedding day today and my fiancée isn't the happiest." Max said to Tess. "Max, I'm terribly sorry. I'll pay for whatever costs; the photographer, the car, the make-up artist, everything." Tess said, apologetically. "You'd do that? Oh, and I thought I should let you know, Jack calls my fiancée 'mum' now," Max said, a little unsure of how Tess would take the news. Tess looked down for a moment. "Well, I'll just have to teach him that he has 2 mums and there's nothing wrong with that cos he'll get twice the love. I wanna do something right for once," Tess said. Max smiled. Tess saw how happy Max was about this whole thing. "How about we go get Jack now and you can introduce me to your fiancée? I'd love to meet Jack's other mum," Tess said, accepting the fact that her abandoning Jack definitely had consequences. She was glad that Max would still let her see him. "That would be a good idea," Max said as he led Tess to the car.

A while later, at the Crashdown,

"Oh my goodness, you're finally back!" Liz said as she saw Max walking through the entrance of the Crashdown. "Hey, I've got great news," Max said, then he kissed Liz. "Spill man, we're all dying over here," Naima said. "Tess dropped the case!" Max announced. "Oh that is so great!" Isabel exclaimed as the rest of them were equally ecstatic. "But I thought we should be fair to Jack. I decided to let Tess see Jack and maybe have him stay with her for a couple of days, what do you all think? I thought he should get to know his real mum and know that he has 2 mums that love him just as much," Max said as he smiled at Liz. "I think that's a great idea," Michael said. "So where's Jack?" Liz asked.

"Daddy!" Jack shouted happily as he came running towards Max. "Hey," Max said as he picked Jack up. "Everyone, this is Tess," "Hey," Tess smiled. "I'm sorry for everything." "It's ok. We'll, well, share him!" Liz said, smiling at her. "Tess, this is my fiancée Liz, my sister Isabel, Isabel's husband Alex, Naima and Maria, Liz's best friends, Josh, my minder, Michael, my best friend and Nairia, my 4 month & a half month daughter with Liz." The 9 of them was quite comfortable with each other and had fun hanging out at the Crashdown until the evening. Liz and Tess were totally comfortable with each other, being Jack's 2 mums and sharing him.

Two weeks later, Max and Liz got married at a very romantic ceremony in church and everyone enjoyed themselves at the Crashdown during the lunch reception. Isabel and Alex went back to New York a week later. Michael and Maria, as well as Naima & Josh kept up their long distance relationships.

The next chapter's the last one so thanks for reading. I'll put it up real soon, I promise! Thanks so much for reading, please do review!