Chapter Seven

You've Pinned This Butterfly Down

December 24, 2009

Just in case anyone is having trouble remembering who is who, who's with who, who's kid is who's...here's a list...

Emma (Nelson) Hogart Married to Jay; 1 son, Alex; 1 daughter, Lilly, but she died from a tumor; pregnant with a baby girl

Jay Hogart Married to Emma; 1 son, Alex; 1 daughter, Lilly, but she died from a tumor; wife's pregnant with a baby girl; co-owns an auto shop with Sean and Craig

Alexander Jason Hogart Alex and J.T.'s son; Alex gave Emma and Jay custody of him shortly before she died; 2 years old, June 1, 2005

Lilly Em Hogart Emma and Jay's daughter; August 27, 2007 - September 27, 2007; when born she had a tumor on her heart, it was removed, a month later they found a tumor on her lung. she died while they were trying to remove it.

Manny (Santos) Manning married to Craig, in the middle of a court case because Craig started drinking again and started abusing her; 2 children Elizabeth and Christopher; Currently has Spinner living in her guest room

Craig Manning Married to Manny, in the middle of a court case 'cause he's a drunk and an abusive husband; 2 children Elizabeth and Christopher; co-owns an auto shop with Jay and Sean but is considering selling his share

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Christine Marie Manning Februrary 17, 2005; had a transplant shortly after she was born and survived

Christopher "Chris" Sean Manning May 17, 2009.

Ellie (Nash) Cameron married to Sean; 2 kids, Andrew and Katy

Sean Cameron married to Ellie; 2 kids, Andrew and Katy; co-owns an auto shop with Jay and Craig

Andrew "Drew" Jacob Cameron November 23, 2006

Katy Rose Cameron December 2, 2009

Gavin "Spinner" Mason broke up with Paige; living in Manny's guest room; in love with Manny; no kids.

Ellie had her baby, Kaiti Rose Cameron. She was about a month old now. Craig was staying at a motel until the trail, which is on December 28. Spinner was still staying at Manny's, in the guest room. Elizabeth and Christopher both really liked him, so did Alex and Andrew. Emma is 5 months pregnant now, with a girl. She was actually really happy when she found out it was a girl. They redecorated Lilly's old room. They got almost all new stuff because Emma and Jay wanted to started fresh.

Emma, Ellie and Manny sat around in Manny's bedroom wrapping presents for their families. They already had a stack of presents already wrapped.

"So, Em...What do you think Jay got you?" Ellie asked.

"No idea, But it better be good. No, I'm kidding. I don't care what he gets me, as long as it's not too expensive. Are you and Spin exchanging gifts, Manny?"

"Yeah. We are. I got him a car. I know extreme. I got it for a good price considering our husbands on an auto shop. Well, more like your husbands and me."

Ellie and Emma both looked at each other and then to Manny, "What do you mean, you? I thought Craig owned his half? Just him?"

Manny laughed, "Ha. No. He couldn't do it. Something about him being bipolar and being a risk for the bank. So, my name is on the contract or whatever along with Jay and Sean. Last time I talked to Craig he said he was planning on selling his share of the shop. I laughed at him and told him he didn't own it. He didn't remember that he couldn't buy it himself."

Ellie and Emma laughed along with Manny.

A few hours later Jay, Sean, Spinner and the kids came back to Manny's. Everyone was staying there because it was the biggest house (it had 5 bedrooms) out of the three and they were all having Christmas together. Elizabeth, Alex and Andrew were sharing a room. Manny and Spinner were staying in Manny's room. Ellie and Sean were staying in a room. Jay and Emma had their own room. Katy and Christopher were sleeping in Christopher's nursery. Around 8:30 p.m. all the kids hung up their stockings and got to open one present. Which were new Christmas-y pajamas. After they were all asleep the adults put all the presents under the tree and went to bed.

Elizabeth, Andrew and Alex stood in the middle of the hallway screaming, "IT'S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAS! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

The adults slowly made their way to the living room, Ellie holding Katy and Manny holding Christopher. Lizzie, Drew and Alex all ripped open their piles of presents. They knew which pile was who's because Emma, Manny and Ellie had pictures blown up of each person and had them infront of the piles. Manny put Christopher in his swing and opened up his presents for him. She showed him all his toys and clothes, but he just sat there and drooled. Ellie did they same with Katy. Once all the children were done opening their presents they each took one toy into the other room to play with them, except of course, Chris and Katy.

Spinner reached far back into the tree itself and pulled out a small present, for Manny.

"Here, Manny. This is for you."

"Oh, thank you Spinner." Manny opened her present and got to a jewlery box. Ellie and Emma stared at it, then looked at her, then to Spinner. Sean and Jay just sat there, with smirks on their face. They knew what was going on. Spinner took the box from Manny and opened it.

"Manny. I love you. I would do anything for you. Please marry me?"

Manny started tearing up and she had a huge smile on her face, "Oh my god. I don't...I don't know what to say!"

Ellie and Emma yelled, "Say yes!"

Manny looked at them and then back at Spinner, "YES!"

Spinner took the ring out of the box and placed the white gold, princess cut diamond ring on Manny's finger.

XXXX

December 28, 2009

Manny sat next to her lawyer in the court room. (a/n I don't really know how they do trials in Canada) Craig sat on the opposite side with his lawyer. Emma, Ellie, Sean, Spinner and Jay were all sitting behind Manny. Craig's lawyer just got up and was walking into the middle of the room.

"I call Mannuella (i think that's spelt wrong) Santos Manning to the stand."

Manny got up and walked over to the stand. She had to be sworn in, you know the whole she-bang, swear to tell the truth, blah blah.

"Mrs. Manning, do you and your husband have a good marriage?"

"Well, we did."

"Past tense?"

"Yes. He started drinking again in late July. I thought he was fine, only drinking on the weekends, not harming anyone. Then about 2 weeks after he started drinking again, he started to hit me."

"Did you tell aynone about this?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"October 5."

"So you let him hit you for a whole month before you told anyone?"

"I didn't want...I didn't want..." Manny started to cry.

"You didn't want what, Mrs. Manning?"

Manny wiped her tears, "I didn't want to admit to others that I was allowing my husband to hit me."

"I see. No further questions."

Craig's lawyer sat down and Manny's lawyer got up.

"Mrs. Manning..."

"Can people please refraind from calling, 'Mrs. Manning'? Call Ms. Santos."

"Of course. Ms. Santos, is it true that when you were pregnant with your first child, Mr. Manning pushed you, while he was drunk, into a table causing you to go into labor 2 months early?"

"Yes."

"What happened to your first child?"

"Well, she was fine at first. Then on the day we were taking her home, her lung collasped. She had to get a transplant."

"Was this because of Craig pushing you?"

"Yes and no. It wouldn't have happened if I didn't deliver early. I only deliviered early because of him pushing me."

"Has he ever hit you, when he was sober?"

"Yes. A few times. He would have these bad days. I think it was because of his medication."

"Medication?"

"Yes. He's bipolar."

"No more questions. However I would like to state, my opinion to the jury, your honor."

The judge looked at Manny's lawyer, "You may."

"As you can see, Craig Manny is a fine husband when he is sober. However, he does have outbursts when he is sober. He is an abusive father and is a danger to his children. That is all." Manny's lawyer took her seat next to Manny.

The Judge stood up, "We shall have a two hour lunch break, within that two hours, the jury must reach a verdict."

Everyone left the court room. Manny, Sean, Ellie, Emma, Jay and Spinner walked down to the lunch room. Craig followed behind. Jay, Sean and Spinner stood around the three girls so that Craig couldn't get near them.

"Manny! Please talk to me? Wow, Emma you've gotten so big! You're due soon aren't you?"

Jay stopped and turned around, "Don't ever talk to my wife. Manny gave you a chance. We all did. You blew it. This is your fault."

XXXX

Two hours later everyone was back in the court room. The jury made their way back to their seats.

The judge looked towards the jury, "Have you reached a verdict?"

One jury stood up, "We find, Craig Manning guiltly of spousely abuse. Also, we sentence him to 2 years probation. Within those two years, he must attend AA meetings 3 times a week. He also must contact his parole officer 3 times a week. If Ms. Santos wants a divorce, he can not contest it. If he wants to see his children, they must be supervised and he has to contact Ms. Santos a week before hand."

"Thank you. Do you agree to this Mr. Manning?"

"I guess I have to."

And they all lived happilly ever after...

I'm kidding it's not over!