Chapter Twenty-One:
March 29, 2002
It's amazing how long court dates can take to arrive, and yet how quickly they approach. Quite a paradox, I know.
For the past two weeks, Kay has been waiting for Jordan's date to arrive so that she could just testify and get it over with, but the wait seemed like an eternity. Yesterday, she testified, and she told me that she just felt so unprepared, that she wasn't ready enough to testify in front of all of these people. Of course, she did fine—she always does.
Anyhow, Jordan pleaded not guilty, and today the jury will announce their decision. I'm fairly confident that they will rule in Kay's favor, but I know that I need to be there for her tonight either way…
"Reese, I can't go back there—not after what I said yesterday. I can't look any of those people in the eye anymore!" Kay lamented to Reese early the next morning. He had gone to pick her up and take her to the courthouse for the jury's decision, but he had found her hiding in her bed beneath her quilts.
"Kay, they don't blame you. This is all Jordan's fault, and I'm sure that they know that," Reese said, in attempts to soothe her.
"But, Reese, what if they all think that I lied, that Jordan didn't do any of those things? What if they don't convict him? Then I'll just be known as the girl who cried wolf!"
"Kay," Reese began, pulling her into his arms, "they have to convict him. Sexual harassment is a serious offense, and anyone could see how distraught you were when you were up on the stand yesterday."
Lord knew he could see it well enough. Kay was sitting in front of everyone, telling her story yesterday afternoon. She had broken down in tears in the middle of her narrative, and she had immediately looked at him, begging him to save her.
But he couldn't. Court was in session, and he knew that he wasn't allowed to run up to her and calm her down. So he had just nodded and smiled at her encouragingly—luckily, it had helped, and she had been able to continue.
As soon as she had been allowed to step down, she had walked quickly to the empty place beside him so he could console her. He did, and he saw the sympathetic looks on the faces of the jury.
It was those looks that made him optimistic about Jordan's fate. As long as they didn't believe that it was all an act, which some skeptics might, they would hopefully question Jordan's word enough to convict him.
Jordan Aberman. Now that was a guy that Reese wanted to see put in jail for life for what he had done to Kay.
He knew it would never happen since he was only a minor, but still. Jordan had hurt Kay more than Reese had ever thought that anyone could be hurt—let alone Kay. She had appeared to be the strongest woman—in both mind and body—for years, but Jordan had found the crack in her persona and had transformed that mere crack into a canyon.
The thing that really nagged at Reese was how Jordan could possibly be so cruel and heartless? He had known Jordan since Jordan had moved to Harmony during fifth grade, and while Jordan had never been the brightest crayon in the box, Reese had never imagined that he could do something like this. Jordan was an all-star athlete who had been offered a football scholarship to Notre Dame—but it was sure to be revoked once word of the allegations reached the ears of their recruiters.
What had made Jordan do something like this? Why had he felt the need to attempt to take advantage of Kay?
Those were two questions that Reese would have loved to have answered, but chances were, he would never get the opportunity.
"C'mon, Kay," Reese prodded. "Get dressed, and we'll get going. Everything will be fine."
Kay nodded, and slowly shoved the covers off of her body. "Give me fifteen minutes, Reese. I'll be right down."
~*~
It had been twenty minutes. Twenty minutes since Kay had told him that he would only have to wait fifteen.
Ordinarily Reese wouldn't object to the longer than planned wait. Usually he was content to wait as long as necessary.
But they weren't running on his schedule that day. No, they had to follow the schedule of the Harmony courthouse.
And Reese had no flexibility there when it came to the time for the jury to hand down their decision. They had a little over twenty minutes to get to the courthouse and find the courtroom in which Jordan's fate would be decided.
Why did girls have to be so picky about their hair and makeup? It wasn't like guys really cared all that much anyhow.
Well, ok, so maybe some guys cared, but he certainly didn't. Kay was beautiful no matter what—and no hairstyle, makeup, or outfit could change that.
"Reese? What do you think?" Kay asked as she began to descend the stairs.
"You're gorgeous. Let's go," Reese replied automatically, standing and reaching into his pocket for his car keys.
"Reese, you didn't even look at me," Kay informed him with a hint of a smirk in her voice.
"Kay, we have twenty minutes to get there, and you always look beautiful. I don't see why today is such a big… Wow." Reese had just turned his head to look at her, as she had requested, and what he saw rendered him speechless. Maybe he was wrong about that whole deal with clothes not being able to make a difference in Kay's beauty.
Oh, she was breathtaking no matter what, but in this ensemble she had an air of chic sophistication to go along with her beauty.
She wasn't wearing anything fancy or ornate. Her skirt was a navy blue with tiny baby blue beads sewn in random patterns. Her button-down shirt matched the beads and made her own blue orbs glimmer like the sea. She had pulled most of her chestnut mane up off of her shoulders with a simple barrette, leaving only wispy tendrils curling down to frame her face.
"You think I look ok?" Kay asked, almost bashfully.
Reese blinked. Unable to find the words to express his thoughts, he simply nodded.
Kay grinned, obviously pleased with his reaction. "Should we go then?"
Reese nodded and grabbed Kay's hand. "Yeah, let's go."
~*~
Twenty minutes later, Reese and Kay were seated in the courtroom, waiting for the proceedings to begin. Kay was fidgeting nervously, playing with the silver bracelet that adorned her wrist.
"All rise for the Honorable Judge Margaret Wamsley!" the bailiff called out as the judge entered the courtroom. The members of the jury followed the judge into the room and took their seats as well.
"Have you reached a decision then?" Judge Wamsley asked the jury foreman.
"Yes, Your Honor," he replied, looking down at a piece of paper in his hand, as the whole courtroom looked on in anticipation.
"Please read your decision to the court," Judge Wamsley instructed.
Reese glanced over a Kay to see how she was handling the stress that this situation was certain to cause. Surprisingly, Reese noted that she had grabbed hold of his hand and was hanging on for dear life.
Carefully, he pried his hand out of her vise-like grasp and wrapped his arm around her back. "Everything will be just fine, Kay. It's all going to be ok," he whispered.
Kay looked into his eyes, and he saw the trust that shone there. He just hoped that he was right. He didn't know how Kay would react if Jordan was declared innocent.
All he knew is that that couldn't happen. It wouldn't.
At least, he hoped that it wouldn't.