*Author's Note*
Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing.
Merry Christmas to everyone that celebrates it! Happy Holidays to all! I hope you guys like this update.
Foolish & Outta The Loop
Perry POV:
Everything in my life seemed to be caving in on me. I couldn't control the law and order of my surroundings and as a man that needed order to thrive, it was killing me. Not being able to do anything about Roseanna tore me up. I couldn't make her better despite the money I had. At least the doctor here in Pikeville had enough sense to get her transferred to Lexington, to the UK Hospital to undergo some new trial treatment. At least she'll get the best care at the hospital in Lexington, even tho it means my Roseana's a couple of hours away from me.
My nephew's issues wound me as well. I hate seeing him grieve so badly that his mind's unraveling at the seams. I can only hope that Moses gets ahold of himself. Perhaps the time he's determined to spend with Miss Mary Eldridge, who's pregnant with that late Billy McCoy's bastard love child (How that came about is beyond my understanding. Last I knew the son of my oldest friend was caught up on the mailman's youngest sister), while help him out of his funk. If not…well…I'd hate for the unfortunate events of this harvest and fall season to ruin all of my nephew's prospects for a very bright and successful future.
My niece sadly took her brother's well meaning, but wrong advice and royally fucked up her entire life. Her future is now ashes scattered by the wind. Novella's child, who should've been Tolbert's too my utter shock and horror (and to the ginger shiner's heartbreak) is that demon ADA Cap Hatfield's child. My great-nephew belongs to that vile Hatfield because my niece made very stupid, but well-meaning choices with the enemy in an attempt to get the love of her life's case freed. Damnit, she should've listened to me about how to work Tolbert McCoy's case instead of her brother, Moses. Moses is still too young to understand the dire impact that sleeping with somebody to swing a case has.
Tolbert and Novella were certain that the paternity test would come back naming him the father, since they'd been together before she even hookrd up with that demon ADA. Sadly, the test came back naming Novella's Hatfield husband as the father; I'm starting to wonder if my niece hooked up with Cap sooner than she says she did due to the test results. Oh, and because of the results I won't be able to get Novella an annulment or get the case thrown out of court on grounds of a mistrial due to unethical practices (hidden cameras) since I doubt Devil Anse is going to tell his son about any footage he sees from today's test reading. The child is his grandson; he's won. Knowing that man, he'll push his son even harder to go after the McCoy boys so that my niece can be sucked back into the toxic Hatfield family fold once Tolbert gets on death row. But, sadly for Devil Anse, I won't let that happen and if my niece still has her ability to practice law then she won't either.
Oh, that's right, I need my nephew to uninstall those cameras that he bugged my office with. I'll have to talk to him about it when I get home later tonight after visiting Roseanna.
After I sent my niece away with the excuse that I had work to do, when in reality I just couldn't stand the site of her at the moment, I sat at my desk just staring blankly at my computer screen. How could everything be unraveling like this? I was disappointed in Novella. If she would've just stayed away from ADA Cap Hatfield from the beginning like she was told to, then none of this would be happening. How was I supposed to fix this. Goddamnit, come this time next year I'd be my niece's lawyer during her divorce and custody battle (that is if the damn divorce isn't contested by the demon ADA).
My office phone began to ring as I stared at my computer, wishing that the results would just go away. Sighing, I closed out of my computer screen and answered my phone with a professional, "This is Perry Cline, Attorney at Law."
"Perry, it's Judge Wall."
"Ah, yes, Judge Wall Hatfield. I presume you're calling for an update of Roseanna to determine how long the court stay will continue for?"
"I heard from my nephew, Johnse, the other day that Roseanna's at the university hospital in Lexington. I'm calling to lift the stay and tell you that court will resume tomorrow at 9am sharp."
"But you can't possibly do that? Not when I need a few days to organize my defense case due to the weeks the case has been postponed."
"You'll be in my courtroom at 9am sharp and trust me, Perry, you'll want to be there." Judge Hatfield told me people hanging up. I'm not surprised that the judge has horrible manners, he's the older brother of Devil Anse Hatfield after all.
Well, looks like I have a few phone calls to make about court resuming tomorrow.
Johnse POV:
It was noon and I was picking my daughter up early to take her over to Lexington to visit her mama, my beautiful, sweet, darlin' Roseanna. Lexington was a 3-hour drive, so taking her out of school to make the trip was the only way I saw fit to ensure that she'd be able to visit her mama and still be able to get to sleep around her bedtime. As a daddy I knew that routines were crucial. My wife Myra swore that the way we worked so well as a family unit was the routines, we kept too such as bedtime, homework time, and supper time. Since we had a large, blended family, routines kept us goin' wit'out strife and stress. Since I worked all the time shinin' and Myra was a stay-at-home mama, well, if she said we had'a raise the kids a certain way then that's what we do.
After goin' to the front office an' signin' Sarah Elizabeth out, I sat in one of the lobby's chairs an' waited for a resource officer to fetch her for me. The school secretary kept eyin' me up from her desk instead of doin' her office work she was s'posed to be doin'. Women swooin' over me and eyin' me up's nothin' new. Been happenin' all my life; I'm used to it. Honestly, when I was younger it was flatterin', but now that I'm on my third marriage and have a litter of kids, well, it ain't flatterin' no more.
"Daddy!" Sarah Elizabeth exclaimed in excitement, runnin' up to me as soon as the resource office ushered her into the lobby.
"Sarah Elizabeth, we're gonna go see your mama in Lexington." I told my daughter, standing up and goin' over to her as the resource officer just stood by the door, watchin' us.
"Are we gonna bring her some lunch?" Sarah Elizabeth asked as we started to walk over to the door.
"We can do that." I nodded, not seein' any harm in bringin' Roseanna food. I bet it'd be good for her to get a break from bland hospital food. "Anywhere in particular you wanna go?"
"Johnse, my Mamaw Bessie's gonna need 4 jugs come your next delivery up in Boone. Just lettin' ya know in case she hasn't called you yet." The resource officer told me right as I was gettin' ready to open the door for my daughter.
"Oh, I got Mamaw Bessie Jones' order. She called me up earlier; I'll be sure to get that Boone deliver up in a couple days." I told the resource office while openin' the door and motioning for Sarah Elizzabeth to exit the lobby.
The resource officer didn't say nothin' else, just nodded at me. I nodded back and walked out of the lobby. As I walked towards the parking lot with Sarah Elizabeth, we discussed where to go for lunch. We could stay here in Mate Creek and go to Pizza Hut or one of the other local spots or go somewhere in Pikeville or even Lexington. Sarah Elizabeth said that havin' lunch in Lexington'd make the food fresher for her mama, so that option run out.
Havin' decided that we'd eat lunch in Lexington, I loaded my daughter up in my truck and left the school. I needed some gas, so I pulled into the local 7-11. "Wana split a Slurpee and some trolli gummies?" I asked Sarah Elizabeth as I pulled up to pump number 4.
"Can we get a big one?" She asked as I cut my truck's engine.
"Yea. We can mix up the flavors too." I smiled while pushin' my door open. Climbing out of the truck, I told her, "Come on, you can help me pay by slidin' my card in the pump reader.
"Okay!" Sarah Elizabeth happily cheered before scrambling out of the truck and roundin' it to my side.
It always made me smile at how happy my oldest child was to spend time with me. If only I had my fatherly rights years earlier. We made a great father-daughter team.
I pumped the gas and told Sarah Elizabeth, who was patiently waitin' by the pump next to me, that I'd let her pay when I was done. When I was done fillin' up the trunk, I placed the nozzle back in the holder and gave my daughter my card to pay with. I explained how to use the pump's pay reader, which she did eagerly. After she paid, I took my card back and brought her inside of the 7-11 to grab those snacks I promised her before we went on our 3-hour road trip to Lexington to see her mama, my beautiful, sweet darlin'.
Once we got to Lexington, I asked Sarah Elizabeth what she wanted to eat and she said chicken, so I pulled into a Zaxby's that I saw on the main stretch of road. We ate some buffalo wings and fries, and even got a small order just for Roseanna.
"You think mama's gonna like her lunch?" Sarah Elizabeth asked as I pulled into the hospital parkin' lot.
"Yea, course she'll like it." I assured my daughter while lookin' for a place to park. She just nodded, a big smile on her face, as I pulled into an empty spot. "Come on, let's go see your mama." I told Sarah Elizabeth while cuttin' the truck's engine.
"What room is she in?" Sarah Elizabeth asked as we got out of the truck.
"I dunno, sweetheart. We'll have to ask the front desk for help wit' that."
"Oh, okay." My daughter nodded, holding the takeout bag for her mom as we walked across the parking lot to the hospital entrance.
After enterin' the hospital, I took my daughter up to the front desk where a candy striper was at, chewin' gum an' playin' on her phone. "Excuse me, Miss? We're lookin' for Miss Roseanna McCoy's room."
"You here to visit?" She asked, puttin' down her phone an' sittin' up straight infront of her desktop computer.
"She's my mama." Sarah Elizabeth brightly answered. Holdin' up the Zaxby's bag, she added in, "Daddy and me brought her lunch too."
"That's so sweet." The candy striper cooed while searchin' for Roseanna's room on her computer. "Oh, she's in room 210." She told us before grabbing her phone and going back to scrollin' thru it.
"Come on, let's go see your mama." I told my daughter while nudgin' her into the direction the elevators were. At least we didn't have to take a long ride to Roseanna's floor.
"I can't wait to tell mama about everything we're learning in school and about my new boyfriend." Sarah Elizabeth told me as we got closer to the elevators.
"What? Since when do ya have a boyfriend? You're too young to have a boyfriend?" I asked, nearly swallowin' my teeth, as the elevators came into view.
"Daddy, I told Myra all about it the other day. Ned gave me some cookies at school and told me that he likes me."
"Oh…uh…" I stuttered, not knowin' what to say. Damn, was my daughter gonna be like me when she grew up? Oh hell…I hope not. I started young like that with having little girlfriends and now Sarah Elizabeth was following down that same path. Uh oh…Maybe this is somethin' I should talk to my brother about? Yea, Capll know how to deal with this; he's good at logical thinkin' and stuff like that. "Maybe we shouldn't tell mama about Ned just yet. Okay?" I suggested, since I was afraid of how Roseanna would react to our little girl claiming to have a boyfriend, as we reached the elevators.
"Okay. We'll wait til next time." Sarah Elizabeth told me as I pressed the button for the elevator.
It only took a few seconds 'fore the doors to one to slide open. We went inside and rode up to the second floor, where we easily found Roseanna's room.
"Mama! Mama, we got you some chicken wings!" Sarah Elizabeth exclaimed excitedly as she ran into Roseanna's room.
Roseanna looked weak, but she looked a bit better then she did back in Pikeville. Least she had some color in her cheeks back. With a smile, she softly told our daughter, "Oh, I can't wait to have them, sweetheart." Then she looked to me, while our blonde little girl was plopping the Zaxby's bag on the tray table, and asked, "Did you hear that my brother's back with Novella?"
"What? No. Last I knew Nova and Cap's a bit rocky, but they're workin' things out." I told Roseanna while going over to one of the visitor's chairs near her bed and sittin' in it.
"No, they're not." She shook her head. "She's back with Tolbert; they're raisin' all of their babies together."
"Oh, you mean she'd givin' my nephew to your brother then?" I darkly asked, feelin' a sting from her words. So, the McCoys are somehow makin' my lil brother live my fate in fightin' for fatherly rights? Oh, aren't they swell ass people. What's wrong upstairs with Nova that she's lettin' Tolbert trick her into all of this. Did her brother's suicide attempt mess things up that bad with her and my brother? Sheesh, since when did Nova leave Cap for Tolbert? Now I feel foolish an' outta the loop.
"Johnse-" Roseanna started, only to be interrupted by Sarah Elizabeth blurting out, "I got a boyfriend mama! And his name's Ned, Ned Mahon!"
"What?!" Roseanna shrieked, givin' me a wide-eyed look.
Well, there goes tellin' her next time. Goddamnit, this vist's gone to shit.