The atmosphere
in the court room was charged up with arguments flying all over. Even though
Ellen was nowhere to be found, the lawyers for all the parties involved in the
custody case were literally at each other’s throats as they tore each other’s arguments
to shreds. The case was on recess after six hours of fiery banter among the
parties involved. The judge kept asking for the whereabouts of the daughter in
question but was told she was not in court. Ellen’s phone had repeatedly rang
so much so that when she woke up to pick it up, her battery was almost dead.
The night before the court hearing, she spent it with David in his room. They
chatted the whole night through. At certain points in their conversation, they
reminisced on the old times they shared together and tears flowed at certain
points of their emotional walk down memory lane. She eventually fell asleep in
his arms and they woke up the next day to realize that they were almost late
for the court hearing. David quickly rushed out of the bed and expected Ellen
to do same but she was reluctant. David hurriedly took off to the court after
Ellen had promised him that she was right behind him. Now, the first day of the
hearing was almost over and the person who was at the heart of the bone of contention
was missing. After the recess, the judge made it clear that the lawyers of all
the parties involved had very solid arguments for the custody of the daughter
in question for their respective clients but the sole power of who to decide to
be with lay in Ellen’s bosom because she was an adult. However, the judge
stated that during the next hearing, Ellen was supposed to appear in court or
else the issue would be thrown out of the court. Before the judge could finish,
the courtroom doors swung open and Ellen started her way into the court room
beautifully dressed in a Yellow dress and had on a black blazer to match the
color of her shoes. She quickly found a spot close to her mother and sat down.
“Where were you?”, Erica asked. Ellen who was all smiles replied, “I was
dressing for the part”. “If all of you want me, I must look the part because
you people are at each other’s throats and I am slowly becoming a celebrity for
the wrong reason”. “I have always wanted to live an unassuming and quiet life
but all of you don’t seem to get it”, Ellen added looking at David and turning
to smile in Fred’s direction. Ellen’s presence brought in its wake a little
commotion in the courtroom so there were shouts of, “Order in court” and at a
point, even the judge had to bang the gavel to stress the need for some order.
All three lawyers approached the bench when summoned by the judge to enquire
about the cause of the disturbance. Fred’s lawyer announced to the judge that
Ellen had walked in and the fact that she was sitting close to her mother could
be detrimental to his client’s chances of getting back his beloved daughter. The
judge asked for the lawyers to take their seats and said, “I understand the
lady in question has finally made an appearance”. All eyes turned to look at
Ellen who was behind them. The judge asked that Ellen be made to mount the
witness stand. Ellen was summoned and as she rose to her feet, all eyes turned
to the back of the courtroom from where she was coming from. It was almost like
she was the winner of a beauty pageant. All eyes were fixed on her and she took
her time to catwalk all the way to the stand. Ellen had grown so well that she
had taken on the bodily features of her mother. She had firm breasts that made
a lasting impression to every eye that gazed at them. Her thick lower lip was
also a joy to behold. It was quite stunning but just like her mother, Ellen
rocked whatever dress she wore and the day in court was no different. The perfume she had on left its mark in all
the rows she passed right up to where the witness stand was. As she mounted the
stand, the judge addressed her, “I understand you are Ellen and you are the
reason for our gathering here today”. “Yes please”, Ellen replied. “Are you
sane in your mind?”, the judge asked amidst laughter from members in the
courtroom. “Yes, I am very sane”, Ellen responded with a smirk on her face.
“You are not under any form of influence be it induced or word of mouth or
bribery or influence whatsoever?”, the judge asked again. “No please, Sir”, Ellen
responded. “This is your first time in
court, I can see, but you have to address me as ‘your lord’ when I ask a
question”. Ellen nodded and replied, “Yes my lord”. The judge started, “You are not a witness in
this case but I have you here in this box because I want the axiomatic truth to
settle this matter amicably”. “Three parties want you but only one of them can
have you”, the judge added. “The three parties all claim that they want you for
whatever reason presented by their lawyers here”. “Before you mounted the
stand, I made it clear to all of these people gathered here that I had no right
to decide where you choose to go because you are way past the decision taking
age and you just confirmed that you are sane in mind”, the judge continued. “We
can all cut the chase and cut the matter short so I am glad you are here”. “I
want you to tell this honorable court of your choice because I do not want us
to drag this matter for more than a day so Miss Ellen, the ball is in your
court.” “You have three separate parties, your biological father, your guardian
and your mother”. Kindly tell all of us where you want to belong”, the judge
added. Ellen took a deep breath and scanned the faces of the three people involved;
she looked back at the judge. Ellen looked again into the crowd. She looked in
Fred’s direction and remembered how generous he had been since she got to know
the truth about his identity. Fred placed his hand on his chest and whispered,
“Choose me, sweetheart”. Ellen looked Erica in the eyes and Erica smiled. Ellen
remembered the incident where she was almost raped by the pedophiles when she
was a little girl and vividly remembered the look on Erica’s face when she was
finally brought home safely. It was a look of a worried mother. David was beaming
with confident smiles when Ellen’s gaze met his. Ellen remembered all the good
times and bad times they had to push through together. She remembered how she
thought she had lost him when he was mistakenly attacked by robbers and she
cried when she set her eyes on him on his hospital bed. More importantly, she
remembered the conversation they had the night before and smiled back at David.
Ellen then shook her head and said, “I choose my father, I mean my biological
father, Fred”. Immediately the words came out of her mouth, David rose to his
feet to vehemently refute Ellen’s choice. “She does not know what she is
saying”, he screamed. “She is confused”, he added. The judge banged his gavel a
couple of times and asked for order to be restored. The lawyers for David and
Erica were up on their feet to object to Ellen’s choice. Erica moved from the
back of the courtroom and engaged in talks with her lawyer to find out what the
implication of Ellen’s words could bring. David’s lawyer requested for Ellen to
take a break to rethink her choice. The judge asked for Ellen to take a break.
Ellen refused the offer. “After the break, I would still choose my dad; he is
the one I would choose even if the matter drags on for months, my lord”, Ellen
said. The judge then started proceedings to close the matter by saying that
“Let it be put on record that Mr. Fred Thompson, will with immediate effect,
have the custody of Ellen till he decides otherwise” he then banged the gavel
and dismissed the case. David was already in tears before the case was
dismissed. He could not stand the fact that he was going to lose Ellen. Erica
walked up to Fred and said, “You have won this battle but not the war which is
about to follow”. Fred laughed, leaned in and said, “Sweetheart, there is not
going to be any other battle or war, you have lost” and patted Erica on the
shoulder. Fred walked past David, turned and smiled at him. David clinched his
fist behind him and silently watched Fred walk out of the courtroom with Ellen
and his lawyer. Per the court’s ruling Ellen was given a number of days to
fully move in with her father. She spent a few days with David and a few days
with her mother to compensate them for all the trouble they had to go through.
The time she spent with David was the most emotional. “I would be visiting you
regularly”, Ellen told David as she put the last of her bags in her Range
Rover. She hugged David’s father and said, “You would always be my grandpa”.
“Please take care of my daddy for me”. “There is enough food in the freezer but
do not hesitate to call me when you need some more, I would always come home to
prepare more for you guys”. With tears in all the eyes present, Ellen hugged
David tightly and whispered into his ears, “I love you so much, daddy”. She
walked sluggishly out of the hall and closed the door behind her. She stood
behind the door and cried some more before finally driving off to her ‘real’
father’s house. Ellen was moving in with Fred and his fiancée. Before Ellen
arrived, they had prepared her room and bought her lots of presents. Fred’s
fiancée was a nice woman because she treated Ellen nicely. She always wanted
Ellen to feel at home whenever Fred was not around. Ellen felt lonely at times
and had to depend on Collins to keep her company. Because they were on their
long vacation from school, Collins was almost always with Ellen. The two love
birds were always seen swimming together in Fred’s pool or playing lawn tennis
in their backyard. Whenever Fred and his fiancée went out, they used that
opportunity to explore their bodies in marathons of love-making. There was one
night that Fred tiptoed to Ellen’s room to check up on her. When he got to the
door, he heard Ellen’s voice. She was speaking to someone on the phone. “I miss
you so much”, she said. “How is grandpa?” Instantly, Fred knew Ellen was
speaking to David and he became worried. He knocked on her door and let himself
in. immediately Ellen heard her door creek open, she quickly hang up the phone.
“I thought I heard voices so I wanted to check up on you to see if you were
fine”, Fred said. “I just got off the phone with a friend”, Ellen replied. Fred
nodded and went out of the room but never forgot that incident. Ellen had now
stayed with her father and her fiancée for a year and a half but occasionally,
she was allowed to visit David and sometimes she visited Erica. Fred had now
become so used to Ellen that he had no more worries about Ellen’s allegiance.
They got along so perfectly. Time had managed to bond father and daughter so
much that Fred could do anything for Ellen provided it was in his power to do
so. On her second year of staying with her father, he decided to tie the knot
with his fiancée and officially make her the step-mother of Ellen. Their wedding
ceremony was a well-attended event. Ellen was dressed beautifully and attended
the wedding with Collins. Soon, Linda, Fred’s wife got pregnant and delivered a
bouncy baby boy. Ellen was fond of the baby and always wanted to take care of
him like she would her own. Fred could not be any happier. He had all that he
ever desired and life had blessed him with a little boy…IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO
LIFE “BEFORE THE WORLD ENDS?”…. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR THE FINALE COMING SOON. MY
NAME IS EDWIN OKO LAMPTEY.
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