“This isn’t cavalier, Kimmy,” he says, reading over the letter. “This is total confidence in you and your brilliant mind.”
He just stares at me. And I stare back.
“Well, are you going to tell me or what?” I ask, verging on hysterical.
“You passed,” he says, calm as can be, as if he never had a single doubt. And I guess he really didn’t.
I’m floating on air. I can hardly believe it, but at the same time I think, of course I passed. I don’t mean to be cocky, but I was made for this shit.
The job Leo arranged for me starts soon after I receive my results, and I won’t lie, juggling my classes and new workload from the pro bono clinic is not easy. As much as I want to jump right in and work on my brother and father’s cases, I have to pay my dues first. And I’m thankful for that, because court is rough. I was not expecting lawyers to be so brutal. There’s a reason they have such bad reputations. The only thing that gives me strength sometimes is seeing Leo sitting in the courtroom with the other observers. He never misses a case. Whenever I’m stressed or feel as though I’m backed into a corner, I just find him in the crowd. His encouraging smile gives me the strength I need to move on. After all my cases we go to a diner and discuss what I did right and what I can do better. He challenges me, pushes me, makes me be a better lawyer.
It’s been a particularly stressful day. My client today was a man accused of assault against his neighbor. The neighbor had cuts and bruises all over his face. There wasn’t much I could work with because the supposed victim’s wife was there as a witness. Luckily for me, I canvassed the neighborhood and found a neighbor whose security camera captured the night in question. My client was sitting on his own porch that evening; never even went over to the accuser’s house. It turned out the “victim” made the whole thing up after being attacked by his mistress, and his wife just lied for him to help his case, hoping to cash in later in a civil suit. It’s my first big win.
Leo is waiting for me outside the courtroom after the jury comes back with the non-guilty verdict, and the judge awards my client one hundred thousand dollars for damages. Which means this just went from a pro-bono case to an actual payday.
I see Leo in the hall and fight the cackling laughter bubbling up inside me.
Leo laughs. “Let it out, pretty girl. You know you want to.” I run into his arms and start laughing hysterically. He spins me around. “I told you that you could do it. You need to have as much faith in yourself as I have in you.”
He sets me on the ground and holds my face in his hands, and gives me a gentle (public appropriate) kiss.
“I couldn’t have done it without you. You were the one who suggested I talk to all the neighbors and do the footwork. Not every answer can be found with my nose in the law books.”
“No, it’s all you. You think like a lawyer. And you’re the reason that man isn’t going to jail for assault and you’re the reason he’s getting compensated for his pain and suffering. It’s all you. And you did it without the backing of a big fancy law firm or having co-council. I think you’re ready to help your father and brother get the justice they deserve.”
His words instantly give me heart palpitations. The thought of trying to take on my father and brother’s case is terrifying. What if I fail them? What if they spend the rest of their sentence behind bars? That’s still another ten years! The pressure is too much.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Leo says as if reading my mind. “But I believe in you.”
I nod. All I need is his faith in me. With him by my side, I can do anything.
Two years later
Justice isn’t always swift, but if you work hard, and never give up, you have a fighting chance in any courtroom. And I fought my ass off for six months working on my brother and dad’s case. After a few more victories at the law clinic, and a few more settlements that brought some money to the struggling non-profit, they agreed to provide me with a senior lawyer as a mentor and legal secretary to help with my family’s case.
At Leo’s insistence, I started from scratch. Forget everything you think you know about what happened that night and read all the facts with fresh eyes, he instructed me. I turned our dining room into my mission control center. The walls had photos and post-its everywhere. I reinterviewed my dad and brother. Reviewed security footage. Scrutinized the eyewitness’s life from birth. When our appeal was rejected the first time, I took a week to cry in a bed. But then I got up, regrouped, and pursued other routes. For every success there was an obstacle thrown in my way, until one day I got a call from the prosecutor. He wanted to make a deal. He knew I wasn’t going away, and he offered to release my dad and brother with time served.
It was a tempting offer, and my brother was ready to take it, but my father refused. He wouldn’t allow my brother to spend the rest of his life with this conviction hanging over his head, preventing him from getting jobs, from voting. And my brother wouldn’t leave my father alone in prison. But most of all, they told me, they had total confidence and trust in me that I could get their convictions overturned. I’d never felt such a combination of pride and absolute dejection. I wanted them home.
With Leo by my side, though, everything seemed possible. And one night he had two of his students at our house, and then the next week it was five, until we had a whole group of people, working hours every week drafting motions and investigating, until one day, our appeal was approved, and we were granted a new trial on account that we had an expert who could completely destroy the lineup procedures used the night my brother and dad were arrested. Apparently, the officer overseeing the lineup that night had a personal relationship with the witness, a fact he had hidden from the court. At this point, the prosecutor had had enough. He and the police department wanted to avoid the embarrassment of the new trial, so they vacated the conviction and agreed to release my dad and brother immediately.
The day they walked out to my car from prison was the best day of my life. Watching my mother jump into my dad’s arms and hug him for as long as she damn well wanted, I had tears streaming down my face. My brother just looked up at the sky like he couldn’t believe any of it was real. I could hardly believe it either. If it weren’t for the pressure of Leo’s arm around my shoulder, I would have thought I was dreaming. In the next few weeks I was able to negotiate restitution for my family, financial compensation for their wrongful imprisonment, loss of wages, and emotional distress. It was enough money for my mom to pay off the house and bills, and plenty of money to sustain them while my dad and brother got back on their feet.
Oh, and a little something else. At my dad’s insistence, he paid for our honeymoon.
This bungalow on Maui is more breath-taking than the brochures led on. The tropical air blows through the windows, rustling the bed curtains. The air smells like ocean and hibiscus. In the mornings I sit outside on the patio and watch the whales off the coast shoot water from blowholes, and see the silhouettes of dolphin pods leaping into the air and diving back into the water against the sunrise. Everything is perfect.
While Leo showers after a day spent snorkeling, I change out of my bikini. My thoughts keep going back to our wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony on the beach. There was a slight breeze, just enough for my gauzy white dress to flutter ethereally. Lilies and rose petals scattered across the sand. Soft music played from a talented violinist. It was everything I could have ever dreamed of. And better yet, my whole family was able to be there. Having my brother and father attend was a dream come true, and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without my perfect husband.
Husband. I get giggly just thinking of the word. It’s so exciting to think that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with the man I love. We are partners, lovers, and best friends.
I go over to my suitcase and unpack the negligee I bought specifically for this occasion. It’s red, his favorite color, and lacey. It leaves little to the imagination and I know it will drive him wild.
I add six inch heels and sprawl out on the bed when I hear the water turn off. He comes out a moment later with a towel wrapped around his waist, and stops short when he sees me on the bed.
“Well, hello Mrs. Whitford,” he says in a playful tone.
“Hello, Mr. Whitford.”
I pat the bed. He throws his towel in the corner of the room, exposing his massive erection. I giggle and start to take off my shoes.
“Leave those on,” he says as he crawls across the bed toward me.
“As you wish.”
He hovers over my body, holding me in the cage of his arms as he kisses me. I touch the sides of his face, his hair, his eyelids, nose. I touch every inch of his face, memorizing it and marveling and reveling in the fact that he’s all mine.
He kisses a trail down to my chin and then to my neck. I arch my neck to expose my throat for him.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and I’m so proud to call you my wife,” he says, looking me in the eyes. The way he looks at me, so full of love and respect, makes my heart swell up with happiness. When he tells me I’m beautiful, I believe it. I feel it in every fiber of my being.