Chapter Twenty-Seven

22 weeks

The next day they got ready to meet with the lawyer that had contacted them a few weeks ago. Sarah was nervous and was unsure of what would happen today but on the other hand she was glad that she was doing it. For all the suffering Jonathan had caused to her, now she could have her payback and help getting him the punishment he deserved.

Richie knew it was hard for Sarah to go to this meeting and he was trying to stand by her every step of the way. He knew she needed the support and he was all to willingly to give it. It was important that she did that. The meeting with the lawyer today would reveil their options and possibilities and then Sarah could make her decision from there on.

He knew Sarah wanted Jonathan to be punished for what he had done but he also understood Sarah was scared of what might happen. Just the fact that she thought her ex-husband might find them made it clear to him how scared Sarah still was of him. Richie was going to make sure he was with Sarah every second while they were in Montana, he needed to protect her and give her the sense of security she needed to get through her testimonial. Hopefully, by the end of the lawsuit she would finally be able to let go of the memory of Jonathan and could have peace with herself.

"Ready?" Richie asked carefully when he himself was ready to go.
"As I'll ever be." Sarah gave a soft smile.

Even though she wasn't sure of herself, Richie was very proud of her. He embraced her and kissed her to let her know how he felt.

"I'm with you, I love you and I'm very proud of you. You can do this, it's only a meeting." He said gentle.
Sarah nodded against his shoulder, still in his embrace. "Thanks. I love you too."
"Let's go and then we can go home again."



Thomas Slone's office was big, he was part of a big law ferm. They were greeted by a receptionist that informed them where they could wait.

As usual with appointment, this one was also late. Richie hated it, their appointment was schedulated at 10:30 am and by now it was 10:40 am. He didn't exactly have a reputation of being on time himself but when something was scheduled he didn't like it when it was delayed.

Sarah sat in a chair against the wall, there were magazines on a little table but she didn't feel as if she could read right now. Instead she watched Richie who was pacing in the very small room. He seemed more nervous than she was or maybe she was just better at hiding it but his pacing and sighing wasn't helping her either.

"Sweetie?" She asked, making Richie look at her. "Can you sit down? You're making me nervous."
Richie nodded and walked over to sit next to Sarah. "Sorry."

She watched her husband, in the moment she was incredibly happy to have him. She had those moments a lot, sometimes it was still hard to believe that Richie was her husband. Someone so many woman and girls wanted and she was the lucky one without even having known she was lucky. Sitting down, he seemed more relaxed, which made her relax in turn too. Sarah quickly checked her phone again, she knew the lawyer was late but something must have came up causing him to be late. 10:41 am, when she put her phone away, she noticed Richie's knee bouncing up and down and sighed.

"Mr and Mrs Sambora?"

Sarah and Richie both looked up, seeing a man in costume stand in the doorway.

"I'm Thomas Slone, sorry for the delay."

Richie nodded and they both followed to the office where they sat down in front of a very large wooden desk.

"I just received a phone call regarding the case." Thomas said as he sat down too. "Jonathan's wife woke up out of coma but she doesn't remember much. The doctors hope she'll regain her memory."
"She was in coma?" Richie asked in disbelief.
"Yes, that's why Jonathan has been pressed with the charges of attempt of murder."
"W-what happened?" Sarah asked, scared to hear the answer, scared that it could have been her.
"We don't know exactly what happened because Jonathan claims he was drunk while it happened. We only know Nicole was pushed from the balcony where they lived."
"He was drunk?" Sarah asked, she knew that was when he was most violent but he didn't need to be drunk to be violent.
"He claims he was, he's also claiming momentarily insanity but when the police showed up after the 911 call, they did all the tests and he wasn't drunk, he scored 0."
Sarah nodded, taking all the information in.

Thomas went on to explain why they needed Sarah's testimony. If Jonathan was claiming insanity but if Sarah could prove he had a history of violence, it would be easier to make the judge see that Jonathan had done this knowingly.

Richie was nodding, understanding and agreeing. "But what about Sarah? She really doesn't need the stress now that she's pregnant. Does she have to meet Jonathan or anything?"
"We can only make is as stress free as we can and hope that everything is dealt with soon. The sooner it's over, the better, right?"
Richie nodded, not really pleased with the answer.
"The case will be taken to court because of the allegations and hopefully, if we get everything right, it will be over in one day. We're looking for more witnesses, the more the better to have this over quickly."

It was worrying for Sarah, she'd have to be in court, the same room as Jonathan but where was Jonathan now and how would he be in court? Was he free to go as he pleased?

"Where's Jonathan now?" Sarah asked.
"He's in custody. He'll stay there during the entire case until the end of the trial."
"Unless he doesn't get proven guilty." Sarah said.
Both Richie and Thomas looked at her but Thomas was the one to speak. "There will be more chance of him being proven guilty if you can testify about your marriage. It would help even more if Nicole could and if we had more witnesses. The records said you and Jonathan had two sons, could they testify?"
"They were too young. They never knew." Sarah said.

Richie knew he had to say something now. Sarah had always been relieved that her sons hadn't gone through the abuse and hadn't witnessed anything and now he had to take that away from her. He had to say what Noah had seen when he was little, that he did remember some things.

"Actually..." Richie started but didn't know how to go on.
Sarah turned to look at him and Richie felt guilty, seeing her sad eyes. "What?"
He didn't want to but he had to, he kept his eyes focused on Sarah's. "That night me and Noah had an arguement, he told me about a night he woke up and saw you and Jonathan."
Sarah couldn't believe it, tears were starting in her eyes. "He saw us? What did he see?"
"I'm sorry honey, I really am. He told me he woke up, hearing noises and got scared so he went looking for you but then he saw Jonathan hitting you." Richie sighed, seeing Sarah's sad eyes, he moved closer to her.
"He saw us?"
Richie reached over and wrapped his arms around Sarah. "I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you and I think Noah was too scared to tell you. He was scared while telling me."

Hearing that didn't help Sarah and she couldn't hold the tears back anymore. She had always believed her sons hadn't suffered through the abuse but this just proved that they had. If Noah had seen them, then maybe Caleb had too. Caleb was almost five years old at the time, maybe he had known what happened at home. Knowing they hadn't seen anything always made Sarah feel less bad about the abuse but knowing this, knowing her sons had been emotionally abused by knowing their mother was abused, hurt her and made her hope Jonathan would go to jail.