Fallout 02: Prime Suspect

"What she did is illegal, and can be punished by as much as $10,000 and or five years in prison," Tom added to gasps. "On top of that are charges of conspiracy to commit fraud. There's more."

"More?" Cliff asked.

"Yes," Tom said. "After Marie was born, she asked me to have a vasectomy, even though she knew the children weren't mine. I can no longer have any children, thanks to her. And, she's been having an affair with this guy the whole time we've been married. Every time she went back east, she was with him. Just this last week, she discussed divorcing me and moving in with him. I've got it all on video if you want to watch."

"Oh my God," Maggie said.

"As you can imagine, I'm divorcing her instead," Tom said.

"What about us?" Marie asked. "What will happen to us? Are we orphans now?"

"No, sweetheart," Tom said. "I asked the court for custody of you both. I may not have contributed the sperm to bring you into this world, but I raised you and I can't imagine not having you in my life. I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you." Marie ran to him and threw her arms around him.

"Oh Daddy," she cried. "I love you, too!" Tom looked up and saw Andrew slowly moving toward them as he fought to hold back his tears. Tom reached out to him with one hand as he held Marie.

"It's okay to cry, son," he said. "I've been doing a lot of that myself."

"I'm still your son?" Andrew asked as tears started falling down his face. Tom nodded his head.

"Of course," Tom said. "You'll always be my son." Andrew joined his father and sister and the three of them cried as they held each other.

"I love you, Dad," Andrew said.

"I love you too, son," Tom said, hot tears falling down his face. "It'll be alright, guys. We'll get through this together."

"So, what happens to Julie now?" Cliff asked after Tom and the kids collected themselves.

"Well, she's being booked into the county jail," Tom said. "She may even call you before long, I think. The DA is set to throw the book at her and from what I gather, he's working to extradite Henrickson back to face the conspiracy charges. He's planning to argue that Julie is a potential flight risk and may flee to New York if let out on bail. We'll know how that goes probably Monday when her first hearing is held."

"What if they let her out on bail?" Maggie asked.

"I'd be surprised if they do, but she may ask to stay with you," Tom said. "I've already bagged up all her stuff and it's in the garage right now." Just then the house phone rang. Maggie answered and found herself talking to a hysterical Julie. She finally got Julie calmed down enough to listen.

"Look, Julie, Tom is here and he told us what you did," Maggie said. "I have to say I'm very ashamed of you. If you didn't want Tom's kids you should never have married him." We could hear Julie say something on the other end. "Dammit, Julie, you broke the law," Maggie said firmly. "We raised you better than that. If they do let you out, you can stay here, but don't expect us to condone what you did, and no, we think the kids should stay with Tom." We could hear something from the other end, and Maggie called out to the children.

"Do you guys want to talk to your mother?" Maggie asked. Andrew and Marie looked at each other for a few moments before answering.

"Hell, NO!" they shouted at the same time. Tom and Cliff chuckled at that. Maggie turned back to the phone.

"I'm sorry, Julie, but they're not interested in talking to you right now," she said. "Maybe they will after they've calmed down a bit. Yeah, we'll see if we can find an attorney for you. We gotta go now, Julie. Nice talking with you." We could hear Julie crying even as Maggie hung up the phone.

"Well, that went... well," Cliff said.

"That girl's got a lot of growing up to do," Maggie said. "Listen, why don't you kids stay here for one more night so your dad can get things done around the house, okay?"

"Okay," Andrew said. Marie agreed. Maggie looked at Tom, who was still a bit shaken from what had happened.

"It's going to be okay, Tom," she said. "We'll be here for you and the kids. Why don't you go on home and straighten up. You can come get them tomorrow."

"Thanks," Tom said as he gave her a hug. Cliff shook his hand and Tom hugged the kids one more time. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," he told them. "I love you both and I'm very proud of you."

"We love you too, Dad," Marie said.

...

Epilogue:

The following Monday, Julie was brought in for her arraignment. After hearing the arguments made by Marvin Morrison, the District Attorney, the judge ordered her remanded to custody without bail, concerned that she might flee the area and go to New York to be with her lover.

After three months, a jury convicted her of two counts of paternity fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. The judge sentenced her to a total of 10 years, and made her eligible for parole in six. Her company fired her after the verdict was handed down.

Alf was extradited, tried, found guilty and sentenced to five years. He would be eligible for parole in three. The company fired him as well. The civil case against him took a bit longer, but a jury awarded Tom a significant award, which he immediately put into a college fund for the children. The defamation lawsuit was dropped after a judge ruled that Tom had suffered no actual damages.

Tom's divorce was granted, based on Lucy's filing. Julie was awarded 30 percent of their joint bank accounts, which Tom set aside for her to access upon her release from jail. He never visited her in jail, but the children did, once. After that, they never went back. Andrew told Tom that Marie was so upset and angry at their mother that she nearly had to be restrained.

Andrew graduated from high school and followed in his father's footsteps. He joined the Marine Corps and was made a military policeman. Tom was so proud of his son that he took Marie to watch him graduate as the honor recruit in his platoon.

Tom continued his service on the police force and was finally promoted to Captain, after Capt. Smith retired. His social life basically disappeared and he had no desire to date. That didn't stop Marie from playing matchmaker. One day, she came home with a note and handed it to him.

"My English teacher, Ms. Harris, wants to see you after school tomorrow," she said. "I know you're stuck behind a desk now, so there's no reason you can't be there."

"You're not trying to play matchmaker again, are you?" Tom asked.

"Who, me?" Marie asked, her eyebrows raised. The next day, he went to see Ms. Harris. When he got to her room, she stood up and extended a hand, which he accepted. The moment their hands made contact, though, he found himself smitten.

"Uh, good to meet you, Ms. Harris," he said, stumbling over his words. He didn't want to let go of her hand. He looked her over, hoping he wasn't too obvious. He liked what he saw. A fairly short, pretty brunette with hazel eyes, she was well proportioned with nice breasts and had a lovely smile.

"Oh please, call me Brenda, Captain Williams," she said.

"And you can call me Tom," he told her. "Marie said you wanted to see me."

"She did?" Brenda asked. "Uh, I did? I don't recall... Well, it's always good to meet the parents of my students. I understand you're divorced."

"Yes, I am," he said.

"And you're raising a teenage daughter all by yourself? I'm impressed," she said. "That can't be easy."

"Well, I am armed and I carry handcuffs," he told her with a smile. She laughed. He noticed she wasn't wearing rings, but could make out the indents on her finger. "I see you're not married."

"That's right," she said. "I'm divorced as well."

"So, it would seem my daughter is playing matchmaker again," he said. "I'll have to talk to her about that." She laughed.

"My daughter did the same thing before she left for college," she said.

"Well, I'm sorry to have wasted your time," he said. "I'll leave you to your work."

"That's okay," she said. "I'm finished up here anyway, and I was just going to grab a quick bite to eat, then head back to a lonely old house. If you're not too busy, maybe we can share dinner. Perhaps a glass of wine afterward."

"Why not?" Tom asked. "Just one thing, if you don't mind me asking."

"What's that?" she asked.

"You don't happen to have an old college boyfriend or anything, do you?" he asked. She laughed.

"Oh, good heavens, no," she said.

"Good," he said, offering his arm. "What sounds good to you?" he asked as he led her out of the classroom.

...

The end...

Note: For those who like to pick nits, and you know who you are, laws regarding paternity fraud vary from state to state. In my research, however, I did find that one state DOES have a very strict law about intentionally falsifying information on a birth certificate. So I used a bit of artistic license in this story regarding that...