109 - Grandbabies

*Damn, I should have brought Chance or one of his brothers. Maybe not Werewolf. Oh, hell, any of the army bastards, our judge is retired Army. - Celt*

There had been the expected objections from William and Dominique. Which were met with well put together and thoughtful counter arguments from Celt.

After voices were raised and Dominique swore at Camille, the judge warned that another outburst and she would be removed from the discussion. But when Vin asked if they could speak with the judge without the adults, you could see that the judge had already made his decision.

Camille hugged the three kids and gave soft words of encouragement as she left the room. Darkness placed a kiss on the top of Nicki’s head, gave a quick hug to Mitch and a fist bump to Vin as he followed his wife. Critter walked over and pressed a light kiss to Nicki’s temple and gave fist bumps to both boys.

As the door closed behind them, they heard Celt declare, “As their legal representatives, we will remain with the children but will also remain silent.”

The door closed and they did not hear anything else. Darkness paced nervously around the living room while Camille and her brother battled it out with a game on their phones. They each gave each other a few middle fingers and soft spoken swear words or insults. The other Saints kept themselves busy, attempting to hide their own nervousness.

Chowder was in the kitchen, filling the counters and table with sweets and multiple options for dinner. Duke found a small boat in the boat shed and was performing basic maintenance on it. Rino and Dax sat in the living room with their earbuds in, ignoring everyone around them. Dax would do any research that Delt sent him while Rino did the same for Bam Bam.

The door to the office opened and Vin motioned for Darkness, Camille and Chris to come back inside. They followed Vin back in and when Vin sat on the couch, they both sat in the chairs behind it. Camille was grateful that the legs had been removed from the couch to lower it. Otherwise, she would have been looking at the back of Vin’s head and not just barely over it.

Judge Ramos went through the timeline for the next six weeks. Dominique made multiple objections until the Judge gave her a warning of contempt if she said anything else. Celt read back the timeline to confirm, and the judge agreed. He also said that the court clerk would send over a full timeline with all the details.

He also stated that the clerk would reach out to her counterpart in Baton Rouge to confirm anything that would need to be done to meet the requirements in the state of Louisiana. Celt asked a few additional questions concerning the kids. He carefully avoided a topic at the request of Vin.

“Are there any other questions or topics that we need to address?” the judge asked.

Camille caught the subtle motion that Celt made towards Vin. Before she could ask about it or wonder what it meant, Vin cleared his throat.

“Your Honor,” Vin said and then with a comforting hand on his shoulder from his uncle, he started again. This time, his voice was stronger and more confident. “Excuse me, Your Honor, I would like to ask about my family’s properties.”

“Yes, sir,” the judge flipped through the binder and moved to the section with the property information. “There is the main house and then a house near the university in Fayetteville. I see this listing for a property in DeWitt, but it doesn’t have anything listed on the land.”

“No, Your Honor, it’s primitive property that our mother wanted to build her dream vacation house on.”

The judge nodded with a smile as he made a note, “Always good to have a dream. What question do you have, young man.”

“Who receives the property?”

On the screen, the judge skimmed over the paperwork before looking back at the camera. “Each of you kids get a property. Your parents listed out who they thought wanted each property, but it was prepared in such a way that you could change who got what. I feel as though there is a different question.”

Vin nodded, gulped down a hard swallow and then took a drink of his water. “Do our grandparents get any of the properties?”

“No, there are some sentimental items, and some furniture listed,” he consulted the papers to make sure that he gave the correct information. “But no, there is no real estate properties listed for anyone other than the three descendants.”

“In that case,” Vin’s voice grew cold as he looked at his grandparents, “can you get them out of my house?”

“Excuse me?” Judge Ramos asked. His pen froze in the air as he moved from where he had been making a note to where he wanted to circle the part of the will in question.

“They are in the house in Hot Springs, and we have not given them permission to be there.” The oldest of the Johnson kids explained. “At this point, after everything that they have done recently, I do not trust them in the house unsupervised.”

Dominique objected and insisted that she had rights to the house.

“Who paid for the house?” the judge asked.

“The deed is in the name of Jasper and Keisha Johnson,” Celt answered as he pulled the papers from his own binder. “This is also the name reflected on the tax records. Looking at the bank statements, it appears that the payments were made directly from their joint bank account to the mortgage company.”

“So, Jasper and Keisha financed the house, paid for the house and paid the taxes on the house?” the judge asked.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Celt confirmed.

“And why, Mrs. Smith, do you think that you have any right to this property? Or any property for that matter?”

“When they were getting the original financing on the house we gave them a thousand dollars towards their downpayment,” she said smugly.

Celt and the judge both pulled the paperwork for the original mortgage. Smiling, Celt coughed into his fist to cover up his laughter. The judge cleared his throat for what appeared to be the same thing.

“Let me make sure that I understand this correct,” Judge Ramos stated, “you gave them a thousand dollars of a fifteen-thousand dollars downpayment. And I see that Zackary Fon-ten-not, Foontenoot, I’m sorry, how do you say that?”

“Fontenot,” Darkness said, “It’s fawn, like a baby dear, tuh, like duh with a T, no, like, umm, no. Fawn-tuh-no. Fontenot.”

“Thank you, Mr. Johnson,” he said making a note. “And thank you for the easy last name.”

Camille looked at her brother and they shared a small silent laugh as he mouthed Uittenbroek.

“Well,” Judge Ramos said as he looked back at the camera, “Zackary Fontenot gave them thirteen thousand dollars for the downpayment. If we’re going off the downpayment amounts, he has a higher stake in the property. Yet I do not see him here trying to get something that does not belong to him.”

Camille linked her fingers with Darkness as they both swallowed their laughter and amusement.

“Amelia,” the judge told his clerk, “Please have some of Hot Springs finest go to the property. Mr. Marvin Johnson and Mr. Amos Johnson, I’m going to ask that you both go to that property and verify that nothing has been taken or damaged. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, if you leave before they and the police arrive, I will issue an arrest warrant and assume that you have something to hide. Do I make myself clear?”

Everyone confirmed that they understood what he was ordering and the clerk stated that the police were on their way.

“Excellent, is there anything else?”

When no one else had any other topics for discussion, the judge went over his orders, confirmed where the official and legal documents needed to be sent and then ended the session.

It was not until the connections were terminated and the computers closed that Celt relaxed in the chair and loosened his tie.

“That was a little intense,” he admitted.

Darkness gave Camille a kiss and promised that they would be back as soon as possible. After they left, everyone else went and changed. Shorts, hoodies, jeans and pajamas created a much more relaxed atmosphere. Camille grabbed a plate of cookies and a cup of hot cocoa before she sat down on the couch and opened up her facetime app.

She considered calling Priscilla, but she still had not heard from her friend and decided that it would be after the call to her parents.

The first call was not answered. Before she could call back, a message popped up from her mom asking for a few minutes. A moment later her mom appeared.

“Do I have more grandbabies?”