His Best Friend

Chapter 22- The Verdict.. And Moving On...

The judge went back into her chambers to look and think over all the evidence before giving her final judgement. It only took her an hour to come back out and say,

"Well, I have very carefully gone over everything in this case. And, my official verdict is that because Emmy Hayes is the biological daughter of Mr. Hayes, Miss Edwards has a legal right to involve him in her daughter's life. As for you, Miss Barnes, it has been proven that your son is not his. He is not responsible at all. In fact, I would recommend putting as much effort into finding your son's real father as you did trying to prove that Mr. Hayes was. I will also be agreeing with and signing the restraining order that Mr. Hayes and Miss Edwards requested."

As soon as she finished we all walked out into the lobby of the courthouse, where I saw Libby standing by herself holding her baby boy. Until she walked over to me saying,
"Why a restraining order, Ryleigh?"

"Why, Libby? Because you wormed your way into Hunter's life, first as his makeup artist and hairstylist. Then when his record label insisted that he needed a 'girlfriend', you subtly put yourself in that role. You soon realized that he didn't love you at all. But instead he loved me and you threatened to get him kicked out of concert venues if I didn't leave. For 2 and a half years, Hunter felt stuck in a relationship that meant nothing to him. And when you thought you were losing him for good, you told him that you were pregnant with his baby. You already knew you'd get the publicity of a courthouse because you set us up too. That night in the bar, you weren't in Nashville like we thought. You were in Louisiana, in that bar. You slipped something in both our drinks, knowing that we were in love anyway. And the fact that I got pregnant as a result only added to the drama you were causing."

"Alright, you're right. But give a minute to explain." She paused and I said,
"Well? Go ahead."

"Ok, yes, it was in my original plan to be in his inner circle. And at first I was satisfied being in charge of makeup and hair on his tour. But, Ryleigh, you don't understand, everything that happened after that was because of my boyfriend. I shudder to even call him that. He doesn't love me, oh, he pretends to, but I know now he doesn't."

"My advice to you, then, get out of his life. Find someone else who you do love and who loves you and your son. But Hunter and I will never be on that list."

Still holding my now squirming 3 month baby girl, I shifted her to my other hip and stormed away from Libby. As I got to the car, I settled Emmy into her car seat and as I shut her back door and moved to the passenger door, I half turned and saw Hunter walk past her, around the car and climb into the driver's door as I climbed into the front seat beside him.

I sat there, staring at my baby girl in the side mirror as Hunter started driving back home. Finally, I turned my head from the little one in the backseat whose eyes were drifting shut, to the driver's seat and the father of my sweet girl.
"What's going to happen now? Now that all the drama with Libby is over."

"Well," he glanced over at me, then looked back to the road and continued, "To start, we are going to go on a proper date. Now that all that drama is over, we can focus on us and raising that adorable little baby in the backseat."

"About that. Raising that little baby, I mean, we can't keep Emmy on the road constantly. She needs some form of stability in her life. And, no offense to your touring schedule, but it's no place for an infant to be all the time."

"I agree with you. As much as I want you and Emmy with me on tour all the time, I know that's not realistic. But I will cut back on how much I'm touring. Ryles, if you're worried that I'm not going to be there to watch our daughter grow up, don't. I wouldn't miss those moments for anything."

He reached over with one hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel and held my hand as I answered,
"I was a little worried. But not that you wouldn't do everything possible to give Emmy the world."

"She's not the only one I'd do anything for, you know." I was about to say something else when we pulled up to Hunter's apartment in Nashville. He parked in the garage under the building and we both got out of his car. I went to the back seat and lifted our sleeping daughter out of her car seat before walking behind him in the front door to his home. I settled Emmy into her makeshift crib and curled up in on the bed in the spare bedroom with my Ipad.

I began searching for the perfect house for my daughter and I while Hunter's on tour. I finally found a cute little cottage in the woods in Knoxville, Tennessee. It's about a 3 hour drive to the heart of Nashville, that way Hunter would be close to the studio when he's back home with us. And I made sure there was an extra room in the cottage that could be turned into a small studio. I showed Hunter the listing, we talked it over for a few days and finally agreed on purchasing it.

I traveled with the tour for the next 3 weeks until it came to a show at the Ryman. Layla came to spend the show in the bus with me and Emmy. My sister and I were sitting on the couch on the bus watching the filming of Hunter's concert on the tv and my little 3 month old playing contentedly on the floor with, you guessed it, a little toy guitar. She is definitely a little daddy's girl.

A/N: Ok, so, the judge ruled in favor of Hunter and Ryleigh... And issued a restraining order against Libby... Things seem to be going well for the little family of 3, will that continue or is there more drama to come?