My Guardian Angel

Chapter 6

We enter into the courtroom, holding hands, when suddenly Tobias squeezes my hand. I look over to him and see his eyes fixed on something and a look of fear on his face that I have never seen before. His breathing accelerates and he abruptly stops walking. I turn to see what he's looking at when I see an older man looking at us, an evil smirk on his face. I can tell its Marcus by the color of his eyes. They're the same blue as Tobias' eyes but they hold none of the warmth that my husband's does.

I give Tobias' hand a tug, demanding his attention. I don't want him getting intimidated by this man. He looks at me and I give him a reassuring smile. He returns the smile but you can see the tension radiating off of him. I'm anxious to just get this over with. Tobias didn't want to watch, choosing instead to stay outside the courtroom until it was his turn to testify.

When we get near the front I give him a quick kiss on the cheek and go to sit by Johanna.

"How's it going?" I whisper to her while Tobias is sworn in.

"The problem is there isn't much proof besides the testimony of the woman he was dating. The little boy doesn't want to speak. I told them what I knew about Marcus, but considering I never reported the abuse the defense made my statement sound weak. Hopefully Tobias' testimony of his abuse when he was younger will be enough for the jury."

He sits down on the stand, and I hold my breath while I wait for the prosecution to begin questioning him.

"Could you state your name for the court please," she asks.

"Tobias Eaton." Michelle, the attorney for the prosecution, talked to us a for a bit before. She didn't want Tobias to be surprised by any of the questions she was going to ask, and reminded him to use his real name.

"Can you tell me what your relationship is to the defendant, Marcus Eaton?"

"He is my biological father." I can see the disdain when he says that. He told me years ago my dad was more a father to him then Marcus.

"Could you tell me about your relationship with him while growing up?"

"Ever since my mother passed away when I was young, he had abused me. It started with a shove here and there but as I got older, the beatings got worse. By the time I was 11, he was using his belt. As soon as I graduated high school, I left for the Marines and was able to escape him." It breaks my heart to see him have to discuss his darkest secrets with a courtroom full of strangers. He is truly the bravest man I know for speaking up to help someone he's never even met.

"And what about your mother? Do you have memories from before she died?"

"I remember her being shoved into a wall when she accidentally let dinner burn. I used to hear her screaming and crying after I had went to bed," Tobias continues.

"So, in your opinion is Marcus capable of the abuse he's being charged with?" she asks.

"Objection! Speculation," the defense attorney says.

"Considering the length of time the witness has lived with the defendant, I would consider him an expert on the defendant's behavior and capable of giving us a better idea the nature of Marcus," Michelle stated.

"I'll allow it," said the judge.

"Without a doubt," Tobias states, his gaze turning towards his father. I allow myself to look away from my husband, so I can see Marcus squirm. I am shocked to see a smug look on his face, as he whispers to his attorney and smiles.

"No further questions, your Honor," Michelle says, then returns to her seat. Now it's Marcus' lawyer that approaches Tobias for questioning.

"Tobias, did you ever see your father hit your mother?"

"Not really. I only saw him push her around, but I heard the screams from my bedroom," he answers.

"So really, you never witnessed the abuse you're claiming your father inflected on your mother?" he asks.

"Well, no but it was pretty obvious that's what was going on," Tobias tries to defend himself.

"Did you ever see any bruising?"

"No, but no one ever saw it on me either. Marcus was always very careful to hide the damage he inflicted." I can see Tobias starting to panic a bit, though I'm sure it's only because I know him so well.

"Tobias, why did you never press charges against your father?" the defense attorney asks.

"I was always too frightened too. My father was an important man, I never thought they'd believe me."

"Well you're saying this abuse went on for more than ten years, surely there must have been someone you trusted. A friend or a teacher perhaps?"

"I never really had any friends. Marcus always told me I wasn't worth enough to have friends. Most of the teachers never knew about the abuse and the one or two that may have suspected someone was going one were too frightened to say anything because of his position on the school board."

"I find it hard to believe they told you that. If a teacher suspects abuse they're obligated by law to say something or they can lose their teaching license."

"Well they never said anything, it was more the way they looked at me with pity," Tobias explains.

"Well unfortunately that doesn't prove anything and can't be used as evidence against my client. So far you have nothing to prove the abuse."

I've never been so angry as seeing this man that's supposed to be on the side of justice defending a man that's so clearly guilty. Tobias looks at a loss for a moment, trying to figure out something to say to help his case while the defense attorney looks like he just won the case.

"Well, I have the scars on my back from when he beat me with the belt. Do you want to see those?" The courtroom goes deadly silent, you cold hear a pin drop.

The judge looks down at Tobias and asks him quietly if he wouldn't mind removing his shirt. He clenches his jaw before standing up and turning around, lifting the back of his shirt for the courtroom to see. Even with me sitting a few rows back, I can clearly see the scars crisscrossed across his back. I hear a few of the people in the room gasp and the judge's eyes widen, a sick expression on is face. The defense attorney stumbles for a few before regaining his composure.

"Tobias, how long have you been away from your father?" he asks.

"I moved away the day I graduated high school, so about 15 years ago."

"So even if Marcus was guilty all those years ago, which still isn't proven considering that the scars could have been sustained anywhere, is it possible he could have changed?"

"I highly doubt it,"Tobias scoffs.

"That's not what I asked, Tobias. I asked if it was possible." I can see Tobias' jaw clench. It's killing him to have to answer a question like this.

"Yea sure, it's possible," Tobias answers, sarcasm dripping off each word.

"No further questions, your Honor." He sits back down next to Marcus, both of them smiling. Tobias comes back to me and pulls me up to leave the courtroom. I can feel his hand trembling with pent up energy. I just squeeze his hand back, knowing better then to ask him if he's ok.

"Sorry Tris, I don't think I could stay in that room for one more minute."

"It's ok. We'll go back to the hotel room. Johanna will let us know what happened," I say.

We head back to the room and just curl up together on the couch, saying very little and end up falling asleep. We're woken up the next morning by a knock at the door. Tobias walks over to open the door and sees Johanna there.

"Sorry to be here so early but I just heard that the jury made a decision last night. They're going to be giving their verdict at 9 this morning."