The Surrogate

Cole had called his lawyer ahead of time, saying he needed to talk to him before the meeting with the others.

Mr. Miller stood up when Cole entered the small room that lawyer's used when they met with their clients before going before the judge. "Dr. Mason, please have a seat," he said, holding out his hand to shake the other man's hand. "You said you needed to discuss something with me."

"Yes, I've decided not to pursue this matter any further."

"I'm not following you."

"I'm going to give Joyce everything she wants, so there's no need to continue with questioning Miss Grant. I will be signing the papers today."

"Dr. Mason, I haven't even had a chance to question Mrs. Mason. I've sure once the judge hears how she treated you and Miss Grant he'll see through her lies. Why in the world would you give that woman everything?"

"I have my reason."

Mr. Miller ran his hand over his chin, he had no choice but to respect his client's decision. "Okay, once everyone gets here I'll let the judge know what you decided. Be prepared to answer a few questions. You should also be aware that by giving in to her demands the judge will determine you are guilty of what she has accused you of."

"I'm aware of that." Yes, there was no doubt that he would look guilty, not to mention that when word got out his coworkers might look at him in a different light. In just a few short months Joyce had succeeded to destroy everything he worked for, bleeding him dry. Even his reputation would be ruined.

"Okay, we can go into the other room where Mrs. Mason and her lawyer are waiting. As soon as the judge shows up I'll let him know of your decision. Are you sure you want to do this? Once the papers are signed there's no turning back."

"I'm sure," he replied with a heavy heart.

"How is Miss Grant doing?"

"She's better now, but she could have lost the baby. Let's get this over with so that I can get the hell out of here."

When they entered the room Joyce glanced at Cole and then whispered into her lawyer's ear. A smirk appeared on her face when she turned once again to look a Cole. She could tell by the look on his face that she had won.

Mr. Miller cleared his throat to catch her attention. "Mrs. Mason, Dr. Mason has decided not to continue with these proceedings. He has agreed to all of your terms which I will let the judge know. Once you have the paperwork he will sign them and the judge will grant the divorce in your favour."

"No need to wait, I have them with me," Mr. Hart said, patting his briefcase.

"You didn't waste any time," Cole said, staring at Joyce.

"No point in waiting, I'm just glad you came to your senses. I will expect you to vacate the home by the end of next month. I'll even be generous and let you have the furniture."

"That's so kind of you," he said sarcastically. He wanted to jump over the table and strangle her.

The judge entered the room and sat at the end of the table, he looked over at Cole. "How is Miss Grant doing?"

"She is doing better but her doctor says she needs bed rest for the next few days."

"I'm very glad to hear that, we can proceed without her."

Cole's lawyer spoke up. "Your honour, my client has decided to give Mrs. Mason everything she has asked for."

Judge Gibson turned his head to look at Cole. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes sir, I feel it's for the best."

"In all my years of dealing with divorce proceedings, I have never come across anyone who was willing to give up everything without a fight. I just hope you know what you're doing and don't live to regret it."

There was nothing Cole could say to that. It's not like he wanted to do it, but he would do anything to protect Christy and their baby.

The judge then looked at Joyce. "I must say Mrs. Mason, I have never come across a woman as selfish and greedy as you. To demand everything that your soon-to-be ex-husband has is in my opinion disgusting. I have no idea why your husband is letting you have everything but there is nothing I can do about that."

Joyce's lawyer cleared his throat as he took out the papers and placed them on the table. "The papers for Dr. Mason to sign is right here. All he has to do is sign them and grant Mrs. Mason her divorce so that she can move on and start a new life."

The judge reached for the papers and read them over before handing them to Cole. "I suggest that you read this word for word before signing it and if you decide not to then we will proceed with the questioning."

Cole looked over the agreement and handed it to his lawyer to check before putting his signature on it.

"I wish you would change your mind," Mr. Miller said as he handed back the papers.

"Just give me a pen."

When his lawyer handed him the pen he went to sign on the first line when the door to the room flew open and they all turned their heads.

"Mother, Steven, what are you doing here?"

Gloria was out of breath and her face was flushed due to the fact that she and Steven had run from their car into the courthouse to stop Cole from signing the papers.

The judge stood up in anger. "What is the meaning of this?"

Instead of answering the judge, Gloria looked at her son. "Please tell me you haven't signed the papers yet."

"I was just about to before you barged in here."

"Thank God we got here in time."

"Mom, what's going on here?"

Steven walked over to where the judge was standing with his arms crossed and looking very angry.

"My wife and I apologize for barging in the way we did. But it is very important that you look these papers over before letting Dr. Mason sign any papers. I'm sure that you will be quite intrigued with what is in these files."

Judge Gibson took the files from Steven. "This better be good," he said and then looked at the others. "I'm going to go to my Chambers and read this and when I'm done I will be back."

Cole went over and gave his mother a hug and Steven a handshake. They all ignored Joyce as she ranted on about them being there. She was making such a scene that her lawyer had to take her out of the room and into another one.

"Son, when you told me what Joyce was up to and how she was trying to destroy you Steven got a hold of an old buddy from the FBI and asked him for a favor. For weeks he investigated Joyce, he checked into her background and was able to track everywhere she had gone and every person she associated with over the last five years."

"I can't believe you did this for me."

"You're my son and I wasn't going to let you be taken advantage of. It's Steven you need to thank. If it wasn't for his contacts and his good buddy we might never have gotten the information you needed to get rid of Joyce once and for all."

He turned and thanked Steven and shook his hand. "I can't thank you enough for helping me out. It was probably something I should have done but to be honest I don't have the contacts that you do."

"Cole, I know I'm not your father and I would never try to replace him but still I think of you as my son."

"So do you want to fill me in on what you found out about Joyce?"

"Oh sweetheart, you'll get to read all about it in the file. But I'll give you the short summary and some of it might be hard for you to hear."

"I'm a big boy mom, I'm sure I can handle it."

"I'm afraid that she has been cheating on you from the very beginning. Not only cheating on you, but has been having an affair with a married man for the last four and a half years."

Cole swallowed hard, this came as a total shock to him. "I kind of suspected she had been cheating but never for this long or with a married man."

"There's more, the man she has been having an affair with is one of the richest multi-billionaires in Greece. Now here is the real kicker. He is divorcing his wife of thirty years and is engaged to Joyce."

"I can't believe it. She doesn't need my money since she is marrying one of the richest man in the world. She just hates me so much that she wants to bankrupt me."

"Well she hasn't succeeded. Once the judge reads the file I'm sure that he will have a few choice words for that evil cow," Gloria said angrily.

"This is all my fault. Why was I so stupid not to have her investigated myself when she kept going away on trips all the time? I should have questioned her more. I should have known where she was going and who she was with."

"Don't you dare blame yourself," Gloria said, putting her hands on his shoulders and giving him a shake. "You have put all of your time and energy into building up your reputation and your practice. I do remember you telling her a long time ago that once you were where you needed to be you would take time off to spend with her. But son, it would never have been good enough for her. She wanted more, she wanted you to do things that you didn't want to do and when you didn't take that job in Paris she was so angry. No matter what you would have done she would still be who she is right now. A greedy, cheating and conniving witch."

When the judge had finished reading the file he summoned everyone into his Chambers.

"I've read this file twice and to say the very least I am totally disgusted and shocked with what I have read." He looked over and stared at Joyce. "I have met many gold diggers in my life, but you lady, are the worst one. It was not your husband that has been cheating on you, but you have been cheating on him for over most of your married life together."

"None of that is true, I'm being framed."

"I'm not finished so please do not speak. I've seen the pictures and pictures don't lie. I will say that you and Mr. Andino have been very discreet over the last few years. But even you should be smart enough to know that a multi-billionaire always has people snapping pictures or spying on them. After everything I heard from our meeting yesterday and reading over Dr. Mason and Miss Grant's statements I have come to a decision."

Joyce's eyes narrowed in anger as the judge continued.

"Dr. Mason, I find you to be the innocent party here. I am going to grant you the divorce in your favour. You will keep your home, your investments and your money."

There was no way Joyce could keep quiet, she got to her feet and placed the palms of her hands on the table and started shouting. "You can't do that. I gave five years of my life staying with this man. I deserve something."

The judge ran his hand over his chin, his eyes on Joyce. "Yes, I agree. I am going to give you one dollar for every year of your marriage. That will give you a total of five dollars. It is more than you deserve and if anyone deserves a huge settlement it would be Dr. Mason for having to put up with your adultery and your sadistic treatment of him and the young woman who you hire to be your surrogate."

Cole wished that his mother and Steven were in the room to hear what the judge had to say, he could just imagine the smile on their faces.

Joyce looked at her lawyer and started screaming at him to do something. When he just sat there and shrugged his shoulders Joyce grabbed her purse and fled the room.

Judge Gibson got to his feet and held out his hand and shook Cole's. "I am so sorry that you had to go through this, you and that lovely young woman that you have fallen in love with. I can see how much the two of you love each other and I'm positive that you will have a very happy and long life together. You are now a free man and I will have the signed divorce papers sent to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you judge."

As Joyce left the room and when she saw Gloria and Steven sitting in the hallway she turned her anger on her ex-mother-in-law.

"You bitch, you destroyed everything for me."

Now Gloria was never one to back down from a fight and she got to her feet. "No, you did it to yourself."

"You never liked me. Why did you have to butt in and come back here. You haven't been here to see your son in years and all of a sudden you just pop in."

"You're right, I never liked you because I knew what a lying cheating whore you are. That is the only reason I haven't been around to see my son, it was because I couldn't stand to see him with a woman like you. The reason I'm here now is to help my son get free of you, and no one messes with my family, especially you."

"Who needs him anyways. I found myself a much richer and more famous man. Once we are married I will have everything I've ever wanted."

"We both know how you were able to hook that poor man into agreeing to divorce his wife and marry you after all these years."

"I haven't got the fainted idea what you're talking about."

"Oh Joyce, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the same trick you used to get my son to marry you."

Joyce looked back at Gloria with a stunned look on her face before she turned on her heels and stormed away.

"Thank God she's out of Cole's life," Steven said just as the door to the room opened and out walked Cole and his lawyer.