With his one phone call, Jim was able to get ahold of Anthony (who finally was able to answer the phone). Anthony didn't even need to ask Jim if everything was okay. The caller ID showing the Concord police station's number pretty much gave everything away.657Please respect copyright.PENANATEdu8qSoJY
Using as much money as he could get family and friends to lend him, Anthony traveled up to Concord the very next day and bailed Jim out of jail. Anthony nearly had a heart attack after Jim explained to him everything that had happened.
"Are you serious?!" Anthony asked hysterically. "ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!"
Jim nodded and blew his nose. He had been sobbing uncontrollably for at least four straight hours.
"I can't believe...she...I just can't..."
Anthony sat down on Jim's couch and put his head in his hands. Still sobbing, Jim sat down on the couch next to Anthony.
"I...I...I don't even know what to say," Anthony said, rubbing his forehead. "I really don't. She...she...ugh. I can't believe she would go this far. I mean, everything she's done before was already horrible and disgusting. This? This just...ugh. I can't believe it, Jim. I just can't freaking believe it."
Jim sniffled.
"She's really done it now. She's really freaking done it. If only I could do something. If only anybody could do something...if only...if only..."
Jim began to sob much harder.
"I'm so sorry, Jim," Anthony said, putting his arm around Jim. "I'm so, so, sorry. I wish things didn't have to turn out this way. I wish that the world could be a much more fair place to live in. I wish...I wish..."
Anthony knew there was absolutely nothing that he could tell Jim to make him feel better. There was no way that things would go well for Jim in this upcoming trial. Jim trying to defend himself against Julia's molestation accusations in court was pretty much a guaranteed failure. The courts had already been believing all of Julia's lies for the past three years and there was no doubt that they were just going to keep doing so. The police had been the only ones to have ever shown any support for Jim and now they weren't even taking his side. In addition, the molestation accusations alone were already a major strike against Jim. Anytime a man was accused of child molestation, it automatically caused the court to form a negative opinion of him. It didn't matter how sincere that man sounded when defending himself or how clean his background was. As long as he was a man and being accused of molestation, the court was going to side against him.
To say Anthony was feeling angry with Julia at that moment was a complete understatement. There was doing something hurtful towards somebody out of bitterness and then there was...this. This was beyond crossing the line. This was flat out ruining somebody's life. Accusing somebody of child molestation was like throwing them inside a very deep pit. There was almost no way out of it. Even if that person was declared innocent, people were going to continue having a negative and biased view on him as he continued to live his daily life. There was always going to be that "What if he did do it?" thought at the back of everybody's mind. These molestation accusations were enough to destroy credibility for any of the outstanding achievements that Jim had had in his life. If Jim were still working at his goal to become a college professor, the accusations would have completely ruined everything.
And to think I once considered this woman the perfect sister-in-law, Anthony thought as he patted Jim's back. Jim was still sobbing quite hard.
Anthony wanted to tell Jim: "Well, maybe things won't go so badly. Maybe the judge won't believe her," but even Anthony knew that wasn't a realistic thought. The odds were all completely stacked against Jim. Julia was going to come out victorious and there almost nothing he could do.
As Anthony patted Jim's back, he began to sob as well.
Sure enough, almost everything went wrong for Jim on the day of the trial. Just like anyone could have predicted, Julia went out of her way to make the courts believe that Jim was a horrible person. She claimed that Jim had secretly started molesting the girls back when they were still married and that Jim had threatened to harm her if she ever turned him in. She then stated that she had purposely not been allowing Jim to see the girls because of the "molestation." Like always, the judge believed every word she said.
No matter how much Jim shouted that these things were false and how sincere he sounded as he did so, nobody seemed to believe anything he said. Just like with many of his custody trials, Jim gave a long and detailed explanation about how much he loved the girls and that he would never do anything to harm them. This only caused the court to turn on him even more. Not even Jim's constant sobbing throughout the trial gave anyone a clue that he was telling the truth.
Everything became even worse for Jim when an officer (who thankfully wasn't the same officer that had interrogated Jim) brought up that Cassie and Meagan had told the police that everything Julia said was true. Jim now couldn't even sniffle without being given a filthy look. Anthony, who had once again been trying his hardest to defend Jim, began to get a massive headache.
However, Jim's attorney soon brought up a very valid point. Other than Julia's and the girls' statements, there was no actual proof that Jim molested the girls. Of course, Julia began to argue against this statement ("How on earth could I have gotten proof?! Jim would've beaten me to death if I videotaped him!"). The judge, jury, and police were all completely silent.
The jury spent quite a while making their final deliberation. Jim finally began to gain a sense of confidence. Because he had never molested the girls, no proof would ever be found. There was nothing that Julia or the police could use to disapprove his attorney's point. However, there was still the possibility that the jury would actually consider Julia's "assurance" that Jim had done those things to be actual proof. Jim couldn't help but shake quite a bit as the jury returned to the courtroom.
Thankfully, the jury found Jim not guilty of molesting the girls (Julia, of course, began to rant furiously after this decision was made). Jim took a deep sigh of relief. Because of the decision, Jim wouldn't have to worry about having to register as a sex offender. Just the thought of that happening caused him to shiver immensely.
Unfortunately, Jim's relief was very short-lived. Even after Jim was declared innocent, people continued to shoot filthy looks at him as he left the court room. Jim and Anthony had already seen this coming. What they didn't see coming was Julia storming up to Jim and shouting: "This isn't over! You just wait!" Jim completely froze as Julia walked off.
After a long day of worrying about what Julia's remark meant, Jim received a phone call from the Concord family court saying that he was expected to appear at a trial scheduled in three weeks. Jim had already had a terrible feeling about what was going to happen very soon.
Despite having no proof that Jim molested the girls, the police (just like pretty much everyone else) remained skeptical about Jim and completely withdrew all their support from Jim's situation with his visitation rights. This allowed the family court to have full control over how Jim's visitations would be handled in the future. Sure enough, Julia's "assurance" that the molestation accusations were true and that the girls were "too scared" to go back with Jim was enough for the judge to make his decision. Jim's visitation rights with Cassie and Meagan were suspended until further notice. As long as Julia continued to fool the court with her lies and the molestation accusations remained part of Jim's records, Jim knew that "further notice" would be never.
In addition, Julia told the judge that she would be seeking a restraining order to keep Jim away from her and the girls. Having Jim's visitation rights taken away from him just wasn't enough for her. She just had to keep rubbing salt in the wound.
The instant that the trial was over, Jim stormed out of the courtroom before Anthony even had a chance to blink. Anthony frantically rushed through the crowds of people in order to catch up to Jim. Unfortunately, Jim had already left the courthouse by the time Anthony had managed to exit the courtroom.657Please respect copyright.PENANAit4D5U6L2C
"JIM!!" Anthony hollered as he ran out of the courthouse. "JIM!!"
Jim was nowhere to be found outside. His red car was still in the parking lot, but he was nowhere around it.
"JIM!!" Anthony screamed louder.
Anthony was beyond worried at that moment. He knew that Jim was feeling absolutely depressed at that moment and was probably oblivious to everything going on around him. He couldn't just leave Jim by himself and walking the streets...
At that moment, Anthony noticed that he had Jim's keys in his pockets. He suddenly remembered that he had driven Jim to the courthouse as Jim had been much too stressed and worried to do any driving. Anthony took a big sigh of relief and hurried over to Jim's car.
Shaking in fear, Anthony drove out of the parking lot and down the street. He took one of the biggest sighs of relief he had ever taken as he saw Jim walking along the sidewalk.
"Thank you," Anthony said to himself as he drove up to Jim. "Thank you so much."
Upon seeing Anthony driving in his car, Jim stopped and turned around. His face was beet red and soaking wet. Anthony suddenly felt a lump in his throat.
"J...J...Jim?" Anthony stammered.
Jim sniffled and wiped his eyes off. Without saying a word, he slowly walked over and stepped into the car.
"D...do...do you want me to take you home?" Anthony asked.
Jim began to sob quite hard. Wiping his eyes and taking a giant deep breath, Anthony drove towards Jim's apartment.
After making it back home, Jim immediately collapsed onto the couch and continued to bawl. Anthony started to cry as well. He couldn't bear to see Jim go through all of this. This was the man that had saved his life more than ten years earlier. This was the man who had once been seen as a success and a role model by so many people. This was the man who had always put his family in front of everything else, including his education. Jim had never deserved any of this.
Anthony wanted to stay at the apartment and comfort Jim, but he became so upset himself that he found himself unable to. After about fifteen minutes, Anthony left the apartment and walked over to the same motel he had been staying at only a few weeks earlier. He couldn't just return to Texas right then. Not while Jim was like this.
But how long will Jim be like this? Anthony thought as walked down the apartment parking lot.
As long as Jim wasn't able to see the girls, Anthony doubted that Jim would ever be happy again. Anthony continued to weep as he walked to the motel's front desk.
Jim lay on his couch crying for at least three straight hours. He couldn't believe that all of this had happened. Just one week earlier, he had finally been able to see his daughters again. He was finally able to form a relationship with them again. He was finally going to be able to see them as they grew. It had all been snatched away from him. The world just wasn't going to let him be happy.
Jim eventually stood up and walked over to the kitchen. On the kitchen table lay the hundreds of photos that Jim had taken during the girls' visit. Seeing the photos made Jim's eyes flood with tears again. He grabbed a handful of them and carried them over to the girls' room.
The bed was still covered with all of the girls' stuffed animals. The stuffed animals that the girls had been very excited to see again and now probably wouldn't see again. Seeing the stuffed animals caused Jim's eyes to run even faster.
Jim sat down on the girls' bed and looked through the photos. Cassie and Meagan happily chasing each other at the playground, Cassie and Meagan hugging each other while wearing their pajamas, Cassie and Meagan wearing their new dresses, Cassie showing Jim her dance moves, Meagan smiling with syrup dripping down her face...
The photo album that Jim had intended to make...all of the photo albums for the future visits...Cassie's kitten...Cassie's sleepover...the artwork that Cassie and Meagan had intended to bring over during their next visit...the beautiful dresses that they would probably never wear again...
The words "Mommy never plays with us!" started to ring immensely in Jim's head.
At that moment, Jim collapsed down onto the girl's bed. Tightly clutching the photos and the girls' stuffed animals, Jim began to bawl harder than ever. Every inch of his body was filled with pain. Was this really it? Had Julia officially won? Were Cassie and Meagan now really out of his life for good?
Jim knew that he could still take Julia to court, but that hardly made him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel much worse. Even before Julia made the molestation accusations, he had never had any luck with those family court judges. It was obvious that things were going to be much worse now that those accusations were on his records. Jim doubted he would even get a judge to speak calmly to him at this point.
"Mommy never plays with us! Mommy never plays with us!"
If there was anything that Jim could feel the least bit grateful for, at least the girl's visit had gone very well. At least he had managed to gain as much happiness as he possibly could while the girls were still with him. At this point, Jim doubted he would ever feel any happiness again.
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