by taranwillow4ever » Mon Feb 08, 2010 8:02 pm
Thank you to all who have commented on this story. I promise that some cuddle therapy will eventually occur, it just will be awhile. Sorry that I am not getting updates as quickly as I used to, but life continues and time for writing sometimes doesn't come as easily.
Disclaimer: This chapter has how I am imagining a court case like this to go. I know that I am totally off, but it is supposed to be a way to get the plot moving, not a real legal proceeding. Sorry for those of you who I make cringe with my portrayal of the case.
Disclaimer 2: This chapter had explicit descriptions of physical and sexual abuse. If this type of material bothers you, the next chapter will give a brief overview and go on without description.
Chapter 45
Tara had been dreading this day, but now that it had come, she felt more confident than she had expected. She was sitting next to the District Attorney, when she felt a sudden feeling of calm overtake her. Seeing her brother and father again had initially caused her to feel the familiar sensations of dread, but she knew that the lawyer and his assistant would not allow either of them to say anything that would derail her.
The judge came in and everyone stood up. Her lawyer began with a brief speech about the extent of the abuse and the charges that were being leveled against her father and brother. It was amazing the number of counts that the state were able to lodge against them just based on the events that had occurred just prior to and during the altercation that her social worker had come across.
It was somewhat disconcerting what her father and brother’s lawyers were saying about her and how the events had been misconstrued. Tara knew that it was not usual for both her father and brother to be tried at the same time, but it had been decided that it was going to be the most efficient use of the courts time. The charges were so interlinked, so it was decided so should be the trial. Her father would be tried first, and then her brother. The forensic evidence and her testimony would be used for both trials.
Tara went into her “safe place” as the social worker talked about what had occurred on the night in question. She remained there while the forensic evidence was presented by the nurse. She wouldn’t have known that there was a recess if she hadn’t been nudged by the DA. She looked around and saw a glimpse of red hair. It was Willow’s color. Tara knew that she seemed to think she saw Willow lots of places, but why here? Maybe because there was no one that she wished was here more, but she didn’t want to ask her. She didn’t want her to hear all of the things that had happened.
She looked again, and found herself looking into the familiar green eyes. What is she doing here? How did she get here? How did she know? Tara looked beside Willow and saw Joyce. The answer to how she had gotten there was now answered. But why are they here? Tara told the DA that she was going to go say “hi” to someone she knew and she walked up to Joyce and Willow.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“Supporting you,” answered Joyce.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to come?” asked Tara.
“Because I knew that you’d tell me not to.”
“I would have…”
“Who else is here to support you? Where are you staying while you are here?” asked Joyce.
“I…I..m…m…my someone in the DA’s office rented me a room in a h..h…hotel.” Tara stuttered. “I…I…I have to g…g..go. M…m..t..t..the DA needs to ask me something….see you later?”
“Definitely, later.” Both women said back to the blond.
Tara walked back to her seat, the thoughts echoing through her head. Support me? Why would they think I needed support? What are they going to think when they hear my testimony. Will they still like me then. Maybe it is good that there is someone supportive I can look at…maybe… Tara would not allow herself to think about the ramifications of this visit. Maybe Willow really did care that much about her. No matter what…. Tara’s thinking was brought back to the present by the judge entering the court room again. Tara stood up and then sat down again with everyone else.
Her name was called. Tara went up to the witness stand and was sworn in. Just don’t look at them. Don’t look at Donnie and Daddy. Just answer the questions. Nothing more, nothing less
“Please state your whole name for the court.”
“Tara Nicole Maclay”
“How old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
“You are related to the defendant and codefendent how?”
“They are my father Donald Maclay and brother. Donald Maclay, Jr.”
“Does your brother go by any other names?”
“Donnie.”
“So if you refer to Donnie, it is your brother, correct.”
“Yes sir.”
“So Tara, in your own words can you tell me what happened the afternoon of March 27th?”
Tara looked down. She closed her eyes and wished that she could plug something into her brain to show a film of the event, she didn’t want to talk about it.
“Miss Maclay are you alright?” asked the judge, “do you need some water.”
“No sir,” she said quietly.
“Please begin then.”
“Y…y…yes sir. I…I…I had made a snack for Dad and Donnie to have when they got home from work. They go to work really early, so they sometimes are hungry when they get home. They…They didn’t come home when I expected them, so I had left the food on the stove to get warmed up and had gone into the living room to read. I guess I fell asleep on the couch, because the next thing I remember is that my dad was shaking me and yelling about his snack being cold. He hit me pretty hard, so I ran into the kitchen to start to warm up the food. He followed me and was still yelling. It was then that I guessed that maybe they had stopped at the bar before they came. Daddy’s eyes looked kinda glassy. “
“Did this happen often?”
“Sir?”
“Did you father come home drunk often?”
Tara looked at her father and gulped. Her father’s eyes were clearly trying to communicate to her to not tell the truth. She looked away.
“I…I…I don’t know. H…h..he often had a few beers, but drunk? I don’t know.”
“Did you think he was drunk that afternoon?”
“Objection, the witness is not a good judge of drunkenness.” Said her father’s lawyer.
“Objection over ruled, you may answer the question Miss Maclay.”
“Y…y..yes sir.”
“Please continue.”
“D..d..daddy kept yelling at me and calling me names. He picked something up and hit me with it. I guess he had hit a soft place on my head, cause the next thing I remember I was on the floor and there was blood near my head. I curled up because sometimes he’d kick me. It really hurt when he kicked me in the stomach. “
“Was this the first time that something like this had happened?”
“No. sir”
“Objection. We are only dealing with this incident your honor”, said her father’s lawyer.
“Over ruled.” Said the judge, I think that it is relevant if this was the first time it had happened or if it was a pattern.”
“Had your father beaten you like this before Miss Maclay?” asked the judge.
Tara nodded.
The judge reminded her that she needed to verbally answer.
“Yes sir, a few times.”
“A few like 2 or 3,” asked the judge
“I don’t remember.”
“More than 3…10…20…50..100?”asked the judge again.
“I don’t know.”
“If you had to guess.”
“Um…this bad…probably 20” Tara’s voice went up with a question.
“Ok.”
Tara could see that her father’s lawyer wanted to object, but knew that he could not interrupt the judge.
“So then what happened…” said Tara’s lawyer.
“I..I..I think that the social worker came in around the time that I fell. I heard her tell my father to stop, and he did.”
“What did you do?”
“I think I tried to sit up, but my head was spinning a little.”
“Where was your brother?”
“He was in the room watching.”
“Did he ever try to help you?”
Tara couldn’t help but snicker a little bit. “No…he usually gave Daddy more ammunition to hit me, he never helped.” Tara looked at Donnie. It seemed like he was trying to look aloof, but it was not working well.
“Then what happened?”
“My dad started yelling at the social worker. I didn’t’ really pay attention to what he said, then I saw her dial the phone and call 911. Dad tried to snatch the phone away, but she got through. Then she moved so that she was between my Dad and me. They kept yelling at each other, and once I got up, she brought me out of the house and we waited until the police came. I guess my head was still bleeding, because they called an ambulance and I was brought to the hospital.”
“What happened at the hospital?”
“They fixed my head…and looked at the rest of me. There were bruises from stuff that had happened before… they held me for some tests, and when I was in my room a social worker came and said that they were going to put me in a foster home and that I didn’t have to ever go home again.”
“Remind us how old were you?”
“17 sir.”
“The nurse reported that semen was found during the check up. How did it get there?”
Tara looked at her lawyer. He had said that he’d be asking a lot of questions and that due to the nature of the charges she would have to talk about the sexual abuse, but even these warnings had not prepared her for this moment.
“Are you ok, Miss Maclay?” asked the judge who saw her blanche.
“Y..y..yes sir.” Tara took a drink of water. She took a deep breath and began. “The night before, Daddy had gone out with some friends and Donnie and I were home. I went up to bed and he followed me. I knew what he wanted, so we went into his room and had sex.”
“How did you know this? That what he wanted was to have sex with you?”
“He…we…he had been having sex with me since I was about 8 or 9, after my mom died.”
“Did you ever tell your father?”
“No sir.”
“Why not.”
“Lots of reasons.”
“Miss Maclay, we need you to tell us why you never told your father.”
“At first, it was because he’d threaten me, and later on, my dad started doing it too, so I figured he knew.”
“By the same thing, you mean having sex with you.”
“Yes sir.”
“When did this start?”
“A few years later, maybe I was 11 or 12. It didn’t happen near as much with Daddy as with Donnie.”
“So let me get this straight, you were having sex with both your father and your brother for the last 8-10 years?”
“Yes sir.”
“Did you ever tell anyone?”
“No sir.”
“Why not?”
“I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid that it would get worse, afraid no one would believe me.”
“Were you ever afraid of anything else? Did either of them ever threaten you?”
Tara said very quietly, “Yes.”
“Excuse me, Miss Maclay, can you speak up?” said the judge.
“Yes sir.”
“Yes, you can speak up, or yes they threatened you?”
“Yes to both.”
“What did they threaten you with?”
“Lots of stuff.”
“Can you give an example?”
“They threatened to caste me out of the house, they threatened to tell the other one, they threatened to hurt me.”
“Did they ever threaten to kill you.”
“Objection, leading the witness.”
“Sustained.”
“Were you afraid? Did you believe them?”
“Yes sir.”
“So you believed that they would or could follow through?”
“Yes sir.”
“Which threat scared you the most?”
“That they would kill me.”
“So they did threaten to kill you.”
“Yes.”
“I hate to make you go back to this, but can you please explain how your father’s semen was found.”
Tara took another deep breath. She did not want to go back to that night. It had been a particularly brutal experience and she still had not completely processed it with her therapist. She closed her eyes.
“I…I..I had gone to bed early after I’d made dinner for my brother and dad. I guess they went out. I must have been really tired, because the next thing I remember is my dad pulling at my underwear and yelling that he’d told me to not wear it. He kept calling me by my mom’s name and I kept on trying to tell him I wasn’t her, but he kept telling me I was lying. He hit me a few times and then he…he…had sex with me. When I woke up there were bruises around my arms and I had a black eye.”
“Thank you Tara. I have no further questions.”
The judge called a recess and Tara was afraid to look back. She was sure that Joyce and Willow would be gone, or if they were still there, that they would be so disgusted with what they had heard that they wouldn’t want to ever see her again. She did not expect to find herself enveloped in a hug by the two women. When she was released from the hug, she was surprised that what she saw in their eyes were tears, not disgust.
“I am sorry that you had to hear that stuff.” Said Tara.
“Not as sorry as me knowing that you had to experience it. Tara why didn’t you tell me when we were at The Maples? I would have made them do something. They sent you back there. I knew something was wrong, I knew it.”
“It isn’t your fault Willow. I was afraid. I look at them now and wonder what I was afraid of, they are just pitiful men. “
“I hope they rot in jail.” Exclaimed Willow.
“I just want to know that they won’t bother me ever again.” Said Tara.
“Do you have lunch plans?” asked Joyce.
“No ma’am. I brought a sandwich.”
“Would you like to come with Willow and I to one of the chain restaurants around here?”
“Sure. Let me ask the DA if it is Ok.”
Tara went to her lawyer.
“Sir, is it ok if I go to lunch with my friend and her aunt. I didn’t expect them to come, but they did. Is there anything we need to review?”
“Remember that this afternoon is going to be much harder. Your family’s lawyers are going to try to trip you up.”
“I know sir. I just hope it is over soon.”
“I’ll try to intervene if it gets too bad.”
“Thanks.”
Tara, Willow and Joyce left the court room.
