The Trouble Toddler

Chapter 28: the guardianship

Julia p.o.v

I was laying down on the couch after a long day of work. "Hey babe, how are you doing?" Zander said to me as he walked in. "Tired, but I'm glad you are home right now. I missed you." I responded to him. He walked over to me and gave me a kiss.

Zander and I knew each other a half year now. From the beginning I wanted this, living with him. He was so much better than Peter. Zander was nice but not too nice, he was sweet but not too sweet, he was dominant but not too dominant.

When I saw Zander for the first time, I felt like a college girl all over again, like when I met Peter. But Zander was really an upgrade from Peter.

"The pregnancy sickness does not bother you?" He sat next to me and started to massage my feet. "Well, it bothers me, but not right now."

He smiled. "I'm excited to get a little one here in the house. Didn't you say you have already a daughter?"

"Yes, she is adopted. Her name is Lexi." I put my feet of his lap and stood up. "Shall I start on making dinner?" Zander stood up as well.

"Yes, let's make dinner together." God, I loved this guy. I did not know why, but since I met Zander my love for Peter just died out and was replaced for my new boyfriend.

As we were cooking together Zander suddenly suggested something I had not thought of yet. "How about we try to get the guardianship over Lexi?" I looked surprised at him. "You really want to take Lexi in? I did not expect you to want a child in your life which wasn't yours."

"Well, Lexi is not really yours too. How is that any different?" He asked. Good point.

"That is true, but Peter and I 'choose' her, you weren't a part of that decision. So, I thought you did not want her in your life." I said while putting the paprika in the frying pan.

"I do want her into our life's and besides, we can offer a way more sustainable family life than Peter does. With us she would have a mom, a dad and a little brother or sister. A perfect little family. Also, most of the times the mother gets the child after the divorce." He kissed my head and put his arms around my waist. "So, what do you say?"

"It does sound nice." It really did. Sometimes Lexi irritated me a bit, but I think it was Peter's parenting that annoyed me not Lexi and I did miss my little munchkin. "Yes, let's get the guardianship over Lexi. I'll text Peter right now."

Peter p.o.v

When I saw her text, I could not believe my eyes. Why would she do this to me? Why would she take my little girl away from me? This was not happening. This was not happening. I can not lose Lexi as well.

I quickly made my way to Michael. I hold up my phone and said in a terrified voice, "Julia wants to take Lexi away from me."

He stood up and walked over to me. "Let me see the text." I handed my phone over to him. "Don't worry little brother. We will fight this, I promise."

The next days I had talked to my lawyer about my strategy. We would first try to settle everything with a mediator if that would not work, we had to go to court. I hoped that would not be necessary, but I had this bad feeling in my stomach we would eventually.

I sat on the couch with my brother and daughter. Lexi was sitting on my lap as we were watching Mulan. It was stressful days for her too, so I wanted some father and daughter time as tomorrow was the big day.

"Lexi, you know that daddy loves you very much, right?" I asked her while caressing her hair. She nodded her little head of hers and said, "Love daddy too." I felt my heart swell with pride and love for this little youngster in front of me.

I kissed her head and whispered, "I love you more."

• • •

I stood in the hallway, sweating out of my suit. "Relax, little brother. We got this." Michael said to assure me. "Yes indeed Mr. Dolivo, we have a strong case, no need to worry." My lawyer agreed with my brother. I only nodded my head. My mouth and throat were too dry to speak.

I looked at Lexi who was sitting on the lap of my lawyer's assistant. I was too afraid to hire a babysitter and sending her to the day care was also not an option. So, taking her with me was the only solution.

Then I saw her, Julia. She looked beautiful. The butterflies in my stomach started to appear, only they disappeared quickly at seeing her new boyfriend, Zander. When I looked at him, I could see why she wanted to be with him. He looked perfect. I saw how he held his arm around her waist, this caused me to feel extremely jealous. I took a deep breath to calm myself down when I saw it.

I saw a little bump forming on Julia's stomach. My jealous feelings flew out of the window and were replaced by sadness. I looked down at my feet. When they stood in front of us all of us exchanged greetings, except I just mumbled some incoherent words.

I felt the comforting hand of Michael on my shoulder, telling me that everything would be alright, and I had to remain strong. Yes, indeed. I had to be strong for Lexi, for my daughter.

The mediator arrived and so our meeting began. It went well up to the point of Lexi, when she was being discussed all hell broke lose between our lawyers. I was glad Lexi sat outside, so she did not have to listen to this nonsense.

After half an hour of going back and forth the mediator held her hand up. "Gentlemen, I think it is better to take the guardianship of Lexi Dolivo to court. All the other business we have discussed can be settled right now, but the topic of guardianship is not going to be solved with this mediation."

It was our lawyer who spoke up first, "Alright let's take this to court." 

A/N: I hope you are not dissapointed with the litte bit about Julia. It was not really to explain why she did what she did. Sometimes there is not much to why a certain person does what he/she does. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe!