Monique slowly read through the prenuptial agreement that Elliot had signed back in college, nodding as she did so. "You said your mother in law wrote this?" she said absently after she smiled at one particular provision.

"Her lawyer did after she told him what she wanted. She knew what her son was like and was trying to protect me since I was doing her a favor. I guess we both hoped he could be changed, but it was foolish in retrospect. We tried though. The agreement was supposed to give him financial penalties if he messed up, which he did."

She nodded, then looked up at me. She had striking brown eyes and skin as dark as Jashanna's with gorgeous dark hair that hung past her shoulders. She also had a rock on her ring finger the size of my knuckle! "You said she already transferred the company to you?"

"Correct. Just over ten years ago, he fathered a child with another woman up in Orlando. The woman made him get a DNA test to prove it, and then arranged a settlement where he paid a one time fee and waived all parental rights to the daughter. He tried to hide it, but the woman's lawyer reached out to Elizabeth, his mother, to make sure he wasn't hiding anything. Within six months of that, she transferred the company to me, and he was livid. He probably still thinks he's getting it though, if I divorce him, for some reason. I know he had several affairs before that, reaching as far back as to my second pregnancy, though I can't prove those. There are a couple of girls he's seeing now that work for ex clients of ours. I can give you their names if that matters."

"That's fine. If the other case was up in Orlando, then the other agreement will be filed in the Orange County Clerk of Courts, and I can get a copy of it. That, plus the fact that your mother in law already took the legal recourse of transferring the company to you is more than enough to show that he violated the agreement. I'll try to get proof of the current women to show that he hasn't changed, but we might not need it. He can try to fight it, but if he has a decent lawyer, they'll tell him to just settle and take what the agreement gives him. The only issue after that are the children."

"I wouldn't think that is an issue. My oldest, Hollie, is 18, so she should be free to do what she likes. My youngest is Gracie, and she is 16. She doesn't even have a relationship with her father, he sees her maybe four times a year, if that, and almost always on a weekend. This past year he wasn't home for Christmas or Thanksgiving, though he used to come back for at least one of those. If she was able to testify, that would be easy. I'd want full custody, and he could see her on some weekends, we could set up a schedule, but I would want her to have input on that. I wouldn't want to force her to see him."

She nodded slowly at that. "I'm sure something like that could be worked out. As you said, he lives two hours away, and I doubt he'll want to do that much driving very often. He's going to have no case to get primary custody, and visitation will probably be similar to what he does now unless the realization of what's happening changes him. I've seen that happen before, but it usually is just a temporary change. At her age, she would definitely have an input on the visitation, and the judge would listen."

I felt a little sick to my stomach at the thought of Gracie having to do things with Elliot if she didn't want to. Maybe we could have them supervised at Elizabeth's house or something? Hell, I'd even let Elliot come to my place and hang with her, but I don't know that she would want to go hang out with him, unless she brought Jashanna. "Can I talk to my daughter and see what she'd like from a visitation standpoint?"

"Of course." Monique smiled at me, putting me right at ease. "The primary concern would be her health and wellbeing, so I'm sure we can work something out. Are you ready to move forward with this?"

I nodded right away. I knew the retainer would be expensive, but I also knew that she was a great lawyer, and I was willing to pay to make sure that this went smoothly, and that Gracie didn't get hurt. "I am, yes. But I was hoping to talk to you about one other thing in addition to the divorce. We have a family friend, 16 years old, who spent the summer with us. When she went home before school, she found out her family had moved away and left her behind. The house is empty and had been foreclosed on over a month ago. Her mother never told her that they were leaving, and didn't even leave her clothes. Is there any way that I can easily adopt her to make sure I can take care of school or medical issues? I really don't want her to end up as a ward of the state when I can easily take care of her."

Monique sat back, her eyes looking at the ceiling as she let out a sigh. "Do you know where the mother is? What about a father?"

"No. I tried calling and texting last night, and again this morning, but she never answered. Jashanna, the friend, thinks she might have gone to stay with one of her family, but she doesn't isn't sure because nobody is replying to her. She never met her father, and I'm not sure that her mother ever knew his name."

"Well, we have multiple options here. First, we can get her emancipated, and then she can approve of you adopting her. Second, I can try to find the mother, and see if she'll just allow the adoption. If she left her, she would have no reason not to let it happen. Last, we can prove to the court that she was abandoned, which should be easy, and then the court might allow you to do that too. The problem with that is that normally that is used with a divorced couple where one parent is trying to get custody after the other left them. We could make an argument that this is similar, but if it fails, she might be put into foster care. The easiest way would be to find the mother, and I can start looking for her. We have had to track down people in the past to get them served, so there is a good chance we can find her. If you can provide the family member names, we can contact them. Usually, we can get an address by posing as someone who has money for them." She gave me a little shrug as if to say that she knew that it was a little dirty, but the people they were looking for usually needed to be found. "Now, if all of that fails, we could still have you apply to be a guardian, which would be easier than adopting. She would effectively be homeless and would ask the state to appoint you as her guardian. It isn't as secure as an adoption, but it is a good option."

"Let's try to find the mother then. I just want it handled so she doesn't have to worry. She's already living with us and doesn't want to leave. The guardianship or emancipation might be the backups."

She nodded, a smile on her face. "Then that is just what we'll do. If you can get me the names and locations of the family members, then I can get started on that."

I felt better after that visit. The ball was rolling, and I had a good feeling that things were going to be looking up. Yes, Jashanna's mom wasn't answering, but maybe if she learned that her daughter didn't want to go with her, but wanted to stay here, it would be easier. She just needed to answer the damn phone!

I gave the girls an update on Jashanna's case, and she gave me the information I had on her family which I quickly sent to Monique along with all of the phone numbers that she had for them. We didn't have anything other than an agreement to start the process of our cases, and yet it felt like things were going well.

By the time, the weekend was here, not much had changed. Monique had drafted the divorce decree and had a summons that she could hand to Elliot when he arrived in one more week. She'd found a private investigator to try tracking down Jashanna's mom, there was a hope that we'd be taking some big steps soon.

"Did you think about some colors?" I asked Jashanna as we all walked into Lowes. Our plan was to look at some paint swatches, and then go try to find furniture to go with it. Gracie had a nice dark grey room with white furniture, but I wasn't sure which way Jashanna was leaning.

"Would it be weird to get a yellow room, and dark wood furniture?" she asked shyly.

"Not at all. I bet that would look good together, we just have to find what shade you like, then maybe we can have a painting party."

"Yeah! That will be fun!" Gracie agreed. "I bet it will look great, Shanna baby." Jashanna dropped her head, smiling softly. I was glad she was getting excited about this.

After we picked out the paint, we were off to pick out new furniture, which turned out to be pretty easy. Jashanna took ten minutes before falling in love with a five piece dark oak set at a store called Havertys, and we were done. I paid for everything, set up the delivery, and then decided to get some lunch.

Food was provided by a place called Ford's Garage, a small chain that made very yummy burgers and had some great fried pickles. With the food ordered, we were able to relax before we started on the next part of the shopping, which was a bunch of clothes for Jashanna. The only good thing about that was that we'd just been shopping, and we knew where to go to get more of what she liked.

"Jashanna, I want to get you about twenty outfits, okay?" I explained. "There will be more, you'll need some more for the cooler weather when winter comes, but twenty should be a good start, okay?" Honestly, I knew we'd need about double that in the long run, but this was going to be a good base for her to start with. Hell, Gracie and I must have a hundred outfits each for different functions and weather, but for right now we could get Jashanna a nice selection to get through school and deal with weekends. As things came up, we could always augment her wardrobe.

Jashanna opened her mouth to protest, but Gracie quickly nudged her. "She accepts!" she leaned over, kissing her cheek. "But she isn't the only one that needs some clothes."

I looked at my daughter with a grin, knowing what she was angling for. "Gracie, you have more clothes than I do! Do you really think that you're going to get more clothes out of this?"

She shook her head quickly as both her and Jashanna smiled at me. "Nope. You need to get something for Halloween. You're dressing up for the party for a change."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Jashanna spoke up quickly. "You said at Halloween you'd start looking. So, you have to dress up. Who knows who will be at the party, right?"

"Yeah, mom. You can do this. Think of it as a test run, okay?" Gracie added.

When the Marshall's held their party, all the kids dressed up, and maybe half of the adults. I usually was there solo, Elliot never having come down for the holiday since we moved into the neighborhood, and just went without a costume. But the girls had a point. Even if there wasn't anyone there that I wanted to date, it might help for me to let loose a little bit. If I was really going to start dating, I had to start trying new things, right?

I finally gave in and nodded, making them both squeal happily. "So, what do you think I should wear? Do I need to go with the hot nurse outfit or something?" They shook their heads in unison, and I knew that they had been planning this together for a while. Was that why they wanted to know when I'd be open to dating?

"Come on mom, you're a hot lady boss. Lean into it, okay?" Gracie suggested with a smirk. Jashanna nodded in agreement, and I had a feeling I knew that they were going to get their way.