" Sheridan, can I get you anything else?…..Sheridan? Sheridan?"

Sheridan looked up into Beth’s confused face.

" Did you say something, Beth?"

" I was asking if I could get you anything else?"

" No. I’m fine."

" Is there something wrong? Anything I can do to help?"

Sheridan shook her head, and Beth walked away.

Since this morning, Sheridan had come and sat at the Book Café, watching Chad work. Looking to see if she could see any of Julian in him.

" Get a grip, Sheridan. You don’t know the truth."

YET, she thought. If Chad was Julian’s son, then the story Orville told her was true. Though Sheridan believed that her brother loved his children, she had no idea as to how to proceed if the tests came back  positive.

Sheridan continued to look in Chad’s direction. She frowned when she saw who was approaching Chad.

" Hi Chad.", Theresa said quietly.

Chad ignored her, and kept on with his work.

" Chad…aren’t you going to talk to me?"

" No. I don’t think so. I only want to talk to my friends, and you’re NOT one."

" That’s not true. I’m totally your friend."

" A friend who would lie to me."

" No. That’s not what I’m doing. I’m protecting you."

" Theresa, I’m a grown-assed man, I can protect my own damn self! "

" Not this time. Chad, don’t turn your back on me."

" ME? I’m not the one lying, Theresa!"

" Well, you’ve certainly got Theresa’s number down, Chad. Glad you were able to get smart about her so soon."

Theresa turned around to look at the voice who made the remark.

" Sheridan."

" TherEEsa."

" If you don’t mind, Sheridan, Chad and I were having a private conversation."

" Sounds like Chad has your number, Theresa. Think that in private conversation you can scam him, like you did Ethan?"

" Look. I loved Ethan, with all of my heart."

" So much so that you lied to him about who he was. It was your betrayal that sent Ethan out of town."

" No. It was Ethan’s choice to run away. I was willing to run with him."

" God. You just don’t get it, do you? Your LIES were the last straw. I mean, I should have listened to Gwen. She said that you were trouble, and that you were a liar and a schemer.."

" Watch it, Sheridan. What WILL I tell Luis?"

" Nothing. Luis and I have decided to agree to disagree where you are concerned."

" Then, fine. Stay out of my business. I was talking with Chad."

Sheridan got her coat, and left the Book Café, but, stopped to look at Chad and Theresa.

" If Chad IS my nephew Theresa, I won’t let you hurt him. I won’t let you use another Crane. "

Sheridan walked off towards her car.

" Darling, would you like another strawberry?", Rebecca Hotchkiss said to Julian in the Crane Living Room, in front of Ivy.

" Thank you, my Pet."

Ivy rolled her eyes. " You two can be farm animals all you want, but, it’s not happening, Julian. You won’t be getting a divorce."

" Oh, my Sweet, not only am I going to get a divorce…I’m leaving you with nothing."

" In your dreams, Julian."

" Nothing, Ivy. Nothing."

Ivy got up and left the Living Room. She was totally upset. Julian had the divorce papers delivered to her, and she had no recourse. She didn’t have any money, and none of the best divorce attorneys would talk to her without some sort of retainer. Alistair and Julian had scared them all off. Even the ones who love this sort of divorce wouldn’t take her case.

Ivy went to the phone and dialed her attorney.

" Michelle Chavez."

" Michelle, it’s me, Ivy. You got the papers, didn’t you?"

" Yes, Ivy. I did. I’m working on a response right now. We’ll talk soon."

Ivy hung up on her.

Michelle Chavez.

Top knotch legal mind?

Well, she didn’t charge $ 400.00 an hour. But, Ivy actually LIKED her. Ivy thought about how she had been turned down by the tenth high-priced lawyer that she had visited. She was in New York City, and decided to take a walk in Central Park. She sat down with a hot dog (she was very hungry), and someone had left a New York Post sitting on the bench. She was reading it casually, until she came across the article about Michelle. Michelle was standing with a group of older women that FINALLY gotten fair and equitable divorce settlements. Ivy read the article further, and it explained that Michelle got into divorce law because her own mother had been screwed by their father. He divorced his wife of nearly 30 years, leaving her nothing. Michelle didn’t want to discuss it, but, Ivy could read between the lines. When he mother had gotten sick and her father refused to help at all, it was the last straw. She switched focus in law school, from corporate to divorce law, and her first client was her own mother. Ivy smiled as she read how Michelle cleaned her father out. Took the house, the country house, half his estate and future earnings.  Ivy knew this was the gal for her. She asked the concierge at The Plaza to find her address, and Ivy actually crossed the bridge and went to Brooklyn.

[FLASHBACK]

Ivy went to a Brownstone that she had converted. She lived upstairs and practiced law downstairs.

The secretary had looked at Ivy strangely.

" You lost?", she said with a thick Puerto Rican accent.

" Pardon me?"

" You lost?"

" No. I’m here to see Ms. Chavez."

" You ain’t got no appointment."

" No. I don’t. I read about her in the paper." Ivy showed her the Post, and the secretary looked Ivy up and down before taking the paper from her, and going into the other room. The secretary came out, and spoke to Ivy. " Well, since you ain’t got no appointment, you have to wait. "

Ivy took a seat in the room with the other women. She waited until all the women had gone in and come out. Ivy watched. Many of the women looked so down, so defeated. So sad. Yet, when they came out from Michelle, they had a little more pep in their walk.

" She’ll see you now.", the secretary said.

" Rosie said that you were Mrs. Crane?"

" Mrs. Ivy Crane."

" Michelle Chavez.", she says, extending her hand. She motions for Ivy to get a seat.

" So, Mrs. Crane, why are you slumming?"

" Excuse me?"

" There is no reason why a Crane would be seen in Brooklyn. So, why are you here?"

" I need a lawyer."

Michelle laughs. " And, I need my tiara fixed. Mrs. Crane, my time is important to me. I don’t need anyone wasting it."

" I’m not wasting it. I need a lawyer. I don’t have one."

" I’m sure that there are any of a dozen law firms in this city alone that would love the case of a Crane."

" Well, then, maybe I should hire you to find me one. Because, I’ve gone to over a dozen who have turned me down."

" Turned you down? No kidding. Why?"

" Why?"

" Yeah, Mrs. Crane. Why? This city has an INDUSTRY that feeds off the rich and powerful and their divorces. Why would they turn you down?"

" Alistair Crane."

" Is he THAT bad? "

" Worse."

" Why should I take your case?"

" Because, I don’t think Alistair can get to you. You’re single, so I don’t have to worry about blackmail from adultery. I guess you own this brownstone, so he can’t evict you. And, he can’t ‘blackball’ you in the ‘right circles’, because you don’t run in them. "

Michelle laughs. " Now that’s the truth."

Ivy takes a deep breath and exhales. " Look. I’ve been in a loveless marriage for over 20 years. I’ve been the good little Crane wife, doing everything that I was supposed to do."

" Except for that little matter of passing your eldest child off as your husband’s, when it was your ex-boyfriends."

" You…know about that?"

" Yeah, I watch Inside Edition and read the Inquirer, Mrs. Crane. Everyone in America who goes to the supermarket knows what you did. "

" I see."

" But……that still doesn’t mean you should wind up with nothing. I ask my potential clients what they want. What do you want, Ivy Crane?"

" In all honesty? The man I love will have nothing to do with me. Neither will Ethan. All I have left is being Mrs. Julian Crane. It’s not much, as far as the heart’s concerned, but, the title wields power. I can live with the power."

" You don’t even WANT a divorce?", Michelle asks incredulously.

" Nope."

" Then why do you want me?"

" Because, I want to make it SO painful for Julian, that he won’t get a divorce."

" How will I get paid, then…if there’s no divorce."

" Billable hours. Whatever you charge, charge me 10x that much. And start billing me LOTS of hours. Look at it this way. If you’re successful, and you help me stop the divorce, you’ll get a nice sized fee out of it. If you fail, but help me get a divorce settlement, you’ll get me a good hunk of change…AND, you picture in the paper. And, OTHER society wives will begin to look at you. Take a chance on you. That’s how the game is played, you know."

" I live in Brooklyn, not Nebraska, Mrs. Crane. I know how the game is played."

" So. Do we have a deal?", Ivy reaches out her hand to shake.

Michelle accepts it. " Deal."

[FLASHBACK ENDS]
 

Ivy had to admit that Michelle wasn’t afraid of Julian’s lawyers. She had them going in circles. Ivy thought she would be able to use the ‘Martin Incident’, but, Alistair’s threat made that SO not an option. But, there were more skeletons that she could unearth. All she had to do is find the RIGHT one. The one that would keep Julian in line, and send Rebecca packing.
 

Sheridan was driving in her car when the cellphone rang.

" Hello?"

" Sheridan. It’s me, Warren. I have the results."