Chapter 8: Guilty

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict in each of the charges?” Judge Hernandez already knew the answer to the question, but it was matter of protocol to have the foreman’s answer made in public. She stated the first charge, “On the charge of spousal abuse, referencing Florida statutes section 741.28-741.31 and section 784.046, how do you find?”

The male foreman of the jury stood with a half-page of paper in his hands. “We the jury find the defendant guilty as charged.”

A low-level buzz of conversation ran through the courtroom. The judge chose to ignore the background noise.

Judge Hernandez waited for the noise to die down and said, “On the charge of aggravated stalking and attempted murder by way of aggravated stalking, referencing Florida statutes section 775.082, 775.083, and 775.084, how do you find?”

The foreman spoke again, “We find the defendant guilty as charged.” He continued to stand to await further questions. The judge had none.

The judge looked across the jury and they were all nodding and in accord with the verdicts as read by the foreman. She said, “The State of Florida wishes to thank the jury for their time and careful consideration of the elements of this case and the struggle we know you went through to arrive at these verdicts. You are hereby excused from further service. Thank you.”

The judge looked to the rest of the courtroom, specifically at Brian Coswell, the defendant. “Sentencing in this case will be rendered two weeks from today. In the meanwhile, Mr. Coswell is remanded in the custody of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Department until that time. Court is adjourned.” She immediately stood and exited through the door guarded by the armed bailiff.

Joan turned to Dave and dissolved into tears against his suit jacket. He held her close as she sobbed, “The bastard ... the fucking bastard ... the fucking fucking bastard. I hope he rots in hell.”

Dave patted her back in a sympathetic gesture as she tried to gain control of herself. Others in the courtroom frequently glanced in her direction. Dave whispered to her, “None of us had any doubt, and we know that the jury didn’t either. I suspect sentencing will be harsh, but we’ll find out in two weeks.”

Brad James, the prosecutor and ADA on the case came over to Joan who had pulled herself together and was blotting her eyes with a tissue. He greeted her with a warm handshake. He said, “I hope we did you justice. I think he’ll draw the maximum sentence and then get time off for good behavior. He’ll end up in prison, probably up in Hardee County since they service this part of Sarasota County in abuse cases. I’ll see you here, I suppose, in two weeks.”

Joan held both his hands, “thank you for everything you did, especially for believing in me. I still have moments when I question my self-worth, and you never waivered in considering me a whole person and in believing my story. That was very important to me.”

Brad James squeezed her hands and then went back to collect various papers and his iPad at the prosecutor’s table.

Joan turned and Amanda Tyler was standing in the aisle waiting for her to exit. She was crying and indicating to Joan that she wanted a word with her by holding up one finger to ask for a minute of her time.

As Joan drew close, Amanda said, “Mrs. Coswell, I mean Joan ... Paige, I need to apologize to you. I was such a fool, a huge fool and I got played, but that was my fault. I just didn’t look at or question what was really going on. Please accept my sincerest apologies for the role I had in all of this.” She waved at the rest of the courtroom as tears flooded down her cheeks.

Joan shook her head. “Amanda, we all got taken in by a very unethical man. I wonder where my head was when I met and then married him. I guess the signs were there, and I missed them, too. Don’t beat yourself up too badly. Heal and try to build some positive relationships. You’re young and hopefully resilient. Thank you for your apology. I know that seeing and speaking to me wasn’t easy for you.”

Amanda said in a shaky voice, “I would be here saying the same thing even if he’d won. He’s such a loser. I never had another interaction with him other than to kick him out of my life after you had him served divorce papers at my apartment months ago. I put his clothing in plastic bags and left it on my porch that night. It was gone the next day. I changed the locks, too. He’s such a loser. God, I am too for falling for his line. He seemed so nice at the time. I can tell you that all this has scarred me for life. I hate to think what it did to you. I hope you can heal completely from all of this.”

Joan reached out and took Amanda’s hand. “Honey, you reacted at the time based on the information you were presented. If Brian had been honest, you wouldn’t have taken the bait. As for recovering, let me tell you to surround yourself with people that love you, and the scars will heal very quickly. I’ve been fortunate to find that love, and with a lot more than just one person, too.”

Joan studied Amanda through an awkward moment of silence. Back in the main court area, Brian was being handcuffed, put in leg irons, and led away by two of the sheriff’s deputies. He looked over to see his ex-wife and ex-lover talking but remained expressionless.

Joan said, “Amanda, come with us. I want to show you something. I want you to see my recovery plan. Maybe it’ll help you understand what I just said to you.”

Amanda looked uncertain, but started to follow the group. Dave escorted Joan and Amanda out of the courtroom and into the courthouse hallway. Erin met them in the hallway and said, “There’s a small cadre of press and TV in front of the building that want a statement from Joan – and maybe from you Amanda, probably as the ‘other’ woman. I didn’t tell them I’d warn you off, but if you don’t want to see them, I can show you the back way out of here. I have my car there.”

Joan shook her head, “I want to avoid the media. I’m not a side show.”

Erin passed a car key to Dave. “It’s my blue Ford Focus straight out from the door I’ll show you, about a hundred feet in the public lot. No one else was there when I came in.” Dave gave Erin his car key and told her where he’d parked in front of the building on the street. “See you at home.”

As they parted, Joan yelled out, “Thanks, Erin. I love you.”

Dave, Dale, Emily, Amanda, and Joan hustled out the back door to the judicial center across the back alley and into the parking lot. Dave found the car; they piled in, and were on the way home in seconds. There was little talk in the car. After coming through the gates, Dave parked Erin’s car by her townhouse and the five of them walked to the Circle core, cutting between two houses.

As they walked, Joan took Amanda’s arm in hers so they were close. “Honey, you are in a place we call the Circle. About thirty-five people live here; more women than men right now. There are ten homes and eight townhouses. Dave, there, has the largest home because he has the largest family.”

Amanda tried to be conversational despite her bleak mood. She said to Dave, “Oh, you have a lot of children?”

Dave guffawed, “Actually, I have two-and-a-half children right now, Matthew and John and a question mark, just yet. The house is large because I happen to have more wives than children – Alice, Julie, Heather, and Pam. Pam is the pregnant one. Heather is Matthew’s mother; he’s about to turn six. Alice is John’s mother as of a few months ago.”

Amanda digested all that as she studied the man. He was setting up a grouping of chairs for them to sit in as a group. Dale helped.

“You’re serious? You really have four wives and two-plus children?” Amanda asked after they were seated.

“I do,” Dave smiled at her. “Alice, my first wife, came to a few of the courtroom sessions. You were there, so I’m sure you’ve seen her.”

Emily volunteered, “He says he has four, but in reality, every woman you see here except for yourself is madly in love with him, including me. He’s a stupendous lover, the nicest man you’ll ever meet, and he loves to cuddle after making love besides all that.” She giggled and that helped lighten the somber mood.

Amanda turned back to Dave, “Well, that’s a pretty sterling endorsement.” Her voice had a touch of sarcasm to it, displaying continuing disbelief. Dave figured this wasn’t a surprise since Brian had burned her rather badly pretending to be available and even promising her a longer-term relationship once the non-existent divorce was completed – something that probably would never have actually happened.

Joan surprised Amanda, “I agree with everything Emily just said about Dave. He’s also one of the reasons I was able to get back on my feet so fast after being so destroyed by my ex-husband. He knows just the right thing to say to build you up and make you feel good about yourself. He’s made me feel so good about myself that I wanted to have a child by him despite my advanced age. I made a conscious decision, so I’ll be nurturing a teenager well into my fifties.”

Amanda gawked at Joan, “You’re pregnant?”

Joan teased, “Only a little bit.” She chuckled, “Yes, about two months now. I really did want kids all along. Fortunately, Dave and the other men in the Circle love children. I guess that’s a good thing since this place is about to be overrun with them.”

“But ... you took a risk ... the trial. Brian ... your job...”

“There’s nothing that I’m not prepared to face. I have the love and support of at least thirty-six people behind me, especially Dave. I do try not to rely on him totally. That’s what makes the Circle so special. There are more sources to boost you up instead of someone feeling like they’re leaning on one other person too much.”

“When are you due?”

“Around Thanksgiving. It’s sometimes hard to tell with women my age. The kids don’t always want to stick around inside that long, so they develop a little faster and then exit early.” She chortled. “There’s a theory that they mature faster, too.”

Amanda seemed kind of awed by the people around her. For one, they’d accepted her and seemed to hold no grudge or enmity towards her even though she had been the ‘other woman’ in the whole scandal about Brian Coswell. She liked these people and hoped that was an accurate assessment. Time would tell.”

Amanda asked, “Is there a restroom nearby?”

Joan stood, “Yes, follow me.” The two women headed into the core with Joan in the lead and talking over her shoulder. “This’ll give me a chance to show you a little of our cohousing project. We’re all very proud of what we have here.”

A few minutes later, the two women came back onto the patio. They each had a baby in their arms that they were feeding from a bottle. Joan had Johnny, and Amanda was carrying Willow. The babies would drink a little formula and then coo to their benefactors. Some burping took place in between.

Joan said, “We stopped by the nursery and these two were wide awake. Maddy was just about to feed them so we took them off her hands. Do you want to feed your son?” she said to Dave.

“No, it looks like you’re doing fine. Was Maddy doing all right?”

“She was. She said that Kat had spent part of the day with her, so she wasn’t flapped out. She got a couple of breaks, too.”

“Good, I don’t want her to leave. She might be our most valuable asset right at the moment.”

“How’s that?” Amanda asked.

Dave chuckled, “She’s taking care of six babies right now: Johnny, Willow, Linda Jean, Mark, Zoey, and James, AND she knows that Pam will give birth soon, Joan around Thanksgiving, AND she’s not at all flapped out.”

Dale said, “I asked her whether she was feeling stressed, and she no, except when all of them decide they’re too wet and too hungry at once, a rare event apparently. They pretty much sleep through each other waking up and crying.”