Series: Four Lives, One Last Chance - A Year In Drug Court: Part 34 Of 41

ACT V. LINDA: '110 PERCENT' SUPPORT

There is a tall man who shops at the Dollar General where Linda works as an
assistant manager. He favors black cowboy hats and cowboy boots, and he has
long dark hair flecked with gray.

As time passes, he starts hanging around the store to flirt with Linda -
the blond country girl behind the cash register.

When business is slow, they go outside to sit in white plastic chairs on
the sidewalk, smoke cigarettes and talk. They find they have much in common.

The man - Wes, by name - is a country boy, too. Raised outside Richmond, he
listens to country music, works on cars and trucks, and loves NASCAR
racing. He and Linda even rooted for the same driver - Dale "The
Intimidator" Earnhardt.

Linda likes the attention, but she's been down this road before, and she's
not optimistic about her prospects. Her history of drug addiction and
prostitution, combined with the stigma of living with HIV, is often too
much for men to handle.

Wes also steps onto the stage at a time when her family life has fallen
into disarray.

For weeks, Linda has been watching her niece follow the same path she did,
dropping out of high school and getting pregnant. Linda has been constantly
fighting with her mother, too, and now her daughter has begun her own
battle with drugs, living at times in some of the same hotels that Linda
frequented not long ago.

The depression and darkness comes easily to her during this time of stress.

With all the pain at home, she would like to just get out.

Linda talks about moving from her parents' house all the time, but she
doesn't have the money for a deposit and first month's rent. She talks
about moving when she's at work and, eventually, she talks about it with Wes.

Finally, against her better judgment, she decides to move into a
boardinghouse in Hilton. She drops the $90 for a week's rent.

Wes volunteers his pickup - a 1977 Dodge he has been restoring - to help
her move.

One night, they go over to the rooming house with some of her belongings
and walk inside. People are milling around. Marijuana smoke wafts through
the halls.

"You ain't gonna stay up here," Wes says.

Even though they've known each other only a short while, Wes offers to let
Linda stay with him. She's hesitant, so they go back to his apartment to
talk. They talk through the night and into the morning.

Linda tells him everything. About the crack and the hotels. About the
prostitution. About the HIV and the Drug Court program.

Wes doesn't even blink.

And, like that, Linda moves out of her parents' house and quickly settles
into a domestic existence with Wes. After a lifetime of bad relationships,
this one seems to be healthy from the start.

When Linda gets depressed - and the darkness still comes at times - Wes
makes wisecracks and jokes to jostle her out of her moods.

"Come on, now," he tells her. "You can't stay like that."

Invariably, she brightens.

When she gets sick, like the time she got dehydrated in the middle of the
night, he carries her off to the hospital, as if he were the white knight.
When she hurts her back, Wes comes home from work to wait with her through
the madness of the emergency room.

Within months, they talk about getting married. They begin to tell people
they're engaged, even though there has been no formal proposal and there is
no ring glittering on Linda's finger.

Soon, the woman who once said her biggest goal in life was to pay for her
own funeral starts talking about wanting a normal family life.

She wants to get married and buy a house. She wants a new job. She wants to
learn to operate a computer and work somewhere with the possibility of
"career advancement."

She gives much of the credit for this turnaround to Wes.

"Having someone to depend on just makes things a lot easier," Linda says.

With his support, she begins to breeze through Drug Court, getting promoted
again and again. She fixes her eyes firmly on the coming graduation in
June. She knows she can make it if she advances to the fourth phase of the
program in the spring.

In April, Linda dresses for court one morning in an elegant black lace top,
black skirt and heels.

She has a feeling this will be the day. She believes she will be promoted
to Phase Four. She believes she will graduate in June.

In court, she sits next to Wes, who wears all black and dark aviator
sunglasses. As she waits for the proceedings to start, Linda laces her
fingers tightly with his. On her leg is a recently inked rose tattoo with
his name woven into the design.

When the session begins, Linda is one of the first clients called forward.
Ford tells the judge that she exhibits the "level of stability becoming of
an upper-level participant."

Then Judge Conway comes off the bench to present Linda with her Phase Four
certificate, prompting her to hop on her toes and pump her fist.

She sits back down to quietly watch the rest of the court cases. At the end
of the session, however, she raises her hand to ask a question she had
forgotten to mention before.

"Can I have permission to leave town over the weekend," she says to the
judge, "so I can go to Richmond with my fiance and see his family?"

Ford and Charity turn in their chairs. Charity raises his eyebrows in a
feigned look of astonishment.

"What was that word that slipped out?" he asks.

A slightly embarrassed smile spreads across Linda's reddening face.

"Shoot," she says under her breath. "My fiance."

She clutches at the black jacket next to her until she catches a piece of
the shoulder. She pulls Wes to his feet and introduces him to the judge.

"So, did the lady say 'Yes?' " the judge asks him.

"Yeah," he says, taking her hand. "She said, 'Yes.' "

"Now, do you understand how hard she has worked in this program?"

"Yes, sir," Wes replies.

"And do you support her?" the judge asks.

"110 percent."

The judge tells the couple to enjoy their weekend together in Richmond.

With her promotion to Phase Four, Linda is invited to one of the events
planned for the upcoming graduates - a lunch on The Spirit of Norfolk, a
cruise ship that sails up the Elizabeth River.

On a bright, warm spring day, she joins the Drug Court staff and the other
graduating clients for the ride to Norfolk. When they arrive at the dock,
they pose for pictures on the boat's gangway before filing on board.
Inside, they eat at several reserved tables in one of the ship's banquet rooms.

After lunch, most of the staff and clients take to the dance floor, while
Linda, Wes and several others climb to the top deck. The skies are as blue
and clear as the water.

Linda wears a black dress that clings to her frame, while Wes is cloaked in
his traditional black, all the way to his cowboy hat. They station
themselves in a corner of the ship.

After Linda takes a few drags on her Marlboro, Wes grabs the cigarette from
her hand and tosses it over the side.

"What're you doing with my cigarette?" she asks, perplexed.

Then Wes gets down on one knee and produces a small black velvet box from
his pocket. He removes a diamond ring. Linda turns red and puts her hands
over her face.

"Will you marry me?" he asks.

The wind whipping across the deck and the cheers of Linda's friends drown
out her acceptance.

Nicole, the Drug Court assistant, wanders over with a video camera.

"You've just been proposed to," she says to Linda. "How do you feel?"

"Overwhelmed," she answers.