Chapter 4 - Eleanor
My aunt Eleanor called from England.
Crying.
“Fletcher, I’m sorry.”
“Did you know I hadn’t approved?”
“No.”
“Tell me exactly.”
Marjorie contacted her six weeks earlier.
Said:
Fletcher is struggling since Claire.
True.
Ione becoming difficult.
Debatable.
Fletcher asked whether a term abroad could help.
False.
Eleanor hesitated.
She had a guest room.
Her grandchildren attended Bathbridge.
Could take Ione temporarily.
She said:
“Only if Fletcher wants.”
Marjorie replied:
“He does. He feels guilty saying it.”
Then emails.
From Marjorie’s real address.
Not impersonating me.
She wrote:
Fletcher signed authority months ago because he knows I’m better at hard decisions.
That was how she framed my caregiver form.
Eleanor asked to speak to me.
Marjorie said:
“Please don’t. He changes his mind if he feels judged.”
Convenient.
Then school.
Eleanor spoke with admissions as proposed local guardian.
The school emailed forms to Marjorie.
Marjorie returned them with my signature image.
Eleanor believed I had signed.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
She cried harder.
“I did.”
My phone.
I checked.
One missed WhatsApp call three weeks earlier.
I had texted:
In a meeting. Everything okay?
Eleanor replied:
All fine. Speak soon.
I never did.
My failure.
Not cause.
An opening.
Then one more detail.
“Did Mom tell you Ione was coming tonight?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Did she tell Ione?”
“Not fully.”
“What does that mean?”
“She said it would be a surprise trip and you’d join later.”
My stomach turned.
Ione thought I would come.
That explained why she had not screamed about England yet.
Then Eleanor said:
“She told me Ione had started sleeping downstairs voluntarily.”
I closed eyes.
“Why?”
“To become more independent.”
There.
The abuse had been repackaged as evidence the plan was working.
Then:
“Fletcher, I would never keep her from you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
I did.
Eleanor had been deceived.
No conspiracy.
Then she forwarded everything to Rebecca.
Good.
The school preserved records.
Provisional place suspended.
No child had traveled.
No international custody crisis actually occurred.
May you like
The attempt stopped at the front door.
But intention had moved much farther.
