Chapter 4 - THE PART OF HER CASE THAT WAS TRUE
It would have been easier if Mother had invented everything.
She hadn’t.
I traveled too much.
That was true.
My field-supervisor job looked reasonable on paper:
Grid inspections.
Emergency repairs.
Regional crews.
Good salary.
Benefits.
But in reality:
Five days away.
Three days home.
Sudden overnight storms.
A twelve-day summer project.
Mother became my backup.
Then my backup became routine.
After Elin died, I was grateful.
Ione was three.
Mother made lunches.
Braided hair badly.
Attended preschool events.
Slept at my house when I was delayed.
No one forced her.
I paid for groceries.
Gas.
Extra childcare costs.
She refused money sometimes.
Other times accepted.
We never wrote clear rules.
That was my failure.
Then Ione started school.
Mother knew teachers.
Office staff.
Bus route.
Pediatrician.
Sometimes she knew schedules better than I did.
I told myself that made us lucky.
It did.
Until she decided helpfulness created authority.
Then Ione’s counselor, Dr. Lila Shaw, met with her.
Not a court evaluator yet.
A child therapist.
Ione said:
“Grandma says Daddy works instead of being a dad.”
Lila did not tell me every detail.
Correct.
She shared safety-relevant themes.
“Ione worries your work absences mean she can be reassigned to another adult.”
I closed my eyes.
“Reassigned?”
“She uses child language. She said ‘judge can pick who keeps me.’”
Then:
“She misses her grandmother too.”
That mattered.
I looked up.
“She does?”
“Yes.”
“Even after the driveway?”
“Children can love adults who frighten them.”
No simple category.
Then Lila asked me:
“Why did you apply to Cedar Vale?”
“To stop traveling.”
“Did your mother know that?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know the job would increase your daily parenting?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would she frame it as abandonment?”
That was the question.
If I moved, Mother would see Ione less.
But I would see her more.
A guardianship petition claiming concern over my absences made less sense once the new job was understood.
Unless the absences were not the real problem.
Then Sabine’s lawyer contacted Naomi.
Sabine wanted her belongings from the house.
Fine.
She also wanted reimbursement for handbags.
Some were ruined.
Cleaning estimates.
I had done that.
My attorney said:
“We handle it separately.”
Good.
No using the guardianship dispute to excuse my own property damage.
Then one line in Sabine’s letter caught me.
“Sabine relied on Melisande’s representation that Theron had consented to a change in Ione’s residence.”
Representation.
Again.
Maybe Sabine was less informed.
May you like
Maybe not.
We would find out.
