Chapter 20 - EMERGENCY COURT
Natalie filed nothing.
I did.
Through Rebecca, I requested temporary orders clarifying:
I remained sole custodial parent.
No unsupervised contact with Linda or Natalie pending investigation.
No one could submit trust claims for Sophie except through direct verified authorization.
Backup guardian nominations suspended pending amendment.
Northstar agreed.
Family court reviewed child-safety evidence.
Mom’s attorney argued:
“One isolated discipline error.”
Rebecca played the recording.
Then the texts.
Mom looked down.
Natalie’s attorney argued she never physically expelled Sophie.
True.
She had encouraged the strategy.
Different conduct.
The judge said:
“This court is not deciding final custody today. It is deciding whether an eight-year-old child should return unsupervised to a household where adults told her shelter was conditional and then failed to supervise after she left.”
No.
Temporary restriction remained.
I cried in the parking garage afterward.
Not victory.
Grief.
My mother had been Sophie’s grandmother.
Birthday cakes.
Sleepovers.
Garden tomatoes.
May you like
Stories.
Now court orders.
