Chapter 6 - THE EMERGENCY CUSTODY HEARING
I hated the courtroom.
Not because I feared losing.
Because children’s lives were reduced to exhibits.
School photographs.
Dental records.
Police reports.
Bank statements.
Emma’s statements.
Noah’s measurements.
Everything true.
Everything necessary.
Still awful.
The judge granted me temporary primary custody.
Rachel received supervised contact.
No contact with Carol or Wade.
Not revenge.
Safety.
Rachel cried.
I did not feel victorious.
That surprised me.
For years, I imagined that if anything threatened my children, I would destroy it.
Real life felt different.
My children still loved their mother.
Emma asked:
“When can I see Mom?”
Noah asked:
“Is Grandma going to jail?”
I had no simple answers.
So I gave honest ones.
“Adults are figuring that out.”
And:
“You don’t have to choose who you love.”
That mattered.
May you like
They had been forced into enough loyalty tests already.
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