Chapter 11: What Garrett Did Next
Teresa took the call in the hallway, phone pressed to her ear, back straight.
The rest of us stayed in the living room.
Danny had fallen asleep against Richard's arm, the fleece blanket pulled up to his chin, the book sliding sideways off his lap.
Richard caught it without waking him.
Mom and I sat across from them, not talking.
We could hear Teresa's voice but not the words.
Her tone stayed level.
Once she said, "He can't do that." Then a pause.
Then, "All right." Then, "Yes.
I understand."
She came back into the living room and stood in the doorway.
"He filed," she said.
Richard looked up carefully, conscious of the boy asleep against his arm.
"Filed what?" I asked quietly.
"An emergency motion.
He's claiming that Danny is in an unsafe environment and requesting an immediate welfare check and a temporary custody modification." Teresa's voice was flat and controlled.
"His attorney filed it this morning.
Before our letter even arrived."
"He had this ready," Richard said.
"Yes."
"He was always going to file it.
The offer was never real.
He just wanted to see if Teresa would fold first."
Teresa sat down in the armchair across from the sofa.
She looked at Danny sleeping.
"My attorney says the motion has almost no chance of succeeding.
The medical records, the care logs, the fact that Danny's own pediatric team has documented Richard's involvement as beneficial — it's all there.
She says a judge will likely dismiss it within a week."
"Almost no chance," I said.
"Almost," Teresa repeated.
"There's a hearing.
Thursday."
Thursday.
The same day as the funding approval.
The same day Mom had promised Danny apple pie.
"He planned the timing," Mom said quietly.
"Yes." Teresa looked at her hands.
"He wants me in a courtroom on Thursday instead of at the hospital signing paperwork.
He wants to delay the procedure.
He wants me scared and distracted and without the funding confirmed yet." She paused.
"If the hearing runs long, if there's any procedural delay in the funding approval—"
"There won't be," I said.
"Karen said Thursday.
I'll call her first thing tomorrow and make sure the paperwork is signed before you walk into that courtroom."
Teresa looked at me.
"You don't have to—"
"I know I don't have to."
Danny stirred slightly.
Richard's hand moved to the boy's shoulder, steadying him back into sleep without a word.
Teresa watched that.
Just for a moment.
Then she said, "There's something else.
His attorney submitted a statement.
From someone claiming to be a witness." She looked at Richard.
"Someone who says they saw you leaving this house at two in the morning on multiple occasions.
Implying — the motion implies — that your presence here is not purely medical."
The room went very still.
"That's a lie," Richard said.
His voice was quiet and completely steady.
"I know it's a lie."
"I have never been here past nine-thirty.
The medical logs show exact arrival and departure times.
Teresa's neighbors—"
"Mrs.
Park next door," Teresa said.
"She's already called my attorney.
She said she's kept a log herself because she was worried about us and wanted to make sure someone was watching out.
She has two years of dates and times in a notebook." Teresa almost smiled.
"She's eighty-one years old and apparently very thorough."
"Good," Mom said.
"Then the lie collapses in the courtroom."
"It will," Teresa said.
"But Richard—" She looked at him directly.
"His attorney is going to try to make you look like something you're not.
In front of a judge.
They're going to ask you questions designed to make ordinary things sound suspicious.
Are you prepared for that?"
Richard looked down at Danny sleeping against his arm.
"Yes," he said.
"I am."
Teresa nodded.
Then she looked at Mom.
"I'm sorry.
I'm sorry you got pulled into this."
"Don't be," Mom said.
"Richard didn't pull me in.
He tried very hard not to.
I pulled myself in." She paused.
"And I'm glad I did."
Teresa looked at her for a long moment.
"He really does talk about you," she said.
"Every night when he comes.
He mentions something you said, or something you made for dinner, or something Chloe did that made him laugh." She glanced at Richard.
"I don't think he knows how much he does it."
Richard was looking at the middle distance with the expression of a man who had just been caught doing something he didn't know he was doing.
Mom looked at him.
He looked back at her.
May you like
"Thursday," she said.
"We'll all be there."
