Chapter 2 - THE PETITION
Claire locked herself in my study with the folder while I called our pediatrician.
Ryan stood outside the door demanding that she return “his mother’s property.”
I didn’t even look at him.
“You’re coming with me to the hospital.”
He stopped.
“For what?”
I turned so sharply Noah startled against my chest.
“Your mother dropped our five-week-old baby.”
“He fell maybe twelve inches.”
“Then you won’t mind a doctor documenting it.”
Diane sat on the sofa with an ice pack against her cheek.
“You’re being dramatic.”
Claire opened the study door.
“No, Emily. She isn’t.”
She held up the folder.
“I read enough.”
Ryan stepped toward her.
Claire immediately moved behind me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A draft emergency custody petition.”
The room went silent.
My knees weakened.
“Custody of Noah?”
Claire nodded.
Ryan began talking too quickly.
“It’s not what you think.”
“What should I think?”
“It was contingency planning.”
“For what contingency?”
He looked toward his mother.
Wrong move.
Claire answered.
“For you becoming violent after Noah was born.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
The petition described me as emotionally unstable, dangerously impulsive, and increasingly aggressive around my newborn.
It requested temporary sole physical custody for Ryan.
It proposed Diane as Noah’s primary daytime caregiver.
There were paragraphs describing explosive confrontations between Diane and me.
Except the document had been drafted on April 6.
Noah had not existed outside my body yet.
“How could it describe arguments after his birth?”
Ryan rubbed his jaw.
“It was a template.”
Claire flipped several pages.
“Then why does it name Noah?”
“We already knew his name.”
“Why does it say Emily became aggressive after repeated sleep deprivation caring for him?”
Ryan stopped answering.
I felt Noah’s tiny breath against my collarbone.
Diane stood.
“Emily has always had a temper.”
“You dropped my son.”
“You hit me.”
“After you dropped him.”
Ryan stepped between us.
“Enough.”
I looked at my husband.
“No. Not enough.”
I called Claire’s husband and asked him to drive us to the children’s emergency department.
Ryan said he would drive.
I refused.
He looked offended.
That almost made me laugh.
Claire placed the folder inside her tote bag.
Ryan reached for it again.
She stepped away.
“You touch me, and I call the police.”
Diane’s expression hardened.
“That belongs to me.”
Claire looked at the file.
“No. These are copies. And if you planned to use them in court, I’m guessing you won’t mind a court seeing them.”
For the first time, Diane looked frightened.
Not because I had slapped her.
Because the plan was no longer inside her handbag.
As we left, Ryan followed me to the front door.
“Emily, don’t turn this into something bigger.”
I looked down at Noah.
“You planned a custody case before he was born.”
May you like
His silence followed me outside.
📖 The folder answered what Diane wanted from my reaction, but the hospital would determine whether her cruelty had given us something their petition never anticipated. 👇
