Chapter 6 - Seattle
Daniel had been offered a senior role in Seattle.
Excellent job.
Higher salary.
Relocation package.
Vanessa wanted to go.
Again:
Not wrongdoing.
Parents move.
Partners accept work.
Life changes.
But a move across the country would disrupt Lily’s contact with:
Me.
Michael’s parents.
Her cousins.
Her preschool.
The small support network she had known since birth.
Because there was already a court-recognized grandparent-contact schedule, Vanessa’s lawyers advised that the move could trigger litigation over modification.
That did not mean I could simply veto relocation.
It meant a judge might consider Lily’s relationships and best interests.
So Vanessa began preparing evidence.
Not forged documents.
Not a criminal conspiracy.
A narrative.
Lily was supposedly unstable after visiting me.
I undermined discipline.
I overindulged her.
She became aggressive afterward.
Therefore reducing contact might supposedly help.
If that narrative became accepted by clinicians, teachers, and evaluators, Vanessa’s relocation argument would become stronger.
The backyard incident suddenly looked different.
Not because she staged the overturned pot.
She did not.
Lily genuinely knocked it over.
But Vanessa immediately transformed an accident into:
May you like
destructive behavior.
And Daniel had watched.
