Chapter 7 - The Letters From Boarding School
Nora showed me letters.
Not secret legal files.
Letters Elodie had mailed through a school counselor.
Hi Mom Nora.
That was how Elodie addressed her.
Not Mom.
Not Nora.
Mom Nora.
One letter:
Sabine says I should stop confusing people by talking about you.
Another:
I want to see you for Christmas but she says we already have plans.
Another:
Please don’t be mad I didn’t call. My tablet was taken.
Nora had filed motions.
Not dramatic emergency motions.
Requests to enforce contact.
Sabine responded through counsel.
Scheduling.
School.
Therapy.
Travel.
The process moved slowly.
Then Sabine got engaged to me.
And everything changed.
She filed a request to relocate Elodie’s primary residence after the wedding.
To my home.
The filing described:
A stable two-parent household.
Enhanced educational resources.
Extended family support.
A same-age? Wren was seven, Elodie ten. It described sibling-like companionship with Wren.
That phrase made me physically ill.
May you like
Sabine had been telling a court Wren would provide companionship.
Then telling people privately Wren would not matter after the wedding.
