Chapter 11 - Margaret Is Served
Margaret received formal service that afternoon.
Not from me.
Not while she was lying on the foyer floor.
A deputy handled it after her medical evaluation.
She had no fracture from my slap or fall.
Bruising.
Pain.
Humiliation.
The protective order became enforceable according to local procedure after service.
She was given instructions.
No entering the house.
No direct contact with Noah.
No indirect instructions through staff.
No attempts to remove him.
Temporary hearing date scheduled.
Margaret stayed with a friend.
Then a hotel.
The mansion became quiet.
Too quiet.
When Noah returned from the hospital the following day, he cried at the front door.
That destroyed me.
He recognized the house.
Then recognized fear.
I held him.
“Safe.”
He did not understand the word.
He understood my voice.
For the first week, I slept on a mattress in his nursery.
Not because his doctors required constant monitoring after discharge.
Because I did.
My therapist later called that:
May you like
“your nervous system trying to become a surveillance system.”
Accurate.
