Chapter 6
The family-law attorney at the shower was named Margaret Sloan.
She had represented Sabina occasionally in estate and family matters.
Margaret agreed to speak once privilege issues were handled and Sabina placed parts of their advice at issue.
Her account was careful.
Six weeks earlier, Sabina asked generally what could happen if a newborn’s mother experienced serious postpartum psychiatric symptoms.
Margaret explained that genuine emergencies could involve medical treatment, child-protective review, temporary safety planning, or court intervention depending on facts.
Then Sabina asked:
“Can a grandparent take temporary custody?”
Margaret answered:
“Not because the grandparent wants to.”
“What if the father agrees?”
Then parents could make lawful temporary caregiving arrangements.
“What if the father is unavailable?”
Depends.
“What if both parents are behaving irrationally?”
Actual evidence would be required.
Then Margaret gave the warning that mattered.
Do not manufacture a crisis, selectively document ordinary pregnancy stress, or treat medical vulnerability as leverage in a separate family dispute.
Sabina replied:
“I’m protecting my granddaughter.”
Margaret later received a draft temporary guardianship petition from Sabina’s assistant.
She refused to file it.
The draft alleged:
Prenatal emotional volatility.
Poor judgment.
Dependence on Callan.
Hostility toward extended family support.
No abuse.
No substance use.
No psychosis.
No medical diagnosis.
Margaret told Sabina the facts did not support emergency relief.
Sabina hired a different lawyer for “contingency planning.”
That lawyer also never filed anything.
Then Jessamine’s prenatal records were reviewed with her permission.
Normal pregnancy.
Two episodes of insomnia.
One panic attack after a minor car accident at twenty-four weeks.
A referral to counseling.
No psychiatric hospitalization.
No impaired judgment.
No indication she could not parent.
Yet Sabina’s private notes described:
Pattern of emotional instability.
Jessamine stared at the phrase.
Callan looked furious.
She stopped him.
“No.”
“What?”
“Don’t make this only about her.”
He looked at her.
“She got some of these details because you told her.”
That landed.
Callan had spoken to Sabina after the car accident.
He told her Jessamine had panicked.
He told her about sleepless nights.
Not to betray Jessamine.
Because Sabina was his mother.
Because he thought family talked.
Now those fragments appeared in a legal contingency file.
Callan said quietly:
“I’m sorry.”
Jessamine nodded.
Not forgiveness yet.
Acknowledgment.
Then Margaret produced one email that connected the family file to something else.
Sabina:
If there is a temporary safety issue after delivery, can Callan still execute estate documents while focused on the child?
Margaret replied:
I do not understand why those subjects are connected. They should not be.
Sabina never answered.
May you like
The attorney had seen the connection before anyone else did.
She had simply refused to participate in it.
