Chapter 7
Sabine found the notebook by accident.
Daphne had asked her to return several wedding-planning folders to Cordelia’s house.
Sabine refused once she realized the legal dispute had started.
Instead, she delivered everything to Monica.
One folder contained vendor notes.
Flowers.
Music.
Photographer.
Accessibility.
Security.
Then handwritten pages.
Cordelia’s handwriting was recognizable from the seating chart.
One line read:
Keep E away from chart until guests seated.
Another:
Bram moved by 5:45. Photographer ready.
Another:
Security near family lawn.
Elowen stared.
There was no innocent explanation for keeping her away from the seating chart.
Cordelia did not want Elowen to discover the exclusion privately.
She wanted her to discover it publicly.
Then another page:
If A arrives before issue resolves, delay him with Daphne.
Alaric looked up.
“A?”
Monica nodded.
“Probably you.”
Cordelia expected Alaric to be occupied elsewhere while the confrontation happened.
That fit the broader theory.
Absent father.
Angry mother.
Disabled child.
Witnesses.
Then Sabine produced the most troubling note.
Not a full sentence.
Just:
Need final incident before filing.
No name.
No explanation.
But it sat beneath Gregory Sloane’s phone number.
Elowen’s hands began shaking.
Alaric looked at Monica.
“Is that enough?”
“It’s strong.”
“For what?”
“To justify discovery.”
Not conviction.
Not certainty.
Discovery.
The court granted limited access to nonprivileged communications relating to Bram, Hawthorne Ridge, wedding logistics, and any planned guardianship filing.
Cordelia’s attorneys fought hard.
They lost most of the argument.
Then the draft petition appeared.
Prepared four days before the wedding.
Petitioner:
Cordelia Hartwell.
Proposed request:
Temporary guardianship over Bram’s person for ninety days pending evaluation of parental stability and educational placement.
Alaric read the first page twice.
“She was going to take him.”
Monica corrected him.
“She was going to ask a court.”
That mattered.
Courts did not grant children to grandmothers because a family matriarch wanted control.
Cordelia needed evidence.
The draft listed claims.
Alaric’s frequent travel.
Elowen’s alleged emotional volatility.
Family conflict concerning Bram’s care.
A recommendation for temporary residential evaluation.
Then one section was blank.
Recent incident demonstrating physical instability:
Nothing filled in.
The document predated the wedding.
The blank was waiting.
Elowen stared at it.
May you like
Monica did not need to explain.
The kick had become the sentence Cordelia expected to type there.
