Chapter 6 - TERESA’S LAST DOUBT
Daniel could have hated Teresa for writing it.
Instead, he heard her voice.
Practical.
Blunt.
Protective even when she was dying.
The email had been sent to Lacey, not the county.
Lacey gave it to the guardian ad litem because she believed the court needed the full truth.
Teresa worried Daniel’s childhood trauma made him vulnerable to promising more than he could sustain.
She also wrote something else.
He loves them. I know that. But loving children and organizing your whole life around them are different skills. I need someone to challenge him hard before anyone says yes.
Daniel looked at Lawson.
For the first time, he understood why she had been pushing so aggressively.
Not the insult.
That remained unnecessary.
But the scrutiny.
Judge Miller asked Daniel whether Teresa’s concern was accurate.
“Yes.”
Lawson seemed surprised.
Daniel continued.
“I started this because I couldn’t stand the thought of them being split.”
“Exactly.”
“But that isn’t why I’m still here.”
He explained the months before Teresa’s death.
The day he learned how to install five car seats correctly.
The Saturday Jonah vomited through two sets of sheets while Teresa slept after chemotherapy.
The morning Maya refused preschool because she believed leaving her mother for three hours might make her die.
The time Eli asked Daniel whether heaven had visiting hours.
Daniel had stopped imagining himself rescuing five children long before Teresa died.
He had begun imagining Tuesday mornings.
Dental appointments.
Laundry.
Daycare closures.
A teenager eventually screaming that Daniel was not his real father.
The future was not heroic.
It was repetitive.
Expensive.
Ordinary.
That was why he still wanted it.
The guardian ad litem recommended temporary placement with Daniel, subject to intensive in-home services and weekly monitoring.
Lawson did not immediately agree.
She asked one final question.
“What happens if this fails?”
Daniel glanced at Eli.
“If I’m the reason it fails, then I help them move safely instead of disappearing because I’m ashamed.”
Judge Miller leaned back.
That answer appeared to matter more than any promise that failure was impossible.
The temporary placement was approved for thirty days.
Not adoption.
Not permanent custody.
Thirty days.
All five together.
When Judge Miller read the order, Maya began crying.
Daniel thought she was scared.
Then she ran into his legs and held on.
May you like
Eli did not run.
He simply closed his eyes.
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