Chapter 14 - THE LAST DOOR DANIEL COULD HAVE OPENED
Daniel refused.
In the hallway outside the hearing room, his attorney offered temporary child support and a schedule of daytime visits.
No supervision.
No acknowledgment of violence.
No counseling requirement.
Daniel wanted Rachel to withdraw the abuse-related request.
“He’ll agree not to enter your apartment,” his attorney said.
Melissa looked at Rachel.
It was a real choice.
Accepting would reduce legal costs and end the immediate fight.
Rachel had less than $2,000 left after rent, legal fees, and moving expenses.
She also knew what compromise had looked like inside her marriage.
Daniel defining the problem.
Rachel absorbing the consequences.
“No.”
Daniel approached her after his attorney stepped away.
He kept several feet between them.
“You’re really going to do this?”
Rachel noticed he was wearing the same plaid shirt he had worn the final morning.
Maybe he hadn’t realized.
Maybe he had.
“You can still tell the truth.”
“You want me to call myself a monster.”
“I want you to stop calling what happened a marital disagreement.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“If I lose unsupervised time with them, Grace will never forgive you.”
Rachel almost answered.
Then she recognized the sentence.
Another burden.
Another consequence Daniel wanted placed in her hands.
“Grace gets to decide how she feels about me.”
Daniel looked toward the hearing-room doors.
“And about me?”
“Eventually, yes.”
The clerk opened the door and called their names.
May you like
Rachel walked in first.
Once Denise Walker, Adam Bennett, and Evelyn were sworn in as witnesses, Daniel could no longer keep the story inside the farmhouse kitchen.
