Chapter 5 - THE TEMPORARY GUARDIAN
Lauren came to the hotel alone.
David nearly refused to let her upstairs.
Maya said:
“Let her talk.”
So they sat around a small hotel dining table while Liam slept in a portable bassinet between them.
Lauren did not touch him.
That was the first thing David noticed.
She finally understood she no longer had automatic access.
“Mom thought Maya was overwhelmed.”
Maya stared.
“I was overwhelmed.”
Lauren flinched.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you mean when you say it to other people.”
Lauren looked at David.
“Mom was worried you were still planning to move them to Germany in March.”
The sentence changed the room.
David had accepted a promotion that would require another year in Munich beginning in spring.
The plan had always been for Maya and Liam to join him after Maya recovered, assuming pediatric care, housing, visas, and Maya’s own work arrangements could be settled.
Bonnie hated the idea.
She called it “taking my grandson overseas.”
David had dismissed it as grandmother emotion.
“What does Germany have to do with a lawyer?” he asked.
Lauren rubbed her hands together.
“Mom wanted something in place if Maya couldn’t manage.”
“What?”
“A temporary guardianship.”
Maya’s face changed.
David stared at his sister.
“For Mom?”
“She said only until you came back permanently.”
“I came back tonight.”
“She didn’t know you were coming.”
“Because I was surprising my wife.”
Lauren started crying.
“I swear I thought you knew Mom was talking to an attorney.”
“I sent her grocery money.”
“I know.”
“No, Lauren. You don’t get to say that like it’s a detail.”
He pushed the account statement across the table.
“She spent thousands of dollars I sent to feed Maya and Liam.”
Lauren looked at the charges.
Her expression collapsed.
“I didn’t know about this.”
Maya spoke for the first time in several minutes.
“What did she tell you about me?”
Lauren could not meet her eyes.
“That you weren’t eating properly.”
Maya laughed in disbelief.
“She canceled the food.”
“She said you refused meals.”
“She gave my meals to your teenagers.”
Lauren looked up sharply.
“What?”
Maya explained.
The pasta delivery.
The chicken soup.
The prepared postpartum meals.
Bonnie had repeatedly told Maya she had already eaten enough and served the rest to relatives staying in the apartment.
Lauren went pale.
“Mom told me you hated the meal service.”
“No.”
“What about the formula?”
Lauren looked sick before Maya finished.
“Mom said you refused to supplement.”
Maya stared.
“She took the formula away.”
The family story was beginning to reverse.
Bonnie had not simply observed a struggling mother.
She had controlled the resources around a struggling mother, then described the resulting struggle as evidence.
Lauren covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
David leaned forward.
“What documents did Mom want?”
“Birth certificate. Hospital discharge papers. Liam’s Social Security paperwork when it arrived. She said the attorney needed proof of relationship.”
David looked at Maya.
The document folder.
Wes Nolan.
The envelope.
A temporary guardianship had been presented to Lauren as protection.
But nobody had told Maya.
May you like
Nobody had asked David.
And somebody had already filed a report portraying Maya as unable to care for her child.
