Chapter 5 - What Cassandra Had Been Learning
Cassandra had spent three months asking questions that had seemed harmless.
What time did Nora wake?
Did she still need a night-light?
Which foods upset her stomach?
How did I handle tantrums?
Had Ryan left instructions about who should care for Nora if anything happened to me?
I thought she was trying to become a better aunt.
In reality, she had been gathering a parenting manual.
Nora’s preschool director showed Mara an email from Cassandra asking what documentation would be required if she became “temporary caregiver during a family emergency.” The director refused to change the records without my written consent.
Lorraine called the pediatrician’s office twice seeking copies of immunization records. She claimed I had asked her to collect them.
The office refused because she was not an authorized proxy.
Three weeks before the closet incident, Lorraine asked whether I planned to accept a hospital supervisory position in Indianapolis. I told her I had interviewed but had not decided.
She became quiet.
“You’d take Nora away from everything she has left of Ryan?”
“It’s a two-hour drive, Lorraine.”
“To you.”
The hidden truth began taking shape.
Lorraine had not simply prepared a room because she missed her granddaughter.
She believed I was about to move.
Cassandra visited me at home with her attorney’s permission, under an arrangement approved by Monica and Mara. She sat at my dining table twisting a paper napkin.
“The room was Lorraine’s idea,” she said.
“And the clothes?”
“She said Nora needed consistency.”
“The locked closet?”
Cassandra looked at the floor.
“Nora heard us talking about living there. She started screaming for you and throwing things. Lorraine broke the doll. Then Nora kicked her.”
“So Lorraine locked her away.”
“I told her it was too much.”
“You still went shopping.”
Cassandra wiped her eyes.
“Lorraine said we needed to finish what we started.”
“What had you started?”
Her gaze moved toward the framed picture of Ryan above my bookshelf.
“She said Ryan would’ve wanted Nora raised by his family.”
“I am Ryan’s family.”
Cassandra flinched.
Then she admitted that Lorraine had arranged a Monday consultation with a lawyer about emergency custody.
Cassandra was supposed to attend.
“Why you?”
“Because Lorraine said the court would prefer someone younger.”
My stomach tightened.
The pink bedroom was not prepared for Lorraine.
It had been prepared so Cassandra could present herself as Nora’s ready-made alternative parent.
But Cassandra refused to explain what evidence they planned to use against me.
Before leaving, she said, “You need to ask what Lorraine thinks happened the night Ryan died.”
May you like
That question had nothing to do with shopping.
And somehow it was the center of everything.
