Chapter 5 - A NEW FOUNDATION
One Year Later
The afternoon sun streamed through the wide windows of my father's Alexandria home, catching the dust motes dancing in the air.
"No, no, no! The red block goes on top!"
I laughed, watching my son, Leo, stubbornly try to shove a blue wooden block onto a precariously leaning tower. He was small for a one-year-old, a reminder of his traumatic entry into the world, but he was fiercely determined.
My father sat on the rug beside him, his suit jacket discarded, his tie loosened. The Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals was currently taking orders from a toddler.
"Are you sure, Leo?" my father asked seriously. "I think the blue block provides better structural integrity."
Leo babbled something incomprehensible and smashed the blue block onto the tower. The whole thing collapsed. Leo shrieked with laughter.
My father chuckled, pulling the boy into his lap.
I watched them from the sofa, sipping my coffee. The fear that had defined my life for two years felt like a distant nightmare, a story that belonged to someone else.
Carter was serving a five-year sentence in a state facility. He had tried to fight the charges, but the medical evidence, the police testimony, and the sudden, complete abandonment by his powerful friends had sealed his fate. He had looked at me during the sentencing hearing, expecting to see the terrified woman he had controlled.
Instead, I had looked right through him.
Eleanor had moved to a small apartment in a less desirable part of town, cut off from the society circles she cherished. She had tried to claim grandparent rights. My father had handled that petition with a single, devastating legal brief.
"Momma!" Leo yelled, pointing at the scattered blocks.
I smiled, putting down my mug and joining them on the floor.
"Let's build it again," I said, grabbing a red block.
May you like
My father smiled at me, a look of profound peace in his eyes.
"Yes," he agreed, placing a block next to mine. "Let's build something better."
