Chapter 13 - THE DIVORCE PETITION
I filed for divorce.
Brandon responded by seeking joint custody and temporary access to Sophie.
The request looked reasonable.
The supporting declaration did not.
He claimed I had alienated Sophie through my brothers.
He claimed Dominic accepted the paper necklace to replace him.
He claimed the Whitmore townhouse was an environment of extreme privilege and manipulation.
He asked the court to prevent Sophie from seeing my brothers without his consent.
Rebecca read the filing aloud.
“This is not a custody request.”
“It is an access-control request.”
The court appointed a child specialist.
Sophie met with her alone.
She described the gala.
She described the word legitimate.
She described Brandon standing still when Graham took her downstairs.
The specialist asked whether she wanted to see him.
“Not at his house.”
“Why?”
“He has another family there.”
“Would you feel safer somewhere else?”
“Maybe.”
The court approved supervised visits at a child center.
Brandon attended the first visit carrying an expensive dollhouse.
Sophie looked at it.
“I don’t want that.”
“I thought you would love it.”
“I wanted you to come to school.”
He stopped.
She had performed in a spring play three months earlier.
Brandon said a merger meeting ran late.
He had actually been at Caleb’s birthday dinner.
Sophie knew now.
“Can I explain?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“You explain and then I feel wrong.”
The child specialist documented the sentence.
Brandon placed the dollhouse aside.
For the first time, he sat without a prepared gift or excuse.
“I hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“I lied.”
“Yes.”
“I was selfish.”
Sophie looked at him.
“Are you going to say but?”
“No.”
She waited.
He did not add one.
The visit lasted twenty minutes.
May you like
It did not repair their relationship.
It was the first conversation in which Brandon stopped negotiating the truth.
