Chapter 27 - Whispers in the Hill Country
The rhythm of the Hill Country summer slowly worked its magic over the next month, though the peace was always precarious.
Julian-Leo was an enigma. He spent his mornings perched on an overturned five-gallon bucket, voraciously reading through my collection of art history books, while Alexander and two local carpenters nailed the exterior cedar siding into place. By afternoon, when the sun reached its blistering peak, Julian-Leo would sit on the porch of the small rented trailer we were living in at the edge of the property, patiently letting Lila pull at the laces of his sneakers while he read aloud to her from Victor Hugo in French.
Watching him with our daughter was like watching water find its path through cracked stone. At first, he had treated Lila like an fragile explosive device, terrified that touching her would result in crying or injury. But Lila was obsessed with her older brother. Whenever Julian-Leo entered the trailer, her face lit up, her arms flapped wildly, and she let out high-pitched squeals of delight that made the stoic Swiss boy blush furiously.
"She likes you better than me," Alexander complained one evening, wiping sweat and sawdust from his forehead with a red bandana as he sat down on the trailer steps.
"She has superior taste, father," Julian-Leo replied smoothly, adjusting Lila on his knee so she could examine the silver pocket watch Arthur Ward had left him—the only heirloom Julian-Leo had refused to throw in the trash. "She appreciates continental sophistication."
"Continental sophistication eats mac and cheese with its fingers," I called from the tiny kitchenette, setting down a platter of grilled chicken and sliced peaches on the folding table.
The laughter was warm, real, and effortless. For four weeks, we had managed to forget the storm brewing twelve hundred miles away in Manhattan.
The storm arrived on a Thursday morning in the form of a white courier van.
A deputy sheriff from Travis County stepped out into the dust, holding a blue-backed legal docket. He tipped his hat to me, looking apologetic.
"Alexander Ward?" the deputy asked.
Alexander put down his pneumatic nail gun, wiping his hands on his canvas work pants. "Yes, Deputy."
"Service of process from the State of New York, cross-filed in the 345th District Court of Texas. Emergency ex-parte petition."
Alexander took the papers, his jaw hardening into granite.
I walked over, drying my hands on an apron. "What is it?"
Alexander flipped through the legal briefs, his face darkening with a fury so cold it made the summer heat disappear.
"Victoria has filed an emergency motion to declare me mentally unfit based on my historical psychiatric confinement after Elena’s death," Alexander said, his voice flat, dead. "She has retained Dr. Marcus Sterling—Arthur’s personal physician—who has submitted an affidavit claiming Arthur committed me because of 'chronic bipolar disorder with paranoid psychotic episodes.'"
Julian-Leo stood up from the trailer porch, the color draining from his young face. "Grandmother?"
"She isn't just seeking custody of Leo," Alexander continued, looking up at me, his eyes wide with horror. "She’s petitioning the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to launch an immediate dependency inquiry regarding Lila."
My heart stopped.
"What?" The word tore from my throat like a ragged scream.
"She’s alleging that an unstable, violent father living in an unpermitted construction zone presents an imminent danger to an infant," Alexander choked out. "She’s trying to take both of them, Clara. She wants to tear Lila from your arms and put Leo in a military academy."
A sleek black town car pulled onto the dirt driveway behind the sheriff’s cruiser.
The door opened, and a man in a three-piece bespoke pinstripe suit stepped out into the Texas sun, followed by a woman holding a state-issued clipboard.
May you like
"Mr. Ward. Mrs. Ward," the lawyer said, adjusting his gold cufflinks. "I am Richard Vance, representing Mrs. Victoria Ward. And this is Ms. Holloway from Travis County Child Protective Services. We are here to conduct an emergency welfare inspection of this premises."
***
