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But I couldn’t stop jabbering. “It’s like the Resolute Desk.” At their blank looks, I explained, “It’s a desk the president sits at.”
“How did you expect that reference to work for either of us?” El-Mudad whispered back.
“Will you both…” Neil said softly, then shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m just a bit tense and—”
The three of us jumped at the opening door.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” The man who entered had a kind, professional smile when he periodically looked up from the open folder in his hand. If he were over thirty-five, I’d have been shocked, but his dark hair did hold a little tint of gray at the temples. He dropped the file on the corner of the desk. “I’m Andrew Yang. I’m the family law attorney here. You’re John’s clients, right?”
“I am, and my wife, Sophie, is. I’m Neil Elwood.” Neil put out his hand to shake Andrew’s hand.
“Sophie Scaife,” I said as Andrew and I exchanged handshakes. As he moved on to El-Mudad, I added, “I’m pretty sure you did our prenup.”
“Did I?” Andrew asked.
“El-Mudad Ati,” El-Mudad interjected.
“El-Mudad, good to meet you.” Andrew stepped back. “I’m sorry I didn’t remember that.”
“I’m sure you do a lot of prenups,” I offered to excuse him.
Andrew went to the black leather chair behind his desk and sat, flipping the folder open again. “I was just looking over some notes Jack gave me on your case, but I want to get a full picture here. What’s the situation with this grandchild?”
Neil leaned slightly forward. “Olivia. She’s my granddaughter. She’s been with us since my daughter and her husband died.”
Popping the cap off a fountain pen, Andrew scribbled some notes on the inside of the folder. “And what’s the custody arrangement currently?”
“She lives with us full time. Sophie and I are her legal guardians. There’s no custody arrangement involved.” Neil had done a lot more research than I had; I’d have never known that guardianship and custody were two different things.
“Both you and…” Andrew glanced up.
“My wife and I,” Neil clarified. “We were named in their will.”
“And was your guardianship contested at the time?”
“No. Not at the time.” Neil’s jaw tightened.
Andrew nodded, still writing. “But now you’ve got grandma coming in—”
“And step-grandpa,” I interrupted him. “That’s where this is coming from.”
“Right.” He didn’t jot it down, so clearly that detail wasn’t of interest. “Have you been served any papers from the court?”
“No. We expect to,” Neil told him. “We’re trying to be proactive and know our rights before that happens.”
“Sure, sure.” Andrew flipped through some papers. “Tell me about the OCFS investigation.”
“That was closed,” I blurted as if we were on trial. “It was a false report.”
Andrew raised an eyebrow. “Was that a legal determination or…”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It just closed. They didn’t find anything.”
“Okay, that’s great.” He sounded heartened by that. “If OCFS investigated you and didn’t find you unfit, that makes it more difficult to assert that you are unfit. I’m interested where you are in this, Mr. Ati.”
“I’m their partner. The three of us live together with Olivia and my daughters.” El-Mudad shifted in his chair.
Andrew’s eyebrows rose slightly, but he didn’t immediately close the folder and tell us to give up, so I took it as a good sign. “Can’t say I’ve ever handled a polyamory case before. I don’t know a lot about that lifestyle, so if I say anything insensitive—”
“It won’t be anything we haven’t heard before,” I assured him. “We’ll correct you.”
“Gently,” Neil added with an attempt at a chuckle.
I took his hand and squeezed it, wishing I could give him any sort of guarantee that this would be okay, that everything would turn out all right, that the most important thing in the world to him wouldn’t be torn from us.
“So, the good news is that you’re Olivia’s legal guardians.” Andrew gestured to Neil and me. “You have the right to deny visitation or grant it to whoever you want. Grandma can petition the court for a visitation agreement, but we don’t see a lot of success in cases like that.”
“Valerie can’t just take her from us?” I asked for clarity.
“It would be unlikely, under the current circumstances.” He spread his hands and let them fall to the blotter. “There would have to be child abuse or endangerment involved. The State didn’t find any, so…”
Neil took a deep breath. “Excellent.”
“That doesn’t mean she won’t try,” the lawyer was quick to warn. “And things become more complicated if there’s a third party. You might want to consider putting your wishes for Olivia in your will.”
“If something...happened. To Sophie and me,” Neil began haltingly. “What are El-Mudad’s rights?”
Andrew didn’t even take a blink to consider. “He would have none.”
We didn’t breathe in that horrible moment of realization. One that should have come to us much sooner. In our idyllic world, sheltered from so many real, human truths, we’d never considered the worst-case scenario.
