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My eyebrows arch. She spoke to Cathy?
“But then I found out that Cathy was charged with manslaughter and all the trust I was putting in her vanished. You can choose to live with such a woman if you wish, but I will not let my granddaughter live with her.”
So it’s about that, is it? I draw a deep breath.
“Yes, Cathy was charged with manslaughter, but there was no basis for it, which is why the judge dismissed the case.”
“But can you honestly say she didn’t kill your sister? She can’t remember what happened, right? That’s a clue right there. She can’t remember because she doesn’t want to remember, and she doesn’t want to remember because – ”
“She can remember,” I cut Betty off. “She can remember more now, and she remembers that she nearly drowned and my sister saved her. End of story.”
“So it’s because of her that your sister died?” Betty asks.
I shake my head in dismay. “It’s not because of her. It was my sister’s choice to save her best friend.”
“But the fact remains that if not for her recklessness, your sister would still be alive.” She flips another page of her magazine. “I will not let such a person be responsible for my granddaughter.”
“It was an accident,” I point out.
“And exactly why do accidents happen, hmm? Because someone was reckless. Are you going to wait for something to happen to Maisie before you realize how dangerous this woman is? Well, I won’t.”
She’s about to turn another page, but I grab the magazine from her lap. I toss it on the coffee table on top of the court documents. I’ve had enough of her toying with me.
“Cathy is not a dangerous woman,” I tell Betty.
“Really? If you think she’s such a good woman, then why did you break up with her?”
I frown. She knows that, too? Wait. She wasn’t the one who told Simon, was she?
“I didn’t break up with her,” I say in a calmer voice. “I just thought we shouldn’t rush to get married.”
“Because you have doubts about her?”
“No. I love her.”
“But does she love you?”
I don’t answer.
Betty snorts. “See. She doesn’t love you. She told me the same thing when I spoke to her.”
She did? No. I don’t believe it.
“What I’m trying to say is that Cathy isn’t just an innocent woman,” I tell Betty. “She’s a good woman. Just like Evelyn.”
“I don’t care. I’m Maisie’s grandmother and I want what’s best for her. Cathy just isn’t good enough.”
“And I’m her father,” I point out. “I’ll decide what’s best for her.”
“No.” Betty stands up and shakes her head. “The court will the next time we meet.”
She starts to walk out of the room. My shoulders sink in defeat.
“Don’t do this, Betty,” I ask her. “Don’t put Maisie through this.”
Betty turns her head. “You’re the one who’s putting her through this. I’m just trying to save her.”
God, she’s stubborn.
“Betty…”
She disappears into another room, closing the door behind her. I think of banging down that door. Instead, I grab the papers and the magazine on the coffee table and hurl them at the wall in frustration.
“Fuck!”
~
“She wouldn’t listen to you?” Cathy asks me when I get back home.
“No.” I pace her bedroom. “She’s pushing through with the case. She says the next time we meet will be in court.”
“Did she say why?”
I don’t answer. I stop in front of the window and touch my neck.
“Jackson?”
“She said she doesn’t want Maisie to live with you,” I reluctantly tell her.
Cathy falls silent as she sits on the edge of the bed. Her chin drops.
“What did you tell Betty last time?” I ask her. “I didn’t know the two of you spoke.”
She shakes her head. “Nothing. I… I don’t remember anymore.”
I have a feeling she just doesn’t want to tell me, but I don’t insist on hearing it.
“It’s fine,” I say. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Betty has already made up her mind. I’ll have to fight her to keep Maisie.”
Cathy stands up. “But surely the court will let you keep your own daughter.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’m not exactly a perfect father, Cathy. I’m not even sure I’m a good one.”
“Nonetheless, you are her father,” Cathy tells me. “And you try your best.”
“But don’t you see?” I drop my hands to my sides. “Effort counts for nothing. It’s the results that the court will look at. The judge will see that when Maisie was ten months old, she was rushed to the hospital because of an allergic reaction to the caviar I fed her. That when she was one and a half, she fell down the stairs. That when she was three, she nearly cut off her finger with one of my knives. The judge will know that I’ve been renting houses and moving from place to place, that I’m busy with work and that Maisie has had so many nannies I’ve lost count. The judge will learn that I lost Maisie in a playground just recently. All of those things show that I’m not fit to be a father.”
