The Nanny, the Husband, and the Woman They Forgot I Was novel · Chapter 16 of 32

Chapter 16: Primary Custody

For a second the patio was very quiet.

A waiter stood frozen with a coffee pot.

I looked at Harper and thought about the butter-yellow bathroom, and the lamp I'd carried up her stairs.

"Then you told him to marry the one person who could read every page he signed," I said.

I turned to her friends.

"Enjoy the pastries. They're very good here."

The twins' mom and I walked back to the car without speaking.

She buckled her boys in, then leaned on the roof and looked at me.

"I just want to say," she said, "that was the best Saturday of my life, and I gave birth to two people on a Tuesday."

I laughed so hard I had to hold onto the door.

The full custody hearing was on a Thursday in late April, six weeks to the day after the first one.

Same beige courthouse in San Jose.

Same judge, with the same half-moon glasses.

But the room was different.

The gallery had been empty in March.

Now it was full.

The midwife sat in the front row with her purse on her knees.

The twins' mom was beside her, with no babies for once, looking strangely light.

The chemistry teacher had worn a tie. It had small beakers on it.

My neighbor from across the street sat at the end of the row with her notebook open.

Cliff was in the very back, alone, in a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled down over the scar.

He gave me a single nod when I came in.

The young mom ran in four minutes after the judge sat down.

"Sorry," she whispered loudly to the whole row. "Parking."

The judge looked at the full gallery over his glasses.

"Are all these people with somebody?"

"They're with me, Your Honor," I said.

"All of them?"

"I'm in a group."

He made a note.

The evaluator went first.

She read from her report in the same flat voice she'd used in my living room.

The mother was attentive, competent and honest about her treatment. The home was clean and lived in. The child was securely attached to the mother and sought her out when distressed.

"There's a section on Ms. Bell," the judge said.

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