Chapter 6 - Building a Sanctuary
The day of the arraignment arrived. I chose not to attend in person, opting instead to let Evelyn Cho represent my interests while I stayed home with Emma. I didn't want to give my parents the satisfaction of seeing me in a courtroom, nor did I want to subject myself to their venomous glares.
Instead, Emma and I spent the morning transforming our apartment. We went to a local plant nursery and picked out jasmine, ferns, and bright marigolds to line the balcony. We bought bright, colorful floor cushions for the living room and built a massive blanket fort complete with fairy lights.
Around noon, my lawyer called with the update.
"Vanessa pleaded not guilty," Evelyn reported, her voice buzzing with professional satisfaction. "Her lawyer tried to argue for release on her own recognizance, claiming she had no prior criminal record and was a pillar of the community. But the prosecutor dropped Marcus’s statements, the medical records, and most importantly, the text message right on the judge's desk."
"And?" I held my breath.
"The judge set bail at $100,000. Your parents had to put up their house to get her out. But here’s the best part: the judge granted our temporary restraining orders immediately. Vanessa is fitted with an ankle monitor. If she comes within five hundred feet of you or Emma, she goes right back to a maximum-security cell. Your parents are also legally barred from contacting you. They looked absolutely broken, Rachel. The illusion is completely gone."
When I hung up the phone, I walked into the living room and crawled inside the blanket fort where Emma was lying on her back, looking up at the fairy lights.
"Mommy?" she asked, turning her head toward me.
"Yes, my love?"
"Are we going back to Grandma's house ever again?"
May you like
I pulled her gently into my lap, resting my chin on top of her soft hair. "No, sweetie. Never again. This is our home now. Just you and me. And only people who love us and treat us kindly are allowed through that door."
Emma let out a long, contented sigh and snuggled deeper into my chest. For the first time in months, her little body wasn't tense. The hypervigilance was beginning to melt away, replaced by the deep, unshakable knowledge that her mother was a shield.
