Employment.
Stable housing.
A desire to stop running from her mistakes.
Then came the part I had expected.
“Do you have concerns about Mrs. Ellis continuing as the boys’ guardian?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Perfectly.
“I don’t want to disrespect Margaret.”
She turned toward me.
“What she did for my sons was extraordinary.”
My jaw tightened.
“But?”
Her lawyer asked softly.
Vanessa looked toward the judge.
“She’s seventy-three.”
There it was.
“I worry about her health. I worry about her energy. She’s also running a large company.”
Then she added, “Sometimes the boys have told me Grandma forgets things.”
Rachel stood immediately.
“Objection.”
“Sustained.”
But the suggestion had already entered the room.
Vanessa’s attorney later emphasized biology.
Reunification.
Second chances.
The possibility that a parent could change.
He was careful not to say I had failed.
Instead, he suggested that my successful guardianship had served its purpose.
As though I had been temporary scaffolding.
