Chapter 13 - THE TEMPORARY ORDER
Ryan and I did not have our courtroom screaming match.
Our lawyers stopped that.
Dana filed for temporary orders.
Ryan's counsel filed his own.
Neither side got everything.
Nora remained primarily with me at my mother's house for the first eight weeks.
Ryan received scheduled parenting time.
At first with a mutually agreed third adult present.
Not because the judge declared him dangerous to Nora.
Because he had tried to use the hospital incident to take unilateral control, our conflict was severe, and Nora was days old.
No out-of-state travel without notice.
That applied to both of us.
I hated that.
Then admitted it was fair.
Ryan agreed to return every medical document and stop accessing my patient portal.
I revoked the health-care proxy.
We created separate parenting communication accounts.
No texts at two in the morning unless Nora was actually sick.
Mason was not allowed to serve as our go-between.
That annoyed him.
Also healthy.
Ryan apologized to me during one lawyer-supervised meeting.
Short.
“I should not have put those forms under hospital papers.”
“No.”
“I should not have grabbed you.”
“No.”
“I thought if I lost control for one hour, I'd lose Nora.”
I looked at him.
“You tried to solve that by taking control of me.”
“Yes.”
No request for forgiveness.
Good.
I asked:
“Did you think I'd sign?”
His answer took too long.
“I thought you'd be exhausted enough to stop fighting.”
There.
That was the sentence that ended any remaining fantasy I had about going home to him.
He knew it too.
Ryan began individual counseling.
Not because a judge ordered it.
His lawyer told him it would help.
Maybe that was not the purest reason.
He still went.
I did too.
I had to understand why it took childbirth for me to say a marriage was over after planning my exit for months.
Nobody healed on schedule.
May you like
Nora grew.
That part happened whether we were ready or not.
