I Said He Could Have Everything While He Smirked Beside Her In Court...

The guardian ad litem called me Tuesday morning while Lexi was brushing her teeth. Her name was Diane Keller, and she didn't waste time.

"Ms. Carter, I was appointed yesterday by Judge Whitaker," she said. Her voice was even, low. "I need to see your home today and Mr. Carter's tomorrow. This isn't about how clean your floors are. It's about where Lexi sleeps, where she does homework, who comes and goes."

I sat at our small kitchen table in the apartment, the one with the chipped edge near the sink, and wrote it down. Lexi came out in her socks, her backpack already on one shoulder.

"Mom, is that the lady who talks to kids?" she asked when I hung up.

"She talks to everyone," I said. "She just wants to see our place."

Diane arrived at four. She wore flat shoes and a navy coat and carried a thin notebook, not a clipboard. She took off her shoes at the door without being asked. I had made the bed, folded the laundry, put out the little pink lamp Lexi liked. Seven months pregnant made it slower to bend and lift, but I had done it.

She didn't open closets right away. She sat on the couch and asked Lexi to show her where she did her reading. Lexi led her to the corner of her bedroom where we'd put a beanbag and a plastic bin of books. The window there got afternoon light.

"Where does Dad's friend sit when you visit Dad?" Diane asked, very lightly.

Lexi glanced at me, then back. "Kelsey sits on the couch bed. Dad lets her pick what we watch."

Diane nodded and wrote one line. She asked me where I planned to put the baby. I showed her the bassinet folded against my bedroom wall, the hospital bag half-packed on the floor. She touched the edge of it, not the blankets.

"You sleeping okay?" she asked me, not as an evaluation, as a person.

"Not much," I said.

She stayed forty minutes. On her way out she said, "Thank you for making this easy for her."

The next afternoon Patel texted me: Keller at Daniel's now.

I didn't hear anything until that evening when Patel called. "Keller just sent her preliminary notes to counsel," she said. "She found Daniel's place... unsettled."

"What does that mean?"

"He's in the two-bedroom over on Cumberland, right? Keller says there's no dedicated bed for Lexi. Blow-up mattress in the second room, no bedding set up, clothes in boxes. And Kelsey's things everywhere. Keller asked whose residence it was and Daniel said it was his, but Keller noted Kelsey's mail on the counter. Three pieces. And no child safety plan if Lexi stayed overnight."

I closed my eyes. That had been our marital apartment before. We'd picked that second room for Lexi's visits.

"She's going to note instability and lack of established child space," Patel said. "That's not fatal, but with the sealed exhibit, it stacks."

On Thursday at nine, Judge Whitaker's courtroom was half empty. No packed gallery this time, just counsel tables and the heater clicking. Daniel came in with a different tie and without Kelsey. He kept looking at the door like he expected her.

Whitaker didn't bring out the envelope. It stayed sealed, logged as Exhibit One in the clerk's system.

"Ms. Keller, your interim recommendation?" Whitaker asked.

Diane stood. "Your Honor, I've completed initial home visits. Ms. Carter's residence, while small, is stable, child-centered, and appropriate for both children, including the expected infant. Mr. Carter's residence presently lacks consistent accommodations for the minor child. I recommend temporary primary custody remain with Ms. Carter, supervised parenting time for Mr. Carter twice weekly at the exchange center, and full evaluations before any change."

Daniel's new attorney stood quickly. "Your Honor, Mr. Carter can remedy the bedding issue by this weekend—"

"Mr. Carter had two weeks' notice that home evaluations would occur," Whitaker said, adjusting her tortoiseshell glasses. "The issue is not a mattress. It's readiness. Temporary orders stand. Ms. Keller will continue."

She looked at me then, just briefly. "Ms. Carter, are you receiving prenatal care?"

"Yes, Your Honor," I said.

"Good. We'll reconvene after reports are complete." She set her pen down. "Do not bring new partners to the exchange center."

Outside, Daniel stopped me by the elevators. Lexi was with Patel near the window, out of earshot.

"You're telling Keller things," he said, his voice low and tight. "That place is fine. You just made it look bad."

I held my purse strap with both hands. "I didn't tell her what to see."

He stared at me, and for a second his face did that flicker again, like he was trying to decide if I was still someone he could steer. "This supervised thing makes me look like a criminal."