I was sitting in my father’s study nursing Jonah when my father’s assistant forwarded me the image.
I looked at it for a moment.
Then I sent it to Diana Shea with one line: Please note the date for the record.
She responded: Already have it.
The photograph was taken exactly nineteen days after our children were born. Nineteen days after he had stood in my hospital room and called me ugly. The image would become part of a timeline.
Timelines, Diana had explained, matter enormously in cases involving conduct, character, and the best interests of children.
Adrian’s lawyer reached out again on Friday.
This time the tone had changed.
The call came to Diana rather than to me, which was how I preferred it now. She relayed it to me afterward, sitting across the desk with her black folder and her careful eyes.
“They’ve become aware of the equity matter,” she said. “They’re proposing a revised settlement.”
