All The Little Moments (34 page)

“Doctor Foster? Scott. My secretary would normally greet you, but it’s Sunday, so it’s just
me today.”

Anna shook his hand. “Please, call
me Anna.”

He clapped his hands together. “Great. Follow me.”

The well-lit office had bookcases lining the walls and an exquisite painting of a seascape behind the desk. Anna sat in front of the dark mahogany desk opposite where Scott sat in a comfortable leather chair. The whole room smelt like a pine forest.

“Now, I won’t keep you waiting on this part. I spoke to Ben in the child services office, and he had spoken with the foster family this morning, a routine follow up, considering they only got there last night.”

Anna was hanging on his every word.

“I’ve been assured the kids
are fine.”

Anna slumped back into the seat
slightly, relieved.

“Ella has been quiet, not talking very much. Picking at
her food.”

Anna nodded distractedly. “We only really just got her eating normally again after her
parents’ deaths.”

“Another reason I am very unimpressed at this situation. Toby, he’s been good. He woke up several times overnight, but is fine. Confused,
of course.”

“Good.” Anna didn’t know what to say. “I want to see
them, Scott.”

“I know. Call the office in the morning, speak to your caseworker. See where you go from there. Call me if you aren’t happy with whatever
they say.”

“Okay.”

Scott sat up straighter. “Now. Let’s go over everything.”

For an hour, Anna sat in his office. Scott got her to go over how she had gotten the kids into her care, how they had been since then, her work status, if Toby was in day care—something Scott assured her had zero weight
on neglect.

“Half the families in Australia would be neglecting their kids, if that were the case.” The tone of his voice showed his clear dislike of
that idea.

As Scott proceeded to fill Anna in on where she stood, she learnt that Cathy had called child protection weeks ago and expressed concerns to Lorna that Anna wasn’t doing right by the kids. She believed Anna was neglecting them by barely being at home
with them.

That, Anna thought, explained the more frequent Lorna visits. She’d been
checking in.

“I’m guessing that Cathy was unhappy with Lorna’s reaction to the first complaints and went further up. There’s a record of an anonymous complaint,
as well.”

“It would have
been Cathy.”

Scott raised his hands. “Probably. But they treat it as an extra one. On Friday, Cathy called again and made a serious complaint. She said no one had been home
all night—”

“She watched
my house?”

Grimly, Scott sat up and leant on his desk. “It would seem. She said, out of concern, she went by the hospital, where you were leaving with ‘some woman’ and didn’t return to
the house.”

The hair on the back of Anna’s arms stood up. “This is
very creepy.”

“It is, yes. She claims at least two women frequently visit your house and leave at odd hours. The complaints are numerous, but along
these lines.”

The more he talked, the more anger
filled her.

Cathy had been
watching them.

Cathy had claimed Anna worked more than she saw the children, had to work inappropriate hours—and so would “dump” the kids with their grandparents—that she’d had a parade of women over and ignored the kids. She claimed Anna was flaunting inappropriate
sexual behaviours.

Scott laid it out and then had Anna give
her side.

“Lane is my girlfriend—however, most of my time is spent with the kids. The only reason I was with her on Friday night was because Ella had asked to have a sleepover at her grandparents’ house. Until then, Lane had only stayed over once, and it was, again, when the kids were with
their grandparents.”

Scott was nodding and writing in
a notebook.

“Kym is a great friend, and the kids adore her. She is over often for meals and has babysat twice. She lost her husband last year and I guess we’ve been kind of supporting
each other.”

“And does she stay at
the house?”

“Sometimes, yes. She sleeps on the couch. I don’t think she enjoys being at home.” Anna didn’t want to expand too much on Kym’s private issues. “The kids love her—Ella is always begging her to
sleep over.”

Scott’s eyes scanned what he had written. “And the time Cathy showed up and the kids weren’t there in
the morning?”

“It was the only time my job interfered—there was an emergency, so the kids stayed with my
parents. I—”

“Anna.” Scott was looking at her empathetically. “That’s enough of an answer. Every parent’s job interferes sometimes. I’m impressed it’s only been once. Look, here I am, on a Sunday.” He winked
at her.

Anna tried to stop the defensiveness that was
overtaking her.

Scott leant back in his chair. “To me,” he said, “this sounds like someone out to cause problems. It sounds like her claims are exaggerated and false, even if she believes them to be true. Nothing says neglect, and Anna, I want to reassure you that I think we’ll be coming out on top with
this one.”

A breath Anna hadn’t realised she’d been holding expelled from her chest. “Are
you sure?”

“I can’t give any guarantees. But it sounds like this is a woman whose religious beliefs and personal dislike for choices you are entitled to make as a guardian, such as day care, have led her to make some pretty extreme, false claims. All parents have their kids stay with grandparents at times. You’ve never left the kids alone, you’ve never beaten them, or verbally abused them. They are fed, in school, clothed—I don’t think she has a leg to stand on. I’m actually quite confused as to how it’s gone
this far.”

“The new caseworker was
never friendly.”

Scott’s eyebrows pressed together. “That’s also confusing me. It’s unusual to switch caseworkers, and especially to switch them, then switch back, even if Lorna was apparently on holiday. I’m wondering if the wrong paperwork got lodged or…” he paused, “something. From what I see, things are in
your favour.”

Slightly reassured, Anna nodded, though the worry still ate
at her.

“As for the ‘sexual partners’… You are allowed to date. No one said this means you need to become a spinster. We will be needing this,” his eyes dropped to his notes, “‘Kym’ to establish that she is in no way involved with you—in that
manner, anyway.”

“There will be no issue
with that.”

“And Lane will probably need to testify to the manner of your relationship. I’ll need a list of names from you for character references. Some will be written and some I may ask to testify—people like the day care workers, your boss, your mother, teachers at Ella’s school. We won’t be using Lane or Kym for these, due to the allegations made against them. But anyone else
is fine.”

They went over names and numbers. When Anna stood to go, she looked at the photo on his desk. It showed a smiling woman with her arms wrapped around two
young boys.

“Thank you, Scott. You have a
beautiful family.”

He smiled at the photo. “I do. I just happen to believe that everyone deserves to have what
I have.”

Anna nodded at him, and, as she turned to go, he called her back. “Anna! Do you mind me asking?” He grinned, and she could see the young man peek through who had probably had many a wild party with her ex in law school. “How the hell did you tie down Hayley for
three years?”

Anna almost laughed. “We thought we wanted the
same things.”

“And now?”

“Now I just want those
kids back.”

He nodded. “I’ll be in contact. Call me tomorrow if you have any issues with Lorna. Unfortunately, they have their own policies we lawyers don’t get much
say in.”

Anna nodded, thanked him again,
and left.

She didn’t feel like she was any closer to having the
kids back.

This whole thing was like
a nightmare.

In her car, Anna sat for a minute, staring out
the window.

It
looked
like it would be in her favour, but Scott had said there were no guarantees. And when she had asked if she
 
did
 
get them back this week, how the permanent guardianship hearing would go, he had said they’d take it one step at a time, that if she got them back temporarily, the court usually found in favour of whomever the parents had named, come the guardianship hearing. But, he’d said, their focus was the temporary guardianship hearing and disputing the neglect claims
for now.

Anna couldn’t help but wonder, how would the permanent guardianship hearing go with this on her record? She felt ill and like her head
was spinning.

Had she, in some small way, neglected the kids for Lane? Anna hadn’t thought she had. Lane had made Anna’s life so much more positive during an incredibly trying time, and she didn’t really understand how she was meant to have stopped it from happening. Should
she have?

Her fingers gripped the steering wheel, heart pounding in her chest. In the rearview mirror, Anna caught sight of the scratches on her neck from Toby as Lorna had pulled him off her. They were tiny, thin, but long; he had not let go until forced. What if she didn’t get them back, despite what Scott said? They’d been taken once. Or what if she did, and then the judge found in favour of Cathy at the other hearing? Cathy, who had a stable home life, who wasn’t a lesbian in a new relationship; even scratch the lesbian part: Cathy, who was settled down, married; Cathy, who didn’t work full time. It had never occurred to Anna before that being a lesbian could impact this. Even after being assured by Scott and Hayley that it couldn’t, worry gnawed at
her stomach.

Cathy would never use the kids having a sleepover as an excuse to stay the night at
her girlfriend’s.

Head hurting from beating herself up, Anna drove on autopilot. After parking in her usual spot at the hospital, she sat, staring out
the window.

Jake and Sally would not want the kids in foster care, or at Cathy’s. They didn’t even want them with Anna’s parents. And considering how her father had been since Jake had died, she was starting to understand that decision even more than she had in
the beginning.

Without thinking, Anna pulled her phone out and sent a text
to Kym.

Gonna need that wine
tonight, please.

She climbed out of the car and took the back hallways to her office, avoiding eye contact with anyone who recognised her. Closing the door behind her, she stood in the room, looking around, bracing for something she realised she had been headed towards
all day.

There was a finger painting Toby had done in day care on her wall, next to a drawing Ella had made. Toby’s painting was all red, his current favourite colour. Ella had drawn a splotchy drawing of her panda teddy. The tree in the picture had pink leaves, because, “Why not,
Aunty Na?”

Watching the door,
Anna waited.

It didn’t take long. Lane entered the office, concern on
her face.

Anna straightened. She wanted to smile. Lane looked so familiar, so worried about her as she closed the door behind her. Despite wanting to meet her, Anna forced herself to take a step back. Lane paused when she saw the motion, eyebrows
knitting together.

“Anna? What’s happened? Did you see
the lawyer?”

Anna kept her arms crossed in front of her. She cleared her throat. “I did. He’s really hopeful that I’ll get
them back.”

Lane looked relieved. “Thank God. Did you get news
of them?”

“I did. They’re okay, apparently. I still don’t know if I’ll get to see them tomorrow.”

“Hopefully you can. You’ll feel so much better if you can see them with your
own eyes.”

Anna couldn’t quite make eye contact with Lane. Her stomach was churning, and Anna didn’t want to do what she was about to. Her fingers clenched, nails biting into
her skin.

Lane looked at her for a second. “Anna? What
is it?”

Anna needed to say it, but she was having a lot of trouble doing so. She swallowed and finally looked Lane in the eye, jaw set, trying to get
herself together.

Eyes darkening, Lane shook her head, her cheeks flushing. “Anna.” Her voice was
low. “No.”