Chapter 6
I asked Ava if she wanted Mom to join our conversation.
She nodded. Denise called Nia, who arrived twenty minutes later. I spent those minutes looking at Ava’s drawing with her. She had put a dog in front of the house even though we didn’t have one.
“He can be imaginary,” she said.
“Absolutely.”
When Nia came in, she knelt beside Ava’s chair.
“Grandma said you had questions.”
Ava looked at both of us. “Are you getting divorced?”
Nia’s eyes filled, but she answered.
“We’re living in different places right now. We haven’t made a final decision about our marriage.”
“Is it because of me?”
“No,” I said. “It’s because Mom and I have things to work through.”
Ava studied her drawing. “Are you mad at each other?”
“Sometimes we feel hurt,” Nia said. “We both love you. You can ask us what’s happening, and we’ll tell you the parts you need to know.”
I told Ava she would keep going to the same school and following the schedule she already knew. Nia told her she wasn’t moving to Westbridge.
Ava looked relieved. Then she asked the question I should have expected.
“Will Vanessa still come to our house?”
Nia took a breath. “No. Vanessa and I aren’t spending time together now.”
Ava nodded as if that was all she needed. Later, she might ask more. For that day, she picked up her pencil and asked whether either of us knew how to draw a dog’s paws.
We stayed and helped.
The following week, Nia returned the apartment deposit and replaced the money used for the moving company. Priya and Daniel reviewed the account records. The payments were accounted for.
Vanessa’s actions were a separate matter. Daniel sent her a formal request to preserve the application records and stop contacting Nia about the move. Priya sent her a notice about the statement bearing my signature. Vanessa answered through a lawyer, saying she had intended the paperwork as a draft.
The application history showed it had been submitted. Mr. Price had received both documents. That mattered.
Priya explained our options. I could report the forged statement to the authorities and provide the records. Whether a charge followed would be their decision. I wanted the false document on record, especially because it concerned Ava’s move.
I made the report. I gave the investigator copies of the statement, the apartment application, and Mr. Price’s emails. Nia provided her account history and her messages with Vanessa. The investigator said they would review it and contact us if they needed more.
I told Ava nothing about the report. It was an adult matter, and the paperwork had not changed her school or where she lived.
At the same time, Nia and I began meeting with a family mediator. We needed a clear parenting schedule whether we stayed married or not. Our first meeting was uncomfortable. We disagreed about holidays and how to handle school events. The mediator kept bringing us back to Ava’s routine.
By the third meeting, we had a written plan. Ava would stay with Nia during the school week, as she had been doing since I moved out. She would spend Tuesday evening and alternating weekends with me. We would share information about school, health, and travel. Neither of us would change her school or move her far away without working out a new plan first.
When the mediator asked us to sign, Nia looked at me.
“I should have done this with you before,” she said.
“Yes,” I replied.
We signed it.
I rented a small apartment close to Ava’s school. Julian helped me move my things. Ava chose the yellow blanket for her bed and arranged her books by color.
“It feels like my room,” she said.
“It is your room.”
“Can I leave my pencils here?”
“You can leave whatever you want here.”
The first Tuesday evening, we made grilled cheese and read together. I drove her back to Nia’s house at the time we had agreed. She hugged me at the door, then ran inside to tell Nia about the book.
I sat in my car for a minute afterward. Bringing Ava back was hard. I had also seen how much calmer she was when both homes followed the same plan.
In early winter, the investigator called. Vanessa had acknowledged entering the signatures. She maintained that Nia knew about the application, but she admitted I had never consented to the move. The investigator was preparing the file for review.
I told Priya, then called Nia. She was quiet when I gave her the news.
“I should have stopped her,” she said.
“You stopped the move once we spoke,” I replied. “You also helped correct the records.”
“I still wish I’d come to you first.”
“So do I.”
Ava had a school meeting the next morning. Nia and I attended together. Her teacher showed us the stories Ava had written. One was about the imaginary dog from her drawing. He lived in two houses and knew exactly where his bed was in each one.
I read it twice.
May you like
After the meeting, Nia asked if I wanted to talk about us. I did. We arranged a time after Ava’s next visit with Denise.
I had spent months hoping Nia would ask me to try again. Now that she had, I wasn’t sure what answer I wanted to give.
