Chapter 4: The Document I Never Signed
"What is that?" I asked.
Jackson looked at the floor.
"Emily, just let me explain —"
"What is that document, Jackson?"
Officer Grant answered for him.
"It appears to be a consent form.
It authorizes Lorraine Callahan to act as temporary emergency guardian for Mia Callahan in the event that both parents are unavailable or incapacitated." He paused.
"It's dated six weeks ago."
Six weeks ago I had been working double shifts at the hospital because two nurses on our ward had gone out on leave.
I had been exhausted and distracted and grateful that Jackson had been handling more of the household arrangements.
He had put papers in front of me.
Insurance renewals.
A car registration.
A form for Mia's pediatric records.
I had signed things without reading them.
My hands went cold.
"That's not my signature," I said, because it was the only thing I could say that I was completely certain of.
"Emily —" Jackson started.
"It doesn't look like my signature.
Look at the E.
I loop the E.
That one doesn't loop."
Grant looked at the document.
Then at me.
"We can have that examined."
"I want it examined." I turned to Jackson fully.
"Did you sign that?
Did you forge my name, or did your mother?"
The silence in that kitchen was the loudest thing I had ever heard.
Cassandra had stopped her phone call.
She was standing at the far counter watching us, and for the first time since I had arrived, she looked uncertain.
"Jackson." My voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Answer me."
"It was just a precaution," he said.
"Mom was worried that if something happened to one of us, she'd have no legal way to keep Mia safe."
"So you forged my signature on a legal document."
"I didn't think you'd agree —"
"Because I wouldn't have agreed." I stepped back from him.
Mia stirred against my shoulder and I held her more firmly.
"Because she is my daughter and Lorraine has no right to her.
That is not a paranoid position, Jackson.
That is the law."
Officer Grant was writing something in his notebook.
Jackson watched him and something shifted in his posture.
The calm he had walked in with started to crack at the edges.
"You don't need to write that down.
This is a family matter."
"Sir, a minor was found alone in a locked room.
There's a document with a potentially forged signature.
These are things we document."
"I want to call our attorney," Jackson said.
"You're welcome to do that."
He pulled out his phone and walked back toward the front of the house.
I watched him go.
Then I looked at Cassandra, who was still standing at the far end of the kitchen with her arms crossed and her phone held against her chest.
"Did you know about the document?" I asked her.
She looked at the window.
"Cassandra.
Did you know?"
She set her phone face-down on the counter.
"I knew Mom was worried about Mia's stability."
"Mia's stability." I said it back to her slowly.
"She's three years old.
She was locked in a sewing room.
She thought I wasn't coming." My voice broke on the last word and I pressed my lips together and waited until it steadied.
"What exactly did your mother tell you about my parenting that made any of this feel acceptable to you?"
Cassandra's mouth opened.
Then closed.
Officer Rivera stepped into the kitchen from the hallway.
"Officer Grant," he said, "Lorraine Callahan just pulled into the driveway."
Every person in that room went still.
May you like
Then the front door opened, and I heard Lorraine's voice — bright, unhurried, as though she had simply been out for groceries — call out: "Jackson?
Is everything sorted?"
