Chapter 5: The First Day She Almost Lost
St.
Catherine's Primary School had a wrought iron gate and a receptionist named Mrs.
Alderton who wore reading glasses on a beaded chain and did not appear to find anything in the world particularly surprising.
She looked up when Emma walked in with Olivia.
"Olivia Ashworth," Emma said.
"Year Two.
She has a confirmed placement."
Mrs.
Alderton typed.
Scrolled.
Typed again.
Emma waited.
Olivia stood beside her, backpack on, both shoes on, hands folded in front of her.
"I'm showing a hold on the placement," Mrs.
Alderton said.
She said it the way someone announces a slight delay on a train — unfortunate, impersonal, not her fault.
"Filed this morning.
Administrative review pending."
Emma's hand tightened on the strap of her bag.
"Filed by whom?"
"I'm not able to say."
"Can you tell me when?"
"The timestamp shows 7:52 a.m."
Emma looked at Daniel.
7:52.
Before they had even reached the driveway.
Before the folder.
Before the confrontation.
Margaret had filed the hold before the morning had even started.
"I would like to speak with the headmistress," Emma said.
"She's in a meeting until—"
"Please tell her it's urgent.
Tell her the placement is being challenged and that the child is standing in the lobby."
Mrs.
Alderton looked at Olivia over her glasses.
Olivia looked back at her, steady and quiet.
Mrs.
Alderton picked up the phone.
The headmistress — Dr.
Fiona Reeves — came out in four minutes.
She was a tall woman in her fifties with short gray hair and the kind of posture that suggested she had handled worse things than this before breakfast.
She looked at Emma.
Then at Olivia.
Then at Daniel, who was standing slightly behind them both.
"Mr.
Ashworth," she said.
"I wondered when I'd see you in person."
"You know him?" Emma said.
"He called me eight months ago when the placement was filed.
He asked me to keep Olivia's enrollment quiet until the start of term." She looked at him steadily.
"He said there might be interference."
Daniel said nothing.
"There is a hold on the placement," Dr.
Reeves continued.
"Filed this morning by a legal representative acting on behalf of a Margaret Ashworth, claiming the enrollment was made without proper family authorization." She paused.
"However, the enrollment was made by the child's legal guardian and primary custodial parent, whose name appears on the original filing.
The hold has no standing until a court order is produced."
Emma exhaled slowly.
"Olivia may attend class today," Dr.
Reeves said.
She looked down at Olivia.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes," Olivia said.
"Good.
Mrs.
Alderton will take you to your classroom." She straightened.
"Mr.
and Mrs.
Ashworth — I'd like a word in my office."
"We're not married," Emma said.
"I know," Dr.
Reeves said.
"That's what I'd like to talk about."
They followed her down the hall.
Emma glanced back once.
Olivia was walking beside Mrs.
Alderton, backpack straight, both shoes on, not looking back.
In the office, Dr.
Reeves closed the door and sat down.
"I've received two calls this morning," she said.
"The first was the legal hold.
The second was from a journalist at the regional paper asking whether St.
Catherine's had enrolled the illegitimate daughter of the Ashworth family."
Emma's stomach dropped.
"I told him we do not comment on student enrollment," Dr.
Reeves said.
"But I want you to understand — whoever is doing this is not only attacking the legal documents.
They are trying to make this child's first day of school a public story."
Emma looked at Daniel.
He was staring at the desk.
His face had gone the color of old paper.
"She called a journalist," Emma said.
Not to him.
To herself.
"The call came from a private number," Dr.
Reeves said.
"But the timing suggests coordination."
Emma stood up.
"We need to move faster than we planned."
"What are you going to do?" Daniel asked.
She picked up her bag.
"What you should have done three years ago, when you first filed those documents." She looked at him.
"I'm going to make this impossible to undo."
She thanked Dr.
Reeves and walked out into the hallway.
Her phone was already in her hand.
She had one call to make.
One person who had been waiting for exactly this moment — though she hadn't known it until now.
May you like
Her name was Grace Holloway.
And she was the best family law attorney in the county.
