“Thank you,” Harlow said. “Will they want to talk to my mom?” she asked. “She lives next door and helps to take care of Iris when I’m at work. My daughter stays on her routine that way.”
“I’m sure that it won’t hurt to have your mother talk to them too. It will show that Iris is well taken care of and isn’t left with just anyone while you are earning a living,” Michael said. This was all so overwhelming, Harlow wondered if she’d ever see the finish line of this mess.
“What about your ex-husband?” Michael asked. “I’m assuming that he doesn’t have any rights when it comes to your daughter since he’s in prison.”
“Correct,” Harlow said. “He’s currently serving a five-year sentence. He’s an alcoholic, but he wasn’t always like that. He started drinking after Iris was born and then, he began to stay out all night. I questioned him about it and well, that’s when he gave me this,” she said, pulling her hair back from her face. Michael’s gasp was a familiar response to her, and the reason why she didn’t show many people her scar.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting that,” he said. “He only got five years for doing that to you?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You should have had a better lawyer. I can help you to sue him for full custody of Iris, so when he does get out, he won’t be able to see her, if that’s something that you’re interested in.”
“That would be fantastic,” Harlow agreed. “I want to be free from him and Iris is the last string he has to link himself to me.”
“What about his mother?” Ryker said. “How much of a chance does she have to take Iris?”
“Not much,” the lawyer said. “Besides having to prove harm or neglect by Harlow, Corinne would have to have had a relationship with the child prior to requesting custody. Seeing a baby, a handful of times, doesn’t constitute a relationship. Do you have anything documenting her visits? Time-stamped photos or videos of her holding Iris?”
“I’m sure that I have a few on my phone. Iris is only two, and I haven’t deleted anything. I tried to make her feel welcome and even sent her a picture of her holding the baby when she first met her. It was important to Craig that his mother had a relationship with Iris. I think that it hurt his feelings that Corinne never came around after she was born and when she finally visited, I tried to make it special, so she’d want to come back.”
“Send me any photos and videos that you have. If we can prove that she only visited a handful of times when Iris was five to eight months old, that will help your case. It will show that she never took an interest in building a relationship with her granddaughter, so why want one now?”
“I’m betting it has something to do with her ex,” Ryker said. “Would he send his mother after Iris like this?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Harlow said. “When he first went away, he wrote me these awful letters telling me that he’d take Iris away from me somehow. I usually ignored them, but they were pretty graphic and somewhat disturbing.”
“Did you save any of them?” Michael asked.
“I did,” she said. “I learned not to throw anything away when he sent me something, because it could all be used in court if I had to return there to fight for custody of my daughter, once he was out.”
“Smart girl,” Ryker said.
“Very smart,” Michael agreed. “I’ll need the letters,” he said.
“I will dig them out of storage and get them to you with everything else,” Harlow agreed.
“One last question,” Michael said. “Are you two together—you know, romantically?” He pointed between her and Ryker.
“How is that important in any of this?” Harlow asked. She wasn’t sure how to even answer his question. Sure, they had sex, but they had only been together for a short time, and she didn’t want to overstep.
“Does it matter if we are?” Ryker asked. “I mean, can it harm her chances of fighting this thing?” Harlow almost felt that she was holding her breath waiting for Michael to answer Ryker. If her being with him might give Corinne a leg up in her fight, she would have to put an end to it, and that wasn’t something that she was ready to do. There was no way that she could stay with Ryker there was any possibility that she could lose her daughter.
“No,” Michael said. “It wouldn’t hurt Harlow’s case. I just want to know everything that might come out while we’re in court. I don’t want any surprises—got it?” he asked Harlow.
“Yes,” she agreed. “I understand.” She looked over at Ryker and he nodded as if giving her permission to spill the beans. “Yeah—we’re together.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Michael said. “Anything else I should know?”
“Nothing that I can think of,” Harlow said.
Michael stood and pulled his business card from his jacket and held it out to her. “If you think of anything, please give me a call. Even if you think that it’s nothing important, it might help or hinder your case and I’ll need to know which it might be.”
“All right,” Harlow agreed. “Thank you for taking on my case,” she said.
“Ace isn’t just my employer, he’s my friend. When he called me to tell me about the two of you, and everything you’re going through, I quickly agreed to drive out here. I’m going to do my best to help you, Harlow. We’ll make sure that your little girl stays just where she belongs—here with you.”
She nodded,” Thank you, Michael.”