Chapter 6 - Lorraine Chooses Daniel Again
Claire expected the medical record to change her mother’s mind.
Instead, Lorraine defended Daniel harder.
“You’re twisting everything.”
They met at a diner because Claire refused to enter the farmhouse while Daniel’s protective-order hearing was pending.
Lorraine pushed her untouched coffee aside.
“Daniel has taken care of me for nine years.”
“And Maya?”
“He has taken care of her too.”
Claire almost answered sharply.
Then she stopped.
“Mom, what are you afraid of?”
Lorraine blinked.
The question landed differently than accusation.
Eventually she whispered, “Being alone.”
There it was.
Daniel drove her to appointments. Managed household repairs. Paid bills online. Chose restaurants. Handled insurance renewals.
Slowly, competence had become dependence.
Lorraine knew he had a temper.
She also believed losing him would leave her incapable of functioning.
“You called Maya’s broken nose a scratch,” Claire said.
Lorraine looked down.
“Because if I admitted what happened, I knew you’d make him leave.”
“He made himself leave.”
“You always think things are that simple.”
“No.”
Claire leaned closer.
“I think you made Maya pay for your fear.”
Lorraine stood abruptly and left twenty dollars beneath the coffee cup.
That evening she submitted a statement through Daniel’s attorney supporting his version that Maya had fallen during “a heated family disagreement.”
Maya read it once and put the paper face down.
“She picked him.”
Claire wanted to contradict her.
She couldn’t.
The setback affected more than emotion.
With Lorraine disputing Maya’s account, Daniel’s attorney argued the protective order should be narrowed and described Claire as an “out-of-state military officer escalating a domestic misunderstanding.”
Claire had recently transferred to a training command in Georgia. She could not simply remain in Tennessee indefinitely.
She requested emergency family leave and started arranging a transfer closer to Maya.
It could stall her promotion.
She did it anyway.
Two days later, the sheriff’s investigator called.
They had interviewed Daniel’s son, Travis.
He claimed the house transaction was completely legitimate.
But during the interview, he made one mistake.
He referred to Maya’s refusal as “the same problem we had with her guardianship.”
Nobody had told Claire anything about a guardianship.
May you like
Because no guardianship existed.
Yet.
