Chapter 16 - Isolde’s counterclaim
Isolde accused me of alienating Tamsin.
She submitted:
Texts where I called her “dangerous.”
One message to Maribel:
Mom should never be alone with Tamsin again.
Written two hours after the incident.
Angry.
Not a permanent court proposal.
Still.
Then videos from after cutoff?
None.
School counselor said Tamsin asked:
“Is Grandma going to jail?”
Who told her?
Me?
I had said:
“Adults are dealing with court.”
Maribel had said:
“Grandma is in trouble.”
No one said jail.
Children infer.
Then Isolde argued:
I had made Tamsin afraid to eat around her.
Dr. Price said:
Fear began before cutoff, based on Tamsin’s descriptions and contemporaneous recorder.
Not solely my influence.
Then my slap again.
Isolde’s lawyer asked:
“Why should the court trust a father who uses violence?”
I answered:
“Because I admitted it, completed diversion requirements, and have not repeated it.”
At that point:
Anger course complete.
Community service half done.
No new incident.
No threats.
Current behavior.
Then Isolde’s strongest point:
I had allowed her to become a major caregiver.
True.
If she was so controlling, why?
Because I did not see it.
Because grief.
Work.
Convenience.
Because she was also loving.
That did not make me innocent of bad judgment.
I said:
“I trusted the wrong parts of my mother.”
May you like
Judge wrote something down.
I never knew what.
