Chapter 16 - Before the Family Reset
The presentation had forty-two slides.
Judith called it THE FAMILY RESET, a showcase for her interior-design company about building a new life in an old house.
Slide twelve showed Emma's room before the proposed renovation.
The desk was marked REMOVE.
The quilt was marked DISCARD.
A photograph of Nora holding baby Emma had a small red X drawn across it.
Andrew sat very still as Maya scrolled.
"This isn't remodeling," he said.
"It's erasing a child."
The final slides included a photo of Clara smiling beneath a banner reading OUR FAMILY BEGINS HERE.
The presentation was scheduled for clients the week after the shower.
Judith had treated Emma's disappearance from the room as a finished project.
"Can we stop her from using my daughter's pictures?" Andrew asked.
"We'll object formally and preserve the original file," Maya said.
"The images came from a private household. There are privacy and consent questions, and she has been told not to publish them."
Judith's company canceled its planned presentation after receiving the objection and learning the photographs might become evidence in the family proceedings.
An employee quietly confirmed that Judith had marketed the project as "a difficult child finally adjusting to her new family."
That night Andrew told Emma they would move to a place of their own.
She sat cross-legged beside Nora's restored desk, which had been delivered to Tessa's spare room.
"Can the star desk come?" she asked.
"Everywhere you want it."
"Can my brother visit?"
Andrew hesitated.
"Someday, when he's born and everyone has a safe plan, maybe. That's something we'll work out carefully."
"I don't hate him," Emma said.
"I just didn't want him to need me gone."
Andrew hugged her, and she let him hold her without stiffening.
Before bedtime Maya called with news about Judith's latest maneuver.
May you like
She had filed a sworn statement claiming Zoe had coached Emma to lie.
Now Zoe's notes, the guest recordings, and Clara's own admissions would be examined together.
