Pete shakes his head. “This nanny share isn’t in Theo’s best interests. He needs to socialize with children who are the same developmental age as him. Being at the Lamberts’ with a nanny who barely speaks English and a child with special needs isn’t helping.”

   “And can you offer him an environment where he will be with other children his age?”

After a moment Pete sighs. “Not right now. He was thrown out of nursery for hitting.”

“So where is he today?”

“At a neighbor’s house. She homeschools, but her kids are older. She’s just doing us a favor so we could both come to this meeting.”

“Well, I strongly suggest you talk it over with the CAFCASS officer before you go against the biological parents’ wishes. But if Theo’s been violent with other children, be prepared for them to ask some tough questions about your own parenting style as well.”

“Jesus,” Pete says. “Jesus. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“That’s not to say the Lamberts will succeed in taking Theo away from you,” Anita adds. “Usually, the courts work on what’s called the no order principle—in other words, when in doubt, leave things as they are. This is clearly a very unusual case, but the bottom line is that the court will have to decide returning Theo to his birth family is in his best interests. Hopefully, they’ll conclude that the status quo is actually better for all concerned.”

“Well, it obviously is,” Pete says. “And that’s what Miles and Lucy thought, too, before it all went crazy.”

“Did they put anything in writing?”

Pete shakes his head. We’ve been back over every email, looking for something that might prove what the Lamberts agreed to, but there’s nothing specific, just vague protestations of friendship and goodwill.

“When did they start all this legal stuff?” I ask.

Anita checks one of the forms. “About eight weeks ago.”

   “You see?” I say quietly to Pete. “Eight weeks. That would have been just after our first meeting with them.”

He doesn’t reply. His eyes look haunted.

I turn back to Anita. “And David? What does this mean for him?”

“David’s case is completely different from Theo’s. The Lamberts are asking the court’s permission to apply for a Special Guardianship Order. SGOs are quite a recent invention—they’re sometimes called super guardianships, because once you have one, you can overrule the wishes of everyone else connected with the child, even the natural parents—in other words, you. However, it’s not clear whether the Lamberts actually qualify as potential guardians under the Children Act—just as you have very few legal rights over Theo, they have very few over David. They’re arguing that, as he has such complex needs, they’re already his de facto guardians and it’s in his best interests for that to be recognized in law. Again, I think the social worker’s report will be crucial.”

My head is swimming, but I force myself to remain calm. “Will we still be allowed to see him? If they get what they want, I mean?”

Anita consults the bundle. “To a certain extent. One of the things the judge has to consider is whether the natural parents can meet the child’s needs. The Lamberts have written a statement to address that point.” She reads aloud, “ ‘The respondents have consistently shown little interest in their birth son, visiting him only when pressed to do so, or when dropping the applicants’ birth son off for free childcare. They have displayed little awareness of his medical condition, on one occasion giving him chocolate, which would have necessitated hospital treatment had we not intervened. They have never bought him gifts, apart from some secondhand books the applicants’ birth son had grown out of that were stored in their attic. The books were later found to be moldy, causing a chest infection which required hospital treatment. Nevertheless, recognizing the importance which the courts place on parental contact, the applicants will offer the respondents access to David by means of a supervised two-hour session at a registered contact center once a month.’ ”

   “Unbelievable,” Pete says furiously. “They’ve twisted everything. That chocolate was before we even knew David had a medical condition. And I swear those books weren’t moldy.” He snaps his fingers. “Wait a minute. There’s proof we care about David. A film of me reading to him on Facebook. And Lucy calling me a marvel.”

He gets out his phone and starts scrolling. After a few moments his shoulders sag. “She’s deleted it.”

“Or rather, Miles has,” I say slowly. “He has access to her Facebook account.”

“I’m afraid that kind of thing’s to be expected,” Anita says. “The family courts are, quite literally, a law unto themselves. Everything hinges on the interests of the child—and, since that’s a call usually made by a judge sitting on his or her own without a jury, tiny scraps of evidence can become quite significant. But don’t despair. They’re also pretty good at seeing through all the chaff and focusing on the real issues. And just as with Theo, we’ll argue the no order principle with David—that the status quo is best for all concerned. If we can get the social workers on board with that, the court is likely to agree.”

Pete nods. “That makes sense. Any social worker worth their salt is bound to see through this nonsense.”

I say slowly, “I don’t want to do that.”

They both turn to me—Pete surprised, Anita concerned.

I add, “We’ve got to fight for Theo, obviously. But we can’t abandon David. Yes, I think Lucy loves him in her own way, but Miles—deep down, I think Miles despises him. I think he only wants to keep him for Lucy’s sake, and because he’s hoping for a massive payout if his lawsuit’s successful. And he’s our son. I won’t leave my child to be brought up by a man like that. I can’t. I want to fight for David, too.”

50

   MADDIE

   PETE LOOKS AT ME, aghast. I stare back at him defiantly.

“It’ll be harder to argue,” Anita says mildly. “Effectively, you’ll have to mirror what the Lamberts are doing—a Declaration of Parentage Order, a Child Arrangements Order, and a Special Guardianship Order. But you’re eight weeks behind them—which means the first hearings in Theo’s case will take place before you’re even off the starting blocks with David.”

“He’s my child,” I repeat. “I can’t leave him to be brought up by that—that monster. All along, we’ve let Miles push us around. Well, it stops now. He’s picked the wrong family to bully. If he can fight for both kids, so can we.”