Every one of the four was a text message or an email from me to Simone, and every one of them was flat, factual, and about a schedule, because I had written them all knowing they would be read one day.

The motion was denied in about eleven minutes.

That is what the discipline bought.

Not a moral victory.

Eleven minutes in a hearing.

It is also the only thing I have ever done in this whole account that I would recommend to another person without qualification.

Part Fifteen: What the Family Court Actually Did

I did not get sole custody that week and no judge in this country would have given it to me, and I want to walk through what actually happened, because the fantasy version of this does real harm to people who are living it.