‘I knew the judge would be against me,’ Henry said quietly. They had settled down to a coffee in the crypt café in the Royal Courts of Justice.
‘He’s not against you, Henry,’ Jess replied. ‘All he decided today is where to place the children for a few weeks until we get the welfare officer’s report. They were already with Susan. It does make sense to leave them where they are for now. But you heard what the judge said. That doesn’t mean anything in terms of the ultimate decision. It’s going to be very different when we come back for the full hearing.’
‘Yeah, but now she’s got six or eight weeks to clean up her act, hasn’t she? She will be in every night, drinking lemonade and playing Monopoly with them, won’t she? She will be putting on the full-time mother act, especially when the welfare officer comes to visit.’
‘It’s too late for that, Henry,’ Geoff Bourne replied, shaking his head. ‘We already have evidence of what she’s been getting up to. Even her friends are concerned about her behaviour. I am very close to verifying that two of the men she has been seen with have previous convictions for supplying hard drugs. It’s not going to work.’
‘The children will tell the welfare officer the truth,’ Jess added, ‘and I think her parents will tell the welfare officer the truth. She will have to call them as witnesses, and I don’t think they’re going to lie for her to an officer of the court.’
‘What you have to do between now and the final hearing,’ Geoff said, ‘is to make sure you can account for every moment in the children’s lives when they are back with you. How are you going to get them to school? How are you going to get them home from school? How late at night are you going to work? And so on. You know the kind of thing. We’ve talked about it.’
Henry drained his coffee cup slowly.
‘I can’t help the fact that I have to work hard,’ he said. ‘Some people would even give me some credit for it.’
‘Bernard Wesley will give you credit for it,’ Jess reassured him. ‘Believe me, I know the man. He is in favour of hard work, and he will want to reward it. All you have to do is show him how you’re going to take care of the children.’
Henry shrugged. ‘My parents live too far away to help regularly,’ he said. ‘My sister will help. She could collect them from school and stay with them until I get home.’
‘The judge would prefer a professional arrangement,’ Jess replied. ‘Your sister has a life. She’s not going to be on call the whole time. It’s not as though you can’t afford to pay someone. You work hard and you earn good money. Make your money work for you.’
He nodded. ‘All right. I can do that.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Talking of work,’ he said, ‘I have to be running along.’
‘That’s fine, Henry,’ Geoff replied. ‘Just keep in close touch.’
Henry shook hands with Geoff and Jess in turn, and seemed to be on the point of leaving, when he sat down again abruptly.
‘You know what really hurts me about all this? It’s not that she complains about my working all the time. I understand that, in a way. I’m sure there were times when she was lonely. I didn’t do it deliberately to hurt her. It was just that I was trying to make a good life for us, and that’s what it took. I could have dealt with it better. I know that now. But what hurts me is that she doesn’t even want the children. They’re just pawns in the game to her. She wants to get whatever she can out of our marriage, and if she has to use Marianne and Stephanie as bargaining counters to do that, she will.’
‘That doesn’t necessarily mean she doesn’t want them,’ Jess said.
‘She’s told me she doesn’t want them,’ Henry replied.
Jess and Geoff exchanged glances.
‘When did she say that?’ Jess asked.
‘Lots of times, when she came home at God knows what time of the morning, half cut. She would say that she was much happier before she had children, and they just got in the way of her having a good time. She said she was too young to be a mother. She told me a lot of things, believe me: what a mistake it had been marrying me; what a sad little life I led being a mere mechanic; how much more interesting the people were that she was meeting on her nights out; even how much better than me the men were in bed –’
‘Henry…’ Jess began.
‘But you know what? I don’t care about that now. If she wants to screw around and throw her life away on drugs and all the rest of it, there’s nothing I can do about it. If she wants to insult me, there’s nothing I can do about that either. But she is not going to take my children down with her. I won’t allow that. I won’t allow it.’
He looked directly at Jess.
‘Do you think the judge understands that?’
‘Absolutely, yes, I think he is very capable of understanding it. He was a very successful Silk in family cases long before he became a judge. He has a lot of experience at seeing through people. So, yes, I do think he will understand it.’
‘I can’t take risks with my children,’ Henry said.
‘I’m not asking you to take risks,’ Jess replied. ‘I’m asking you to trust the process and the people involved.’ She took his hand. ‘Henry, listen, there are never any guarantees. But I have a good feeling about your case. I know Geoff does, too.’
‘Absolutely,’ Geoff said at once.
‘We have a good case and we have the right judge. I really believe the judge is going to come down on our side. You just have to be patient. I know eight weeks seems like an eternity now, but in the context of your life with the children, it’s a very short time.’
They shook hands again, and Henry made his way towards the exit. He stopped just before turning the corner and going out of their sight.
‘Thank you. Thank you both, for all you’ve done for me,’ he said. ‘You’re the best. I know that. You’ve helped me more than I can ever tell you.’