BUSY with complications in their lives, Laura Ackerson and Oksana Samarsky hadn’t touched base for a while by June 2011. Oksana’s work and class studies had gotten knocked off track by a medical crisis that required her to make two visits to the emergency room. Laura—torn between the additional classes she was now taking at the community college, the custody case, her two boys and trying to turn her fledgling businesses into successes—could relate.
Oksana replied to Laura’s e-mail sent a few days earlier: “Hi, are you there? I’m sorry it took me a few days to reply to your last e-mail.”
Laura had good news to report: “Should have my boys back in August and then some huge project”—i.e., her court case—“can come to a close.”
Oksana had good news, too. She told Laura she’d sold two small canvases for a thousand dollars on Facebook.
Laura cheered her friend’s news and suggested ways to expand her sales—even going so far as to volunteer to help set up the online infrastructure that Oksana needed to get more consistent sales. Oksana offered to pay her a commission.
Laura said, “Eh. I don’t need a percentage for it.”
“But you are helping!”
“Then send me a painting. Sign it, too?”
—
GRANT Hayes could be very reasonable and polite to Laura when he wanted something from her, and in early June he did. He asked her to keep the kids for a week, since Amanda was past her due date and about to give birth any moment, and caring for the boys was too demanding for her at this time. Laura was happy to comply. She switched up her work schedule and Chevon picked up the slack. The meetings with clients and potential clients that Laura had scheduled that week were all covered by Chevon using Laura’s car.
Amanda was additionally relieved to be free of that responsibility, because she suddenly had a new emotional burden to handle as well: on Sha’s twenty-second birthday—June 7, 2011—Amanda’s mother, Retha Faye Ryan Abernathy, passed away in her sleep at her Kirtland, New Mexico, home. She was seventy years old.
Sha and her boyfriend, Matt, had invited Amanda and Grant to join them for dinner to celebrate Sha’s birthday, and they kept the date despite Retha Faye’s death so that Sha could comfort Amanda. Grant met Matt for the first time, but it was a brief encounter. He dropped his wife at their table and announced he had to leave for an appointment in Morrisville. He exhibited no concern about Amanda’s loss.
Two days later, on June 9, Amanda gave birth, by cesarean section, to Lillian Ann Love Hayes—nine days past her due date. The next day, Laura brought Gentle and little Grant into the hospital to meet their new half sister.
—
THE economic situation in Grant and Amanda’s household had reached a critical point. There was no money coming in but plenty of it rolling out the door. No small economies would resolve their dilemma. They were not capable of placing a deposit on a cheaper apartment. They had to take action before they were evicted and left stranded on the street with three children.
Grant’s parents owned a number of rental properties in Kinston but they were currently all occupied—some by other family members. The only option that remained was moving in and living with Patsy and Grant in their small house. The prospect of going back home had to seem like abject failure and it was not a feeling that Grant had the emotional strength to take in stride.
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WHEN Grant didn’t need anything from Laura, things got ugly fast. On Wednesday, June 15, Laura met her kids at Monkey Joe’s to spend some extra time with them. She hugged them tight to say good-bye and the kids started to cry. They blubbered about not wanting to leave her, and Laura tried to comfort them with sweet words and kisses. Grant grew impatient with the emotional display. He jerked the children out of her arms and tossed them into the car while they cried. He told Laura that there would not be a midweek visit again.
Laura was distraught. She could not believe that Grant would be so rough and unfeeling to their boys and did not understand Grant’s attitude that it was best for them to leave her in an abrupt fashion.
That night she wrote to him: “I appreciate you allowing me to see our boys during your ordered time. Thank you. If you allow it in the future, could we please plan it so that you’re not ‘waiting an additional hour and a half for me.’ Or so I can say goodbye to my boys without being rushed. Thanks. Why don’t you use it as three hours of free time to take your wife out or do something for yourself. . . . I would like this to be a mutually beneficial thing—not just you ‘doing me a favor.’”
On June 20, Laura wrote again requesting another midweek visit, and that instigated another angry exchange of messages. Grant accused her of negligence or worse, claiming the boys always came back sick after being with her. Then they argued about financial issues. Laura accused Grant of using Amanda. “You were trying to convince Amanda that I was an evil, money-hungry woman out to ‘get you’ so that you could garner her sympathy and move to a quick emergency wedding, allowing you total access to her money in case she were to wise up. . . . What does it benefit you to have someone so ‘crazy’ in your past? Does it give you good stories? Or is it just good to manipulate and get sympathy with?” Laura mentioned that an earlier girlfriend of Grant’s had “bought it. Amanda’s buying it now. How far does the gravy train go? . . . Will I still be the enemy when you’re done with Amanda? Why don’t you put your energy into writing a sitcom about someone with Borderline Personality Disorder and get rich off your own back instead of trying to take advantage of women like Amanda?”
After that exchange, Grant denied Laura her requested midweek visit and accused her of using the boys as tools of manipulation. Then, he climbed on his high horse and claimed everything he was doing was for the sake of the two kids.
Laura ended her participation in the conversation by writing, “Grant, this is a power play for you. I’m not participating. . . . I guess I’ll have to wait until August when I ask for a different order. Thank you for being difficult once again.”
—
LAURA called her brother Jason at the end of June, but Jason was in line at the DMV and had to end the call abruptly. As she hung up, Laura said, “I love you.”
Laura and Jason never spoke again.
—
ON June 28, 2011, Laura met with her attorney, John Sargeant. He was impressed by how far she’d come with her personal development since they’d first met a year ago. Back then, her lack of self-confidence and her doubts about herself were apparent. Now, she was more poised and her career success was a point of pride. They discussed possible witnesses for the August hearing. Laura was eager for the date to arrive.
John Sargeant never saw his client again.
—
ON Friday, July 8, 2011, Laura picked up the boys a few hours earlier than usual. They had a lovely weekend. They played at home and at the bounce house at the park-and-play and did some shopping together. On Sunday morning, they went to a different church than usual so she could see whether they liked the Children’s Church. Laura was very pleased with their behavior. The proud mother wrote in her journal that little Grant “had a good weekend and four-day week. He watched fireworks and learned about space, compasses and how popsicles are really made. The boys got along really well and we used the system star charts that improve our interactions greatly.”
On Monday the eleventh, Laura swapped e-mails with a former boyfriend, James Harrison, telling him that she’d been in court with Grant for the past year. “I’ve heard that your twenties are the hardest compared with the rest of adulthood and I can definitely say mine have been rough but good.” She went on to express optimism about rebuilding her life, growing her business and being a single mother.