Chapter 7: Temporary Orders
The first formal hearing took place eight days after Diane dropped Noah on the carpet.
I arrived with my attorney and a folder that contained only primary documents: the police report, the paramedic assessment, the hospital clearance with its noted history of a deliberate drop, photographs of the mark on my face taken the same evening, and the full text of Mark’s early messages demanding an apology and accusing me of escalation. My sister waited outside the courtroom with Noah. The emergency protective order already prohibited both Mark and Diane from approaching us; the hearing would determine how much of that restriction became a longer temporary framework.
Mark appeared with counsel. Diane did not enter the courtroom, but her presence was visible in the statements Mark’s attorney attempted to introduce—characterizations of me as volatile, of the slap as mutual combat, of the drop as an exaggerated mishap involving a fussy infant. My attorney kept the focus on sequence and evidence. An eight-month-old had been dropped. I had been struck for refusing to apologize for defending him. Mark had lunged and been stopped by a controlled defensive technique. The baby had required medical evaluation. The record did not support a narrative of shared responsibility.
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The judge granted temporary sole custody to me, extended the protective order to cover both Mark and Diane for the full temporary period, and ordered that any contact between Mark and Noah occur only under professional supervision at a designated facility. Unsupervised time was denied pending a fuller evaluation. Diane’s request—relayed through Mark’s filing—to be present at any visits was rejected outright. The drop itself remained the central fact that no amount of reframing could erase.
I left the courthouse with the written orders in hand. Noah was asleep in his car seat when my sister transferred him to me. The temporary structure was now enforceable rather than merely requested. Mark’s access had been narrowed to a supervised channel he did not control. Diane’s access had been reduced to zero. I drove back to my sister’s house under the quiet understanding that the legal perimeter would now shape every practical decision that followed.
