WHO: Elvera MacLaver and Henry March WHEN: July 25th, afternoon WHERE: Henry's lawyer, Marina's, office. SUMMARY: Marina evaluates the situation at hand. Elvera and Henry talk a lot without actually saying a lot. WARNINGS: pregnancy talk. two adults trying to navigate a situation neither of them particularly know what to do with. one of them is pregnant and hormonal and emotional. both of them swim in the nile. it's all good.
There was no season to Elvera’s clothes. Not this or last. Instead they were practical, worn, but poorly sized and haphazardly fit. A woman of limited means, who took care of what she had, and wanted to give an impression of trying. It was the first possible hint that this woman might not be a complete gold digger, or at the very least not an intentional one. They usually tried to dress nicer, more put together like a picture out of a magazine. This poor woman wouldn’t even qualify for Good Housekeeping looking like that.
Granted Henry had mud on the cuffs of his pants so he was hardly the picture of professional.
“Good morning.” Marina clipped as she opened her office door for them to come in. “Let’s get started.”
Elvera seemed to fidget, like a naughty child or a spooked mouse. Henry was paying attention and Marina could see that Elvera seemed to be attempting to. She purposely slowed down her cadence just a bit. There would be no returns in ten years of this woman claiming Marina hadn’t explained this document to her in detail.
“The next item of discussion is the trust.” Marina began. “It has been created and once the child has been named I’ll have that added. Partial access to the trust will be established upon age 18 for life expenses as described here, including rent, groceries, utilities, and schooling. Full access will be granted upon turning 21.”
“Sorry-- that means… There’s money to start with. And they can’t have any until they turn eighteen? And then it’d… life expenses…” Elvera seemed to careen in her seat, looking over the pieces as Marina pointed out each item dictated on the list. “And then all of it when they turn 21…? Without any strings?” A twitch to the frighten mouse’s nose.
“There’s a considerable amount of money to start with.” Marina reminded her, though she was unsure if Elvera had a true concept of just how much. “The trust would be disregarding any raising expenses, such as education and rearing, or inheritance upon Mr. March’s eventual demise likely from someone getting tired of him.” Henry chuckled at that and Marina was reminded why she kept him around. Elvera probably looked at him and gave him a sort of a affectionate YEAH UH HUH “Currently the trust is set at 30 million and does not have any strings attached once they reach the age of 21.”
For a moment Marina thought she might argue. But she waited, patiently, until Elvera continued. “Can that be edited, um. After the child is born? Conditions and things?”
It was a curious point of stipulation. But Marina looked to Henry, who nodded. “I can include a clause that would allow that to be amended, but it would need to be approved by both parents before it could be along with an impartial witness.”
“That makes sense.”
Marina like to think all her ideas made sense, that was why she was a lawyer and not something that didn’t require an exacting attention to detail. Well she supposed that bad lawyers didn’t have those.
The rest of it seemed to go easily enough as the mouse attempted to keep up and Marina took care to explain it. If Henry fell asleep on her or got distracted she’d make sure that kid got their inheritance early. The will would be an issue for another day, especially with the additional delights of two grown children.
Elvera better not be pregnant with twins.
“Now, have the two of you given thought to living arrangements?” Marina began as she moved to the next page. “I have the workings of a standard 50/50 split in regards to custody if you are looking to live separately.”
And now it was time to watch the woman swing her head from Henry, to Marina, to the contract, and back around the circuit., “Um…”
For fucks sake, Henry, Marina thought as she looked over at her employer. He shrugged.
“Well, we can revisit this closer to the due date.” she began slowly. “But proceeding on your currently living separately but in the same town, it would stipulate that each parent has 50-50 rights, with alternating weeks assigned and alternating large holidays. Additional time for events such as vacations or trips could be negotiated with proper notice to the parent that would be surrendering their time. Should one parent decide to relocate, that would require visitation to be revisited.”
“Excuse me?” There was a lift to Elvera’s voice, almost manic and certainly attempting to be firm while also somehow also coming off a hysterical.
“Did you need me to go into further detail?” Marina offered, keeping her tone polite.
“I don’t understand?” There were wheels turning, though that could just be the waterworks that Marina could see beginning “I don’t like this.”
Nothing else was said, just that she didn’t like that. No comment on what would be better suited, likely more favorable to her own custody than to Henry’s.
“I can go over what you don’t understand.” Marina began but Henry held up a hand, reaching over to take Elvera’s hand and watching her with an expression Marina didn’t like the look of.
He actually liked this woman. Lady justice save them, her client was an idiot.
“Why don’t we break for lunch.” It wasn’t a question, Marina began to get up from her seat, holding her hand out to the door.
Elvera immediately got to her feet, only seeming to pause to grab her handbag. Henry followed after her, almost ushering and sending Marina a look over his shoulder. He could give her all the looks he wanted, she hadn’t said anything that was out of the ordinary. Honestly she was being more fair than she should. Marina shut the door after them. At least she’d have maybe an hour of quiet to work.
The door clicking closed seemed to be the crack in the dam, and Elvera started to cry, making sure to turn her face away from Henry as if she were embarrassed, or ashamed, or maybe just too overwhelmed for words.
“Hey.” Henry reached for her shoulder, hand hovering light and questioning so that she could pull away. “Look, it’s all right. What do you want to get to eat?”
“I don’t know!” A classic contemporary piece of the modern adult. Of course she didn’t know what she wanted to eat, apart from tears, apparently. Whatever. She wasn’t the first to cry in a lawyer’s office and she wouldn’t be the last.
“Why do we need her to tell us how to spend our holidays? I don’t understand.”
Okay well he couldn’t help an I don’t know. But Henry guided her gently so that he could be in front of her, looking down instead of to her side. “She’s not telling us. She’s offering a possibility to prevent arguments down the road.” he explained gently.
The feeling of exasperation and confusion did nothing to abate her tears.
“Arguments? Henry, we’re going to argue, but over Holidays? Over time? We both just want what’s best for the baby and I don’t see-- see--” A sniffle. “I feel so stupid.”
He wasn’t sure if he should hug her, attempt to wipe away the tears. Instead he just stayed close.
“You’re not stupid.” he answered automatically, because he had never thought that she was. “But. It happens. If we don’t want to spend holidays together. Or.” a long stretch of air came from his lungs before his voice quieted. “I’d tried talking with Cora about something like this. For Alice. With Ed. It’s just there in case either of us decides to try and fuck over the other.”
“Why would I--" even in a moment of impulse, she was not comfortable swearing, “ do that to you? Why would you do that to me? That whole talk,” she gestured to the room, where Marina still sat. “It feels like,” and she had been doing such a good job of gaining steam. Her voice cracked again, “we’re getting divorced and we’re not even married.”
“I don’t know, El. Neither does Marina. She’s just trying to cover bases.” He let his hand fall to her upper arm, squeezing it with a quiet affection he hoped was reassuring. She didn't pull away, at least. He’d never been married, but Elvera had. And that hadn’t exactly been the best of situations.
“We’re not.” he wasn’t sure what he should say that they weren’t. They weren’t married, divorced, dating, what were they? “It’s. It’s an atypical situation.”
“It’s not so strange that we should be chopping up Holidays and treating our baby like some kind of timeshare!” she barrelled from sad into upset.
“I'm not trying to.” Henry countered, trying to keep his voice quiet and calm. “But Elvera... Your kids have always been with you.” That doesn’t mean that they’ve always been with me. I had full custody. Full. But I’ve never kept them from seeing their father. I’ve never kept them from visiting him when they wanted. And when he wanted to take them on expensive trips that I could never take them on on my own, I let him. We talked through it. Sometimes we compromised. Does she think I’m going to keep you from seeing the baby? Do-- do you?” How fast she warped through emotions, all of them turbulent.
He paused for a moment, trying to keep his head clear and calm and not escalating into a fight with his pregnant friend. “El. He had to ask. You having full custody means I'd have to ask to see them. Every single time.”
“I’m not saying that we need to--” No, her voice was cracking and she was too loud. She needed to breathe. This wasn’t her. She inhaled, slow and long and shaky, and when she spoke again it was a forced calm. “You aren’t Chip, and I’m not Cora.” Her face softened, and for the first time she reached a hand out to touch his forearm. “I just think drafting out paperwork for it right now-- it just-- it isn’t… I don’t want our…” whatever this was, “to be reduced to paperwork.”
“It's not.” He leaned in a bit closer, as if somehow that he could block her from what was upsetting her. Except it was him, his ideas. “We’re. Our. Whatever this is.” He squeezed her arm gently, and in return she lightly squeezed his as well. “It's more than paperwork. It's just. Guidelines.”
“Why can’t we just make our own guidelines? Why can’t we just figure out what works for us as we go through it? Like we always have. “
“Because it's not just us. I’ve. This is the only kid that I get to be a part of, what if something happens and you don't like me as much in ten years? I don't want to lose out again.”
“Then we’ll… actually pretend to get divorced then.” The lawyers. The paperwork. She couldn’t promise that what he wondered wouldn’t happen; she had been (ir)revocably in love with Chip at one point. That changed.
And maybe there would have been a time after Chip that Elvera would have insisted that her feelings for him, whatever those were, could never change.
But she was sadder and older and wiser now, and she knew better than to promise romantical whimsies.
“But I would never keep you from seeing your child. You know that, don’t you? Even if I hated you-- I--” Another sharp inhale as her hand went to rest on her bump. “To me, no matter what happens to us, you will always be the father of this child, and that means more to me than I think you...realize right now.”
“It hasn't meant anything to any woman I've been with.” Henry answered quietly, though there wasn't necessarily judgement. He understood their reasons, as he was sure that he would understand Elveras. Their choices made sense. But the possibility that Elvera could change her mind. It was there. He'd seen it happen. He didn't want this child looking at him with the same lost expression both Diamond and Hugh had given him.
That Alice likely would have too.
He took a breath. “But I don't want to just... Be the backup. That you'd be the default parent. I don't want that.”
“I don’t want that, either,” she agreed, and though she was still tearful, she was no longer blubbering. “We need to be a team. We should be a team.”
“I want to be a team.” He reached down, pressing a hand gently over hers. “Look. Custody agreements are only if it becomes an issue. Like. We have to figure out where they'll sleep.”
She nodded, stepping a little closer to him, where she could relax into something that felt solid and certain. It had been a long time since she let somebody comfort her in a way that was so intimate.
“Especially at first… Especially when they’re a child. Especially...” the impracticality of what they were doing hit her all at once, and she felt herself feeling very, very stupid again. “Pete’s sake. What are we doing? What are we doing, Henry?”
At once the moment went from an intimate softness to an almost frantic confusion. He frowned slightly, though more of loss at what was going on than a true concern. “Discussing child rearing?” he offered tentatively.
Her shoulders slacked and her lip wobbled and in that moment, it all felt impossible.
“I still ask to come over to your house, Henry. You still call me your guest. What are we going to do? Ask whose house we should have a sleepover at? Am I going to be texting you at midnight, asking how the baby is doing? I--”
Her hands found her face instead of her stomach, or his arm. “We’re so stupid. This is so stupid.” Defeatist and hormonal and drained.
He wasn’t entirely sure why they were stupid. “I mean. I’d assume that’s what I’d be doing when it’s at your house?” he offered gently. She had only just invited him over, her kids largely kept in the dark about their friendship. As of now he hadn’t thought she’d be inclined to change that.
“How are we being stupid?” he asked instead.
“No, no. Exactly! It all just seems so-- I don’t know. I don’t know,” she admitted, pushing her hand against her eye. “I just…” The same hand started shaking, just a little, as another realization hit her as all of hers did: all at once. “When I imagined it, I just pictured it us being there together, though all of it. I didn’t think about the logical parts of it, or the separate homes. You were just there. On Christmas, on Easter, on New Years. At night when I’m too tired to get up and when Rosie is at a friend’s house. I don’t know. It all just seems like...” A deep inhale. A shrug. “I just don’t know.”
His frown stayed, just as perplexed and confused. “El, we'd have to live together for something like that. We don't. We live across town from each other.”
“I know,” was all she offered, a little perplexed and downtrodden herself. “It isn’t who we-- it isn’t what we do, I know that.”
“If you want to be closer, I can build a second house?” He offered, trying to think of a possible solution. “There's room. I'm not sure Rosie's bus comes out that far though.”
“Can we please,” her voice was measured and pointed as her hands dropped from her face. She sniffed once more before rotating her shoulders, hands now both falling over her swell, “just go home? Could we please do this another day?” A pause. “I’m very tired.”
“Sure.” He paused for a moment, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead. “Wait here. I'll let Marina know. And I'll take you home.” He hazarded a soft smile. “We can stop for food on the way if something catches your eye?”
Elvera nodded and watched him leave. Watched him come back. Slipped her arm through his like it belonged there. Followed him down the elevator, to his car.
She might have liked to stop for tacos, and had half a mind to ask, but as her head slumped, first against his shoulder, and then back towards the window, Elvera slept all the way home.