Page 40 of Ashes of Us
“Let's see. Her parents divorced when she was ten, which wasn't her fault at all.
However, her father remarried three times in ten years: first when Lucy was twelve, the second time when she was fifteen, and the third when she was nineteen.
The first two marriages ended within eighteen months, so I spoke to Lucy's two former stepmothers first. They both said the same thing: she manipulated her father into believing they were an evil stepmother for making her do things like clean her room and pick up her things in the common areas and for punishing her for doing things like breaking or “losing” belongings, which strangely enough, only ever happened to their stuff, not hers or her fathers, or dumping a whole shaker of salt in the pot when their backs were turned and laughing when guests spit out the food. And when I say punishing, they insisted it was never abusive, just everyday punishments like losing her allowance to pay for what she lost or broke or taking away her things until she sincerely apologized. Basically, she was a terror who passed things off as jokes or genuine mistakes that her stepmothers overreacted to, and her father, wanting to be a good dad, believed his child and took her side, leading to his wives leaving him.”
“Now, normally, I'd take all that with a grain of salt, because I have been hired to find people who disappeared or ran away for seemingly no reason, and when I find and approach them to make sure I'm getting the full story before announcing I've found them to who hired me, I get horrific tales of abuse and neglect, so I didn't want to assume anything. but her mother had the same problem, if not worse, and she ended up remarrying twice.” Maverick flipped the page and continued reading.
“The first time was when Lucy was thirteen, and it lasted three years before he left, citing that Lucy was undermining his parenting with his own kids and causing too many problems between him and her mom with her lies and actions.
He didn't go into specifics, but I got the impression that there was a molestation accusation because he mentioned she would have ruined his life if he hadn't been able to prove she was lying.
Her mother wanted them to work things out, suggesting individual and family therapy as well as couples counselling, but the damage was done, and he left.
“She learned from Lucy's father's marriages and waited until Lucy moved out at eighteen before she started dating again, and both of them now keep their relationship with her separate from their relationships with their spouses.
Superficial engagement at family gatherings and that's it.
They don't leave her alone with them or allow a relationship beyond that.”
“Well, isn't she just a peach?” Danica felt her stomach twist. “They didn't think to put her in therapy?”
“No, they did.” Maverick flipped another page in his notes.
“I didn't want to approach her parents because I was afraid it would get back to her that you hired me to look into things, but her former stepparents were happy to tell tales. Apparently, there were several attempts at individual and family therapy over the years.”
“Why did her parents divorce?” Danica asked curiously, wondering why Lucy was so adamant about destroying her parents' other marriages.
“From what I gathered from the ex-wives and husband, her parents just fell out of love with one another.
There was no animosity, no fighting over custody, child support or alimony.
They didn't even have lawyers; they filed themselves and split everything equally.
They co-parented to the best of their abilities and refrained from interfering with each other's lives. According to them, the therapist Lucy saw as a child said she was having trouble letting go of the idea of her parents getting back together and saw each of the stepparents as a roadblock to that.” He took a long drink of his coffee, but Danica could see he had more to tell her.
“Well, we know she has trouble letting go of things.” She murmured. “Jasper and I were together seven years, and he broke up with her two years before we met, so she's been obsessed for over ten years and nine of those, they weren't even together and were married to other people.”
“Yeah, but it's not just trouble letting go of things; she doesn't even try to move on from things.” Maverick corrected her, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, looking down at the file with his brow furrowed in confusion.
“According to her current stepmother, who only agreed to speak to me under the condition that we didn't approach her to testify or contact her again after, Lucy still believes her parents love each other and want to get back together, despite them not having any contact that wasn't centered around or arranged by Lucy in almost twenty-seven years.”
Maverick looked up and met her gaze. “I spoke to a psychiatrist friend and explained everything I knew about Lucy, obviously not to get a diagnosis, but to get an idea of what we could be dealing with here, because if she believes that about her parents after twenty-five plus years, who's to say there isn't some mental issue being overlooked that would make her unfit to be a parent?”
“And?” Danica leaned forward unconsciously, eager to hear what Maverick had found out. Anything that helped the judge realize letting Amy and Lucy have their way was a bad idea was gold in her books.