“Why not?”

“He's drunk again, and she hates me.”

“Vanessa,” he sighed tiredly, and wished he hadn't drunk the half bottle of Scotch before she'd got there. He wasn't thinking as clearly as he should, and he was so damn glad to see her. “She doesn't hate you. She wouldn't have fought so hard to get you if she hated you.”

“She just wants me like a thing.” Vanessa sounded angry. “Like all those clothes she buys, and the crystal stuff on the coffee table and the dolls she buys me. It's just stuff. That's all I am to her. More stuff.” Teddy knew that she was absolutely right but he couldn't say so. “And I hate them.”

“Don't.” He knew she was going to have to live with them for a long, long time. The court had ruled.

“I won't go back there.” She glared at him and he sighed as he flicked on the lights.

“Vanessa, you have to.”

“I won't.”

“Come on, let's talk this over.” He was feeling a little unsteady on his feet and it was a welcome relief to sit down with her.

But Vanessa looked as stubborn as the proverbial mule. “I won't go back to them, no matter what.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Will you please be reasonable, for chrissake? There's nothing we can do. You can't live with me if the court gave them custody.”

“Then I'll just keep running away, and they'll send me away to school.”

He smiled sadly. “They wouldn't do that.”

“Yes, they would.” Vanessa looked matter-of-fact. “She said so.”

“Jesus Christ.” For this they took her away from him? To threaten her with boarding school. “Look, nobody is going to send you anywhere, Vanessa. But you can't stay here.”

“Just for tonight?” The eyes were so big and sad that he melted and reached out his arms to her with a smile.

“Oh, princess, how did all of this happen to us?”

There were tears in her eyes when she turned her little face up to his, and once again he saw the face of his brother in this small child. “Why did Mommy have to die, Uncle Teddy? It's so unfair.”

“Yes.” He could barely speak as he thought of her. “It is.”

“Oh, please,” she said, clinging to him, her little hands warm against his shirt, “don't make me leave you. Just for tonight?”

He sighed, feeling suddenly very, very sober, and then he nodded. “All right. Just for tonight.” But he never got a chance to call Greg and Partie. Pattie called him before he could get up to call. He reached for the phone, and she shrieked at him instantly.

“Is she there?”

“Vanessa?” His voice was strangely calm. “Yes.”

“God damn it, Teddy, bring her back here! The court gave her to us, now she's ours!” Like a vegetable, or a suitcase. The very thought chilled him.

“I'll bring her back to you in the morning.”

“I want her now!” Pattie was strident, and Teddy's eyes began to blaze.

“She wants to spend the night.”

“Never mind what she wants. She's ours now, she's to do as I say. I'm coming over to get her.”

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” His voice was smooth as velvet, but it had an edge of steel. “I told you, I'll bring her back to you in the morning. She can sleep here.”

“No, she can't. You heard what the judge said. It's unsuitable, you're a bachelor. She is not allowed to spend the night at your house,” Pattie said archly. “I want her home right away.”

“Well, she's not coming. I'll see you in the morning.”

But what he saw in the morning was not Pattie, but the police. They arrived just as he was making breakfast for Vanessa. The doorbell rang, an officer asked if he was Theodore Fullerton, he said that he was, he was told that he was under arrest, handcuffs were clapped on him, and in front of Vanessa's horrified eyes he was led away. Another officer turned off the fire under the breakfast and gently told Vanessa to get her things. For a minute she started to get hysterical and looked around her frantically.… There was something about the uniforms … the police … she couldn't place it but they terrified her.… She grabbed her doll and ran for the door, looking for Teddy. But when she got downstairs, accompanied by the other officer, the car carrying Teddy to the station had already pulled away. Vanessa was driven back to Greg and Pattie's apartment, where she was returned to Pattie with a kind word and a smile.

At the exact same moment Teddy was downtown at the station, being booked for kidnapping. Pattie had brought charges against him during the night. Bail was set at fifteen thousand dollars, an extortionate amount, and a hearing was set in front of the very same judge the next day.

The next morning, looking unshaved and exhausted, Teddy was led into court, the handcuffs were removed, and the judge glared at him for several minutes before clearing the court. He ordered everyone out of his courtroom, especially the reporters—the headlines that morning had been bad enough: SOCIALITE SURGEON KIDNAPS NIECE. There was even some subtle intimation in the piece that, given his passionate interest in her, perhaps Vanessa was his child and not Brad's.

“Well, Doctor Fullerton, I can't say that I'm pleased to see you here again. What exactly do you have to say about all this? Off the record, just for the information of the court.”

“I didn't kidnap her, your honor. She arrived at my door.”

The judge looked troubled. “Had you told her to do that?”

“Of course not.”

“Did she give you a reason?”

“Yes.” He decided to be honest. He had nothing to lose now. “She hates my brother and his wife.”

“That's not possible, she said nothing about that in my courtroom.”

“Ask her again.”

The judge looked angry. “Have you primed her?”

“I have not.” Teddy's eyes flashed. “My sister-in-law is already threatening to send her to boarding school, that's how much they love her, your honor. If I do say so myself—he looked chagrined as he smiled ruefully at the judge—”you made a very poor choice.”

The judge looked anything but pleased with Teddy's comment. “She's a very disturbed child, Doctor. You know that. She needs a normal household with a mother and a father. As much as you may love her, you are only a man.”

Teddy sighed. “My sister-in-law doesn't have a maternal bone in her body, your honor, she hated Vanessa's mother with a passion. Vanessa's father jilted her for the child's mother. In a way I think Pattie—Mrs. Fullerton—wants to get even. She wants to finally ‘take possession’ of his child at all costs, to prove something. She doesn't love Vanessa, your honor. She doesn't even know the child.”

“Is it true that the child's mother hated Mrs. Fullerton?”

“I don't think so. I think the hatred was all on Mrs. Pattie Fullerton's end. She was wildly jealous of Serena.”

“Poor woman.…” He thought of Serena and shook his head. “And your brother Gregory?” The judge looked mournful, it was the worst case he'd had in years, there seemed to be no right solution for Vanessa. “Is he fond of the child?”

“Your honor,” Teddy sighed, “my brother is an alcoholic. In my opinion he's in the very last stages of it. Not a very pretty scene for Vanessa to see, or anyone else for that matter.”

The judge shook his head and sat back heavily in his chair with a sigh. “Well, I've got kidnapping charges on you to deal with, and it looks like I should reopen the case on your niece.…” He looked as miserable as Teddy. “I'm going to do something very unusual, Doctor. I'm going to give you thirty days in jail for the alleged kidnapping of your niece after my verdict. You may request a trial on the matter if you wish, but I'm not going to charge you with kidnapping. I'm going to charge you with contempt of court. There is no bail for contempt, and you will serve the full thirty days. In that way I can be quite sure that you won't truly kidnap her.” He glared at Teddy, who listened with dismay. “And during the thirty days I'm going to have an extensive investigation done on this matter, and I will restate my verdict in the custody matter exactly thirty days from today. That will be”—he looked briefly at his calendar—”March fourth.” With that, he signaled to the bailiff, and without further ado Teddy was removed.





49

The bailiff called the court to order, everyone was told to rise, the judge came in, and he frowned at them all. He informed them that the investigation conducted regarding Vanessa's custody had been the most extensive of any of his career on the bench. He told everyone present that he truly felt that they were all worthy people and that it was not a case of finding one person suitable and the others not. It had become an issue of the greatest good to Vanessa. There were certain peculiar problems to this case—the judge looked in the grown-ups' eyes, knowing that they would understand him—that made it especially difficult to select the right home for the little girl. Whatever happened, he hoped that they would all remain friendly, because he felt certain that Vanessa needed all of them around her, no matter whom she lived with. It was quite a long speech for a normally taciturn judge. He cleared his throat then, shuffled through some papers, and looked from Margaret Fullerton to her youngest son.