23. Alison #4
When she steps down, Arthur picks up Mom’s will, and my heart starts to pound. “Your Honor, the relevant provision addresses what should happen to both O’Toole children in the event of Jane’s death or incapacity.”
Both. I turn toward Cassandra. She looks confused. So does Walter.
Arthur reads. “’Should my death or permanent incapacity occur while my daughter, Alison O’Toole, remains under the age of eighteen, I nominate Walter Harrington and Cassandra Harrington to serve as guardians of both Alison and my son, Tobias O’Toole.’”
Cassandra gasps. Walter goes completely still. Ryan’s head snaps toward his parents. I can’t move.
“’It is my express wish that my children remain together.’”
Oh my God. Cassandra covers her mouth. Walter reaches for her. Arthur stops — just long enough for all of us to understand. They didn’t know. My mother chose them, and they never knew.
Then he continues. “’Upon Alison attaining the age of eighteen, it is my wish that Tobias remain in the care of his sister.
I nominate Alison O’Toole to assume guardianship of Tobias, and ask that every reasonable effort be made to preserve the bond between my children and allow them to remain together. ’”
I make a sound. I don’t know what it is. “Mom.”
Ryan’s hands land on my shoulders.
My mother wrote that when Tobias was a baby. Before Ryan. Before the pregnancy. Before Switzerland. Before any of us knew where this would end. She chose me. And while I was still too young, she chose Walter and Cassandra to keep us together until I wasn’t.
Cassandra is sobbing. “I didn’t know.”
I turn. She’s shaking her head over and over.
“I swear to you, Ally. I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
Walter is crying too, staring at the will like he can’t understand how his name got onto it.
And then Cassandra’s testimony comes rushing back. Jane calling. Can you take Tobias? Again. Again. More often as things got worse. The Harrington house. His snacks. His toys. His Walter.
“Oh my God.”
Arthur looks at me. “What?”
I look at Cassandra. “All those times Mom called you.”
Cassandra freezes.
My voice breaks. “She wasn’t just asking somebody to watch him.” Walter closes his eyes. “She was sending him to you.”
Cassandra sobs. “To the people she picked.”
Mom knew. Maybe not exactly how she’d die — maybe she never truly believed Roman would go that far.
But she knew him. She knew enough to make a plan somewhere he’d never find it, and then she spent years quietly making sure Tobias knew the people she’d chosen.
She wasn’t just asking Cassandra for help.
She was sending her baby somewhere she knew he’d be safe.
I fold forward. Ryan’s arms come around me from behind. Nobody tells him to move.
Arthur gives me time.
Then Roman’s attorney stands. “Your Honor, before this document is given undue weight — Jane O’Toole’s testamentary preference cannot substitute for this court’s best-interest determination.”
“No one suggested it could,” Arthur says.
“You presented it as though she had the authority to transfer custody by will.”
“I presented a valid document showing the deceased mother’s long-standing wishes for her children.”
“Wishes recorded November 2019. Nearly six years ago. Before Alison was pregnant. Before she was in a relationship with Ryan Harrington. Before she was a high-school student dependent on the Harringtons.” Each one lands, and Arthur agrees to every single one.
Then the attorney turns to the judge. “Jane O’Toole could not have known her daughter’s present circumstances. ”
Arthur steps forward. “She also couldn’t have manufactured them to influence this hearing.”
“The document is outdated.”
“It’s dated.” The attorney starts to object, and Arthur holds up a hand. “There’s a difference.”
The judge looks at him. “Explain.”
Arthur picks up the will. “This was executed before Alison was dating Ryan. Before her pregnancy. Before Jane’s death. Before Roman’s arrest. Before there was any custody dispute to win. Jane’s decision wasn’t a reaction to this litigation.”
“It also names the Harringtons,” the attorney says.
“If Alison was a minor. Two stable, secure adults — yes.” Arthur turns toward him. “And then what?”
The attorney goes quiet.
Arthur opens the will. “Jane didn’t stop there. ‘Upon Alison attaining the age of eighteen, it is my wish that Tobias remain in the care of his sister.’” He lowers the page. “Walter and Cassandra weren’t Jane’s replacement for Alison.” My breath catches. “They were the bridge to her.”
Cassandra breaks again behind me.
“That’s counsel’s interpretation,” the attorney says.
“No. That’s the chronology Jane wrote into the document herself.” Arthur gestures at the exhibits. “And it isn’t the only evidence. You have six years showing she was capable.”
“Six years of a child helping her mother.”
“Six years of a child helping raise her brother.”
“Those aren’t the same thing.”
“No.” Arthur’s voice drops. “They shouldn’t have been.” Silence. “But in this family, they were.”
The judge lifts a hand before either man can go further.
“I’ve heard enough on the point.”
Both attorneys return to their tables.
Roman’s attorney asks to address the court one final time, and the judge allows it.
“Your Honor, no one questions that Alison loves Tobias, or that she’s played an unusually significant role in his upbringing. But the court isn’t being asked to reward past devotion. It’s being asked to make a prospective determination about a child’s future.”
He looks toward me. “Ms. O’Toole is eighteen.
Pregnant. Still in high school. She has no independent income and is entirely reliant on a family with whom she has no legal relationship.
The Harringtons’ support is admirable — but it isn’t hers.
Their home isn’t hers. Their money isn’t hers.
If her relationship with their son changes, her circumstances could change with it. ”
Walter makes a low sound. Arthur touches my arm before either of us can react.
“Roman O’Toole’s incarceration is serious. The allegations are grave. But allegations are not convictions. This court should be cautious about permanently severing a father’s custodial authority on unresolved charges while placing a six-year-old with a teenager whose own future is unsettled.”
Arthur rises when he’s done. He doesn’t approach the bench. He stays beside me. “Alison’s future is unsettled.” I look at him. “So is every eighteen-year-old’s. The difference is that Alison has spent six years making sure Tobias’s wasn’t.”
My eyes fill.
“The defense keeps returning to what Alison doesn’t own.
Her name isn’t on the Harrington house. Fine.
” He picks up one of Tobias’s school records.
“But her name is here.” Another. “And here.” The pediatric records.
“Here.” The dental. “Here.” He sets them down.
“Her name has been beside Tobias’s for six years.
The Harringtons’ support matters because it establishes stability.
It didn’t create Alison’s relationship with Tobias.
” His voice quiets. “Jane did. Tobias did. And Alison did — every single time that little boy reached for her and she reached back.”
I can’t stop crying now.
Arthur faces the judge. “Roman O’Toole asks this court to preserve his authority over Tobias while he sits in a cell awaiting trial for the murder of Tobias’s mother.
He asks the court to treat Alison’s age as more important than six years of evidence.
And he asks the court to disregard Jane O’Toole’s wishes because she couldn’t predict the future.
” He looks down at the will. “She predicted one thing.” He touches the page.
“That if she couldn’t be there, Tobias would need his sister. ”
He sits.
The judge reads. And reads. And reads. No one moves. Finally he looks at me. “Ms. O’Toole.” I stand. Arthur starts to rise with me. “I’d like to hear from her.”
Arthur sits. Now it’s just me.
“Do you understand what you’re asking me to give you?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“I’m not asking whether you love Tobias. If I award you full custody, you’re responsible for him. Education. Medical care. Housing. Safety. Every daily need. Decisions that shape the rest of his childhood. And you’re eighteen. Pregnant. Finishing high school.”
I answer yes to all of it. He watches me.
“And despite what Mr. Harrington testified, the defense is right about one thing. The support around you isn’t legally yours. If the Harringtons changed their minds tomorrow — what would you do?”
I don’t have to think. “I’d take care of Tobias.”
“How?”
“However I had to.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
I swallow. Then I give him one. “I’d work. I’d finish school. I’d apply for every program I qualified for. I’d ask Arthur what I needed to file. I’d find somewhere we could afford, and I’d take whatever help there was until I didn’t need it anymore.”
“While raising a newborn? And Tobias?”
“Yes.”
“You make that sound simple.”
“It wouldn’t be.” My hand settles over my stomach. “It would probably be really fucking hard.” Arthur closes his eyes. “Sorry.”
The judge almost smiles. “Continue.”
I breathe. “But Tobias has already been hard sometimes. Babies are hard. Six-year-olds are hard. He gets sick. He has nightmares. He argues about brushing his teeth and loses things five minutes after I hand them to him.” My eyes fill. “I’ve never taken care of him because it was easy.”
I look down at Mom’s will. “I’ve been doing it since he was born. I know his medications. I know his teachers. I know what he won’t eat and which cup he wants when his stomach hurts. I know which night-light he needs when he’s scared.”
Ryan sniffles behind me.
“I know when he’s lying, and when he’s trying not to cry. And now I know that when he climbs into my bed in the middle of the night, he isn’t just having a nightmare.” My throat closes. “He’s checking that I’m still there.” Cassandra cries behind me. “I don’t send him away.”
“What do you do?”
“I move over.”