CHAP 7 — THE FIRST HEARING
Nina did not panic.
That helped me breathe.
Derek’s attorney, Martin Vale, spent twenty minutes describing me as overwhelmed.
Anxious.
Impulsive.
Potentially suffering from untreated prenatal depression.
He was careful never to say I was dangerous.
That would have been too easy to attack.
Instead, he suggested uncertainty.
Judges dislike uncertainty when infants are involved.
Then Nina stood.
“Dr. Lane, did Mrs. Collins ever express thoughts of harming herself?”
“No.”
“Harming her unborn child?”
“No.”
“Psychosis?”
“No.”
“Loss of reality?”
“No.”
“Did you ever advise hospitalization for psychiatric reasons?”
“No.”
“Did you advise that she was incapable of safely making medical decisions?”
“No.”
“Then what did the note mean?”
Dr. Lane looked at me.
“That she was a pregnant patient under significant marital stress.”
Nina nodded.
“Did she tell you why she was crying?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Martin objected.
The judge allowed limited answer.
Dr. Lane said:
“She reported feeling unsupported by her husband and financially trapped.”
The room changed.
Nina placed the bank screenshots into evidence.
Forty-four thousand dollars moved the morning after Emily’s birth.
Then the hidden account.
Then the HELOC.
Then the forged signature allegation.
Martin objected repeatedly.
The judge finally said:
“Counsel, I understand these issues may ultimately belong in the financial portion of the divorce. However, they are relevant insofar as one party is arguing the other lacks financial stability.”
Derek’s expression changed.
He had argued I was unstable because I had little money.
The judge was now asking why I had little money.
Then came the fifteen dollars.
Nina did not dramatize it.
She simply asked:
“Mr. Collins, when your wife told you contractions were five minutes apart, did you drive her to the hospital?”
“No.”
“Did you arrange transportation?”
“I gave her money.”
“How much?”
Pause.
“Fifteen dollars.”
The judge looked up.
Martin shifted.
Nina continued.
“Was fifteen dollars sufficient for a taxi from your residence to Riverside Methodist Hospital?”
“I assumed it was.”
“Had you checked?”
“No.”
“Did you call a taxi?”
“No.”
“Did you remain with your wife until one arrived?”
“No.”
“Where did you go?”
“To a business obligation.”
“What business obligation?”
Derek hesitated.
The bank records were already in evidence.
He knew it.
“A financial meeting.”
“Your affidavit called it a client dinner.”
“I simplified.”
“Were you meeting a client?”
“No.”
“Were you meeting your divorce attorney?”
Martin stood.
Objection.
The judge sustained.
But everyone heard it.
Nina moved on.
“Did you know your wife was in active labor?”
“I knew she believed she was.”
My entire body went still.
Nina stared at him.
“She believed?”
“First labors can take a long time.”
Emily made a small sound from Rachel’s arms.
Derek glanced toward her.
Nina asked:
“What time was your daughter born?”
“3:41 a.m.”
“And what time did you first physically attempt to locate your wife?”
He hesitated.
“After my meeting.”
“What time?”
“Approximately ten.”
More than two hours after I left.
Nina sat.
The judge did not give me everything I wanted.
That was my first lesson in family court.
Truth does not arrive with trumpets and immediately produce justice.
The judge ordered temporary shared legal decision-making but designated me temporary residential parent.
Derek received scheduled parenting time.
Initially supervised because of the extreme conflict and Emily’s age—not because the court found him dangerous.
I was permitted to stay temporarily with Rachel in Pittsburgh pending further jurisdictional review and final orders.
Neither parent could move, hide, liquidate, or transfer marital assets outside ordinary expenses.
Derek was ordered to restore $15,000 to the joint account for household and legal expenses pending full accounting.
He looked furious.
Outside the courtroom, Elaine confronted me.
“You’re proud of yourself?”
Rachel stepped between us.
I stopped her.
For once, I wanted to answer.
“No.”
Elaine laughed.
“You destroyed your family.”
I looked at her.
“Did you notarize my signature?”
Her face changed.
Only a fraction.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then you won’t mind answering under oath.”
She walked away.
That evening, Derek restored the fifteen thousand dollars as ordered.
At midnight, another transaction appeared.
$112,000 moved from his investment account.
Destination unknown.
He had violated the court’s financial order less than twelve hours after it was issued.
Nina immediately filed an emergency motion.
Derek denied moving the money.
He claimed the transfer had been automatically scheduled days earlier.
The bank disagreed.
The transfer required biometric approval.
At 11:48 p.m.
From Derek’s phone.
But that was not the biggest discovery.
The receiving account did not belong to Derek.
It belonged to Elaine Collins.
My mother-in-law.
May you like
And the account had existed for twelve years.
Over those twelve years, Derek had transferred more than $600,000 into it.
