Wildfire Heart – Chapter 05 – ScarsLikeVelvet

Chapter 05

July 3, 1991 – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Judge Evalynn Buckley was sitting in her office, handling the paperwork that had accumulated on her desk during the week when her secretary knocked at her door.

“Your Honour?” Marjorie Miller asked her. “There’s someone from the Department of Children and Family Services here who would like to talk to you regarding a family matter.”

Evalynn stiffened in her seat for a moment and took off her reading glasses to peer at her secretary because this visit came out of the blue, and she had no idea what the hell might have happened that DCFS was reaching out to her personally. She knew for a fact that Lucas, Gabriel and Matthias were all currently stateside with their squads for training, and spent every minute they had off with their wives and children.

“Who is it?” she asked after pushing her fear that something had happened to one of her children down.

“Bridget Walsh,” Marjorie replied.

“Please allow Mrs Walsh to come through and postpone any appointments on my schedule because I have a feeling, I won’t have any time to handle those once I am done with my conversation with Mrs Walsh,” Evalynn said, steeling herself for whatever conversation might come her way.

“Will do, Judge Buckley,” Marjorie confirmed and inclined her head. “I’ll update your schedule once you know if you need time off or not.”

Evalynn just nodded and leaned back in her seat after closing the file in front of her.

The door opened a moment later, and Bridget Walsh, a frequent flyer in her court, stepped through.

“Mrs Walsh,” Evalynn said, inclining her head in greeting.

“Your Honour,” Bridget replied, her hands kneading the leather bag in her hands.

“Since you said it was a family matter you came to talk to me about, let us do away with formalities for now. Call me Evalynn,” Judge Buckley said, feeling that the formality they were used to in court would be more of a hindrance than anything else.

“I … I don’t know if I can do that, Ma’am,” Bridget admitted. “Will Mrs Buckley do?”

Evalynn inclined her head.

“Whatever you are comfortable with,” she agreed and motioned for the other woman to take a seat in front of her desk.

“Thank you,” Bridget said as she got somewhat comfortable in her seat before admitting, “I don’t even know how to begin.”

“Are my children okay?” was the first question out of Evalynn’s mouth.

Bridget sighed.

“I don’t know about your oldest four … well, that isn’t strictly true, but they aren’t the focus of the situation why I am here,” she admitted.

“So this is about Phillip and his wife?” Judge Buckley questioned.

Mrs Walsh nodded, but not revealing anything else because she didn’t know how to tell the woman what was happening without making the judge in front of her lose her cool, something the woman rarely did.

“Tell me what is going on in detail. Hold nothing back and don’t worry about me taking my ire out on you. It’s not your fault that those to fucked up … at least that’s what I expect happened,” she told her firmly.

Bridget Walsh took a deep breath and released it a moment later, focusing on the situation at hand.

“I don’t know if you know it or not, but your daughter-in-law gave birth to a boy six days ago, and the situation at the hospital went to shit in the wake of your grandson’s birth almost immediately. The boy didn’t tolerate the presence of either his parents or his sister. From the moment he was born, when the nurse tried to hand him to his mother, and moments later his father, he went all stiff according to nurses and screamed his little head off. They later tried with his sister, because the girl demanded it, and the little one’s scream was so high-pitched he broke a nurse’s glasses. The only person he attached himself to is his brother Daniel. Apparently neither boy tolerates separation well, so the doctors and nurses agreed that Evan’s bassinet will remain in Daniel’s room in the oncology ward, and his bottles will be brought down on the schedule the boys established for themselves, which is quite out of the norm for a newborn, but apparently Evan already sleeps through most of the night,” Bridget reported.

Evalynn listened quietly and pulled a legal pad toward herself to take some notes, to remind herself of some things she wished to know about that Mrs Walsh either would tell her soon or she needed to ask about.

Bridget pulled a bottle of water from her bag, took a sip before putting it back and instead grabbing a file from her bag.

“Your daughter-in-law lost her … well … I am citing the midwife and nurses here … she lost her shit, and what she said about her children should remain unmentioned unless I want to cause you to hunt her down to wring her neck. She has been diagnosed with long-term untreated postpartum depression which resulted in a psychotic break in response to the news of her oldest son’s diagnosis. She and your son had another child to create a saviour sibling … a child to donate spare parts without regard to the child’s health because the therapies they tried so far didn’t have the results she and your son expected. Margaret Buckley has been sectioned and according to the psychiatrists treating her, she is facing a long-term stay in a secure facility as she is a risk to her children and a lot of people involved in their care. It was also decided to severe her parental rights because she threatened to kill all three children, because if she couldn’t have them, no one could, according to her,” Bridget stopped hedging at the end, because there was no way that Judge Buckley couldn’t get her hands on the files. “Your son has been arrested for helping, condoning and participating in the abuse of Madeline Grace and Daniel Owen Buckley, and since he paid off, blackmailed and threatened people—both private citizens and members of various legal offices and child protective services—he has been denied bail.”

Evalynn took a sharp breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She counted to ten silently, then did it again before releasing her breath, and looked at the woman across from her.

“Who is taking care of the children?” she asked.

“Madeline has been remanded into the care of a foster family, and no matter what happens to the boys, she will stay with them and remain separated from them, because she is absolutely boundary avoidant and doesn’t understand the word ‘No’ in any circumstances, which lead to her, as Daniel termed it, bad-touching him. The family we chose is very strict but loving, and from what they reported so far, Madeline is responding well to her new circumstances despite not liking having to follow the rules. She has been sick with the flu, and for the first time in her life, someone cared for her instead of forcing her to fend for herself while sick. It made her accept the need for therapy, but neither me, nor her foster parents, nor the psychologist she is seeing think she should see her brothers anytime soon,” Bridget explained, taking another calming breath.

“Evan is staying with Daniel in the care of the nurses at the hospital so far until a choice regarding their placement can be made. We currently have no foster family working with our department, who is willing to to take on a child as sick as Daniel is. They also asked to foster-to-adopt when it comes to Little Evan, but that isn’t a possibility because separating the boys would be detrimental to both their health,” she added.

“So you came to me why?” Evalynn finally spoke up.

“To ask you to gather your family and have a conversation about the situation and to help figure out if any off you are willing to take custody of the boys, because from what Detective Akerson said it is unlikely that your son will get away from the situation scot-free and it is likely that his parental right will get severed soon, too, and the boys do not deserve to vanish into the system and likely get separated when there are other options available,” Bridget explained and finally handed over the folder she had been keeping in her lap, holding copies of the reports both she and Detective Akerson had gathered, along with recent pictures of both Daniel and Evan alone and together.

“Daniel specifically asked about his Uncle Luke when I talked to him,” Bridget offered, causing Evalynn to press her hand against her chest.

“I didn’t expect that he would remember any off us,” she whispered. “We haven’t seen the children in years because Margaret doesn’t like it when anyone asks any questions about them, the children, their health or God forbid, her own health.”

“He remembers. Apparently his parents still talk about you guys. They call you nosy and opinionated. Hearing that last word out of the mouth of a seven-year-old, along with several other very big words, is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard, and considering my job, that’s saying something,” Bridget said.

Evalynn managed a wane smile and opened the folder. She looked at the pictures and smiled at the sight of her youngest grandchildren. Madeline had grown into a pretty young girl on the cusp of becoming a teenager soon. Daniel looked pale, but he was smiling happily at the camera, especially in the pictures where he was holding his little brother, who looked as if he could be Daniel’s twin if they were the same age. He was just as long-limbed and gangly as Daniel had been when he was born. They got the height from their grandfather Buckley, something Madeline hadn’t inherited.

“Will Margaret’s parents be informed too?” Evalynn asked.

“They are considered too old to take charge of the boys, but yes, they will be informed, so they can have contact with the children if they so choose,” Bridget explained. “My colleague is currently visiting with them.”

Evalynn sighed in relief. It was one burden already of her chest.

“Thank you for taking the time to explain this in person, Mrs Walsh. I’m sure there is much more detail in these files and I will read them before I will call my family, so we can have that conversation you want us to have. I will get back to you in the morning, if that is alright with you. We might need to sleep over the situation, but rest assured we will have an attack plan the moment I inform my husband and sons of what is going on with their sibling and his family. It is likely you will hear from my daughter before the end of day to ensure that the children’s rights are being observed, no matter what Madeline did to her brother, she deserves to be just as safe and secure in her future as the boys, even if they can’t remain in each other’s lives,” Evalynn spoke up and walked around her desk to shake the other woman’s hand and guide her toward the door of her office, signalising that this conversation was over for the moment.

Bridget stood immediately, shook the judge’s hand and smiled.

“Thank you for your time, your Honour … Mrs Buckley … Evalynn,” She stammered out the honorific, followed by the judge’s name, then her preferred form of address, causing the older woman to chuckle.

“You are welcome,” the judge replied with a smile as she watched Bridget Walsh leave.

Once the woman was out of hearing range, she called her secretary over and informed her that she would need to take time off for personal reasons until at least the end of the week, so Marjorie should please transfer anything off her docket that couldn’t wait until the next week.

Marjorie nodded but didn’t ask questions, and instead simply nodded and got to work doing as her boss had asked.

Evalynn went back into her office and sat back down at her desk to read through the newest file on her desk, one that had nothing to do with her job and everything to do with her family. She put on her reading glasses and started at the very beginning.

It didn’t take her long to feel sick from what she was reading about her grandchildren went through. There was no way she would allow anyone to put the boys into the system. She could understand why DCFS didn’t want Madeline anywhere close to the boys in the near or long term, but if reuniting them at a later date, she would try to make it possible, depending on what both boys wanted.

For now, her goals were to sort out who in the family would take the boys in and to rally her whole family plus Margaret’s parents to ensure that the boys had the support they needed, and that the family could check in on Madeline if it wasn’t considered detrimental to the girl in any way, which meant a conversation with her foster parents, Mrs Walsh, and Madeline’s therapist.

Once she had reached the last page of the file and stared at the pictures of her grandchildren for what felt like ages, she grabbed her phone and called her husband.

“Buckley Residence,” George Buckley answered the phone.

“George, Darling, it’s me,” Evalynn replied. “I need you to call our squad and their spouses home immediately. It’s an emergency. Tell them, this is not a drill.”

“What the fuck happened, Eva?” George asked immediately.

“Our youngest royally fucked up and his wife finally got herself permanently committed,” Eva replied. “I’ll give you guys more details when I come home. For now, get everyone to come … and I mean everyone. Even the children. They deserve input on this, too.”

George released a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding and hummed in response.

“Alright, Love. Drive save and please remember murdering our child and his spouse will lead to jail time and you aren’t suited for jail … much too pretty,” he told her before hanging up.

Evalynn rolled her eyes with a fond expression and put down the receiver of her desk phone before she started gathering the paperwork Bridget had brought her back in its folder and put said folder in her satchel.

After locking up the paperwork left on her desk, she grabbed her satchel and walked out of her office, locking it up too, and left for the day. She made her way to the parking garage next to the court building, got in her car and drove home to her family for a conversation she never expected to happen that now needed to be had if they wanted it or not.

There were children to be taken care of, something they would do without thinking twice about.

Please be aware that the third chapter took a darker turn than expected, and there are mentions of a child being abused by another with what seems like a sexual component.
While I had most of the relevant tags added from the start, I wanted to let people know about the added incest tag so that they could avoid it if it might trigger them in any way.