"Additional employees," Cessily clarified. "Dr. Marshall has been retained by Southwind as the center's mental health professional."
"So, he lives there, works there, and is treating Faith, who also lives there?" Russell asked.
"She's not his client at this time," Cessily assured him. "While Luke was working for Southwind as a contract employee, Dr. Marshall traded services with Mr. Barrett. But when Luke was hired full time, Cy had to terminate the client relationship."
"And what about this other man?" Russell asked, flipping through his own papers. "Ashton Walker?"
"The president of the charitable organization," Cessily explained. "He's currently on an extended visit while Southwind is under renovations. It makes it easier for us to approve the requests, and he has the ability to work remotely."
"Us?" Russell caught that word.
Cessily smiled. "I'm also on the board of directors for Southwind. All of us are alumni of the program."
"And what were you in for?" Russell asked.
Her smile faded. "My record has been expunged, Russell. Although I have a feeling you already know that. Theft. I was caught in a store with a loaf of bread in one hand and a pack of cheese and meat inside my shirt. My little sister hadn't eaten in two days, and I didn't know how else to get help. She went to foster care. I went to Southwind. When they say selfless crimes, that's what they mean."
"I see." He made a note of that. "And the others?"
"You'd have to ask them. Luke was there because he got a girl pregnant. Everyone's situation was different. The goal was to make sure that we could get back on track, and the center has an impressive success rate." The words fell out of her mouth as if she'd expected this to come up. "I'm afraid that if you want to make Southwind into a point of contention, I'm incredibly over-prepared to defend the institution."
"I see," Russell grumbled. "And the people Faith is living with? The report from CPS says that her bedroom is on the same floor as three men?"
"One of those is her father," Cessily explained. "Luke's room is right across the hall from Faith's. Ashton Walker lives beside Luke. The way the rooms are set up, his door is at the opposite end of the hall from hers. Violet Dawson and Cy Marshall are on the other side of the stairs. Across the second-floor foyer, basically. They're also both respectable men, with no reason to be concerned about their proximity." She glanced over at Meredith pointedly.
"Mr. Walker and Dr. Marshall are in a relationship, though?" Russell asked.
Cessily's lips came close to curling. "They are. Faith had no idea about that, actually, until her mother chose to mention it."
"Excuse me?" Meredith asked, making it clear she didn't appreciate the insinuation.
"Ash and Cy do not put on displays of public affection outside of their rooms. Faith, however, asked about it because her mother told her..." Cessily made a point of flipping through her pages, even though I was pretty sure the comment wasn't in there. "Right. Ash is a faggot. She asked him about it. He explained to her that it's a derogatory word, and that he's actually a bisexual man. It was a very age-appropriate conversation, referencing that he liked men and women, nothing more, and no discussions of sexual activities."
"Well, I'll make a remark for the psychologist to ask about that," Russell said. "Her mother feels that she's too young to be exposed to homosexuality in any form."
"She hasn't been," Cessily pointed out. "Gay, bisexual, and other orientations of people exist. It's illegal to hire or fire anyone based on their sexual orientation. The fact that they live and breathe is not the same as exposing a child to any kind of sexuality. You would be hard-pressed to find a court that would dare to find against their mere existence. If they do, it would make another case for me to push to the Supreme Court."
Russell looked up quickly. "Excuse me?"
"Appeals, Mr. Fry," Cessily almost purred. "I'm very fond of them. Injunctions are easy to get from an appellate court, especially after the incidents that have already occurred in this case. Mrs. Jackson put her child in a situation where a predator had sole caretaking responsibilities. He recorded videos of that child, and when Mrs. Jackson was informed, she - "
"It's Connoly!" Meredith snapped.
"It's Jackson," Cessily reminded her. "You haven't had the marriage dissolved yet. You changed your name and printed it in the local paper. Annulling the marriage also doesn't remove your change of address or the time Faith was left alone with that man. You were told, ma'am. You chose to ignore it."
"Because Luke just wanted..." But the words trailed off as she looked at her attorney for help.
"The same man you were just accusing of not wanting to marry you?" Cessily asked. "Luke is a very good father, and he has a long record of paying more than his agreed child support, asking for additional time with his child, and dropping everything anytime she needed. He's not asking you for child support, Meredith. He's not going to prevent you from seeing her. He simply wants his chance to raise his child and take some of the burden - because to him, it's not one."
"Well, let's see what a child psychologist thinks," Russell said, passing over a page with a list on it. "These are the providers that we've approved. Luke can pick from any of them. That should make it easy for him to get an appointment that works with his schedule."
"Perfect," Cessily said, filing that away. "I'll call you tomorrow with the appointment date and time, and get the agreed-upon date for the final hearing."
"Two appointments," Russell corrected. "We want to see how she responds over multiple days. It's harder to coach a child to pass two separate interviews, as you know."
"Then two appointments it is," Cessily agreed. "I also have no reason to coach this young lady. I honestly believe we have the stronger case, even in the state of Texas."
So Russell stood and offered Cessily his hand. "Then I can't wait to hear from you. Once I have the court date, I'd like to schedule one more mediation, if your client will agree to that?"
