Page 37 of Ashes of Us
“I'm not sure if it's a win or not,” Maverick murmured, looking weirdly put off by what she told him, before she had a chance to ask what he meant, he continued. “Because that would mean Lucy has been directly involved in the breakdown of about eight marriages.” Maverick settled back in his chair and set his mug on the table next to him as he ran his hand through his hair. “She's really something else.”
Danica stared at him, both eyebrows rising so high she was surprised they didn't meld permanently with her hairline. “I'm sorry?”
“Yeah, David must have had the same thought process you did, because he reached out to me on Friday and asked me to dig deeper into her specifically. He said, and I quote, “There's just something seriously off about her that I really don't like.” And since he's been an estate lawyer for twenty-five years and nothing brings out the crazy in families like wills and inheritances, he practically has a sixth sense when it comes to these things, so I did some digging and made some phone calls.” Maverick leaned forward and picked up a file from the coffee table, flicking it open and flipping through the pages.
“Let's see. Her parents divorced when she was ten, which wasn't her fault at all. However, her father remarried three times in ten years: first when Lucy was twelve, the second time when she was fifteen, and the third when she was nineteen. The first two marriages ended within eighteen months, so I spoke to Lucy's two former stepmothers first. They both said the same thing: she manipulated her father into believing they were an evil stepmother for making her do things like clean her room and pick up her things in the common areas and for punishing her for doing things like breaking or “losing” belongings, which strangely enough, only ever happened to their stuff, not hers or her fathers, or dumping a whole shaker of salt in the pot when their backs were turned and laughing when guests spit out the food. And when I say punishing, they insisted it was never abusive, just everyday punishments like losing her allowance to pay for what she lost or broke or taking away her things until she sincerely apologized. Basically, she was a terror who passed things off as jokes or genuine mistakes that her stepmothers overreacted to, and her father, wanting to be a good dad,believed his child and took her side, leading to his wives leaving him.”
“Now, normally, I'd take all that with a grain of salt, because I have been hired to find people who disappeared or ran away for seemingly no reason, and when I find and approach them to make sure I'm getting the full story before announcing I've found them to who hired me, I get horrific tales of abuse and neglect, so I didn't want to assume anything. but her mother had the same problem, if not worse, and she ended up remarrying twice.” Maverick flipped the page and continued reading. “The first time was when Lucy was thirteen, and it lasted three years before he left, citing that Lucy was undermining his parenting with his own kids and causing too many problems between him and her mom with her lies and actions. He didn't go into specifics, but I got the impression that there was a molestation accusation because he mentioned she would have ruined his life if he hadn't been able to prove she was lying. Her mother wanted them to work things out, suggesting individual and family therapy as well as couples counselling, but the damage was done, and he left.
“She learned from Lucy's father's marriages and waited until Lucy moved out at eighteen before she started dating again, and both of them now keep their relationship with her separate from their relationships with their spouses. Superficial engagement at family gatherings and that's it. They don't leave her alone with them or allow a relationship beyond that.”
“Well, isn't she just a peach?” Danica felt her stomach twist. “They didn't think to put her in therapy?”
“No, they did.” Maverick flipped another page in his notes. “I didn't want to approach her parents because I was afraid it would get back to her that you hired me to look into things, but her former stepparents were happy to tell tales.Apparently, there were several attempts at individual and family therapy over the years.”
“Why did her parents divorce?” Danica asked curiously, wondering why Lucy was so adamant about destroying her parents' other marriages.
“From what I gathered from the ex-wives and husband, her parents just fell out of love with one another. There was no animosity, no fighting over custody, child support or alimony. They didn't even have lawyers; they filed themselves and split everything equally. They co-parented to the best of their abilities and refrained from interfering with each other's lives. According to them, the therapist Lucy saw as a child said she was having trouble letting go of the idea of her parents getting back together and saw each of the stepparents as a roadblock to that.” He took a long drink of his coffee, but Danica could see he had more to tell her.
“Well, we know she has trouble letting go of things.” She murmured. “Jasper and I were together seven years, and he broke up with her two years before we met, so she's been obsessed for over ten years and nine of those, they weren't even together and were married to other people.”
“Yeah, but it's not just trouble letting go of things; she doesn't even try to move on from things.” Maverick corrected her, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, looking down at the file with his brow furrowed in confusion. “According to her current stepmother, who only agreed to speak to me under the condition that we didn't approach her to testify or contact her again after, Lucy still believes her parents love each other and want to get back together, despite them not having any contact that wasn't centered around or arranged by Lucy in almost twenty-seven years.”
Maverick looked up and met her gaze. “I spoke to a psychiatrist friend and explained everything I knew about Lucy, obviously not to get a diagnosis, but to get an idea of what we could be dealing with here, because if she believes that about her parents after twenty-five plus years, who's to say there isn't some mental issue being overlooked that would make her unfit to be a parent?”
“And?” Danica leaned forward unconsciously, eager to hear what Maverick had found out. Anything that helped the judge realize letting Amy and Lucy have their way was a bad idea was gold in her books.
Chapter Thirty-One: Magical Thinking
“First, I need to reiterate this isn't a diagnosis, and my friend wouldn't be able to make a diagnosis unless he had several sessions with Lucy.” Maverick seemed to be making sure Danica knew he wasn't saying this was for sure what was wrong with Lucy; he was giving her an idea of what they were possibly dealing with, which Danica completely understood. Still, it didn't stop her from wanting to know the professionals' thoughts on things, and she nodded somberly.
“I understand that but just having some kind of idea...” she trailed off with a sigh. “This is helping me in ways I don't think I can properly articulate.”
He smiled at her, looking very pleased with her response. “I'm glad it's helping, just don't take what I'm about to explain as the gospel truth, that's all I'm asking.”
“Cross my heart.” Danica returned his smile, relaxing back into the buttery soft leather cushions of the couch and thinking to herself that dimples should be illegal over the age of ten because they gave him a boyish charm that was nearly impossible to resist. While she definitely didn't have the samephysical attraction to him that she had to Alex or the emotional connection that she had with Jasper, she found herself hoping they would stay in touch when all this was over and become friends, which was not something she usually wanted with people. She had many acquaintances and colleagues whom she liked and respected, but very few actual friends who were not connected to Jasper or his family, and she was content with that arrangement.
“And hope to die.” Maverick chuckled. “I prefer a pinky swear.” Danica chuckled and held out her hand with her pinky extended.
“If that's what it takes.” She giggled as Maverick leaned forward and captured her pinky finger with his, shaking it firmly and then letting her go, before picking up another folder. “You're very old school.”
“I don't like reading on a screen.” He explained as he opened it and settled back in his chair. “Everything is entered into the computer and stored on an external backup drive, but I print hard copies for my meetings and either shred them or give them to my clients after.” He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders slightly, flicking the papers to straighten them up. “The psychiatrist, whose name is Dr. Mikhail Portenski with Elevate Neurohealth, believes she may have one of three psychological conditions. The first and most likely is called persistent maladaptive fantasies or, to use the layman's term, magical thinking. Basically, some people cope with trauma and unmet emotional needs in childhood through fantasy-based thinking. In other words, she believes what she wants to be true so thoroughly that in her mind it is, no matter how much evidence to the contrary she's presented with. He said if her emotional development was stunted during her parents' divorce, the belief that her parents still loved each other and wanted to bewith one another was a wish-fulfillment defence that she relied on to get through it, but in doing so, she essentially convinced herself that her parents wanting to be together is an irrefutable fact.”
“So, when Jasper stopped seeing her, telling her he didn't love her and didn't want to be with her anymore, she couldn't handle it and fell into the same patterns,” Danica murmured. She had to admit, it fit the situation, and Maverick nodded in agreement.
“Exactly. I'm inclined to agree with Mikhail that this is probably what we're dealing with. He did say that the fact that she was in therapy and they failed to address the issue was a little concerning, however, it also made sense because the term wasn't coined until 2002, and it's still not an official diagnosis in the DSM-5 or ICD-11, although research has been increasing around it for the last two decades.”
“What were the other two?” Danica sat back, mulling that over. “Just for fun, because I think that's what's going on, even if it isn't an actual diagnosis.”
“The second most likely one is she has obsessive thinking or rumination, which is often seen in OCD and personality disorders, and means she may have persistent, intrusive thoughts or a fixation on a belief or outcome.” He continued, checking his notes briefly. “We don't think it's this one because it's unlikely she would have been able to move on from Jasper and marry someone else if that was the case.”
“The third one is that she has a delusional disorder, but true delusional disorders are so rare that he said he would be shocked if this were the case and he also mentioned narcissistic or borderline personality disorder, but based on what I presented to him, while she does tick a number of boxes for them, he doesn't think she meets all the criteria. In particular,she doesn't become defensive or hostile when confronted, she retreats, and defensiveness is characteristic in both those disorders; they just present differently.” He closed the folder and laid it back on the table, watching Danica curiously as she thought about what he told her.
“Everything I saw of Lucy lines up with the description of the maladaptive one.” Danica agreed after a minute. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure they were correct, even though she knew it wasn't an official diagnosis. “When she's confronted with something that goes against her narrative, she cries and runs away. I think she honestly thought I would be happy to hand over Jasper's sperm in the hospital, and couldn't believe it when I told her no.”
“Exactly.” Maverick smiled, looking pleased that she agreed with him and the psychiatrist. “That was the big one for the psychiatrist; she had absolutely no shame in telling you she was pregnant with his child and asking for his DNA to get pregnant again. She firmly believes Jasper wanted her to have his baby, and when you disagreed, she backed off and went around you to his mother.” He paused, frowning. “Which also follows with her manipulation tactics from her childhood and highlights how deeply ingrained this is in her.”
Danica nodded. Lucy clearly had several issues going on, not just magical thinking. “Did you look into her relationship with Jasper?”
