She wasn’t sure who looked more shocked; Thomas, his lawyer or the mediator. The three of them were staring at her, frowning.
‘Okay then,’ the mediator finally said, scribbling on the pad in front of her. ‘So I think that’s all the points agreed.’
‘I wanted to add a final discussion point in,’ Thomas said. It was the tone of his voice that alerted her, she recognised it all too well. The same tone he used when he thought he was getting one over on her.
The mediator had no choice but to let him speak. That was the problem with mediation, it was only binding if both parties agreed. Either of them could stand up right now and leave, and all these months of negotiation would be for nothing.
She’d been anxious through the whole meeting, her body on high alert for any Thomas-style curve balls he might think of. Every time he’d opened his mouth she’d expected him to mention seeing Richard Stanhope at the golf club on Sunday, and ask her about Ryan and what he meant to her. The fact he’d gotten through an hour of mediation without talking about any of it had given her a false sense of comfort. Maybe the Stanhopes had kept her business quiet after all.
His next words told her it wasn’t over yet.
‘I want to have a veto over any partners she may have until the divorce is absolute.’
‘What?’ The word escaped her mouth before she could stop it.
‘Well that’s very unusual,’ the mediator said. ‘I’m not sure we should do that.’
Juliet took a sharp breath in. Had he been saving this all along, waiting to spring it on her when she least expected it? That was something he’d do, wasn’t it?
‘If we’re going to discuss that, which we’re not agreeing to at all,’ Gloria Erkhart, Juliet’s lawyer, said, ‘then we’d want it to cover both parties. Mrs Marshall should also have a veto.’
Thomas caught Juliet’s eye. ‘I’m in a committed relationship, and my daughter has already met my partner. I’m comfortable that her spending time around Nicole isn’t disruptive. However, my wife’s situation is more … ’ He paused for effect. ‘Unstable. And if she’s going to have Poppy for seventy per cent of the time, I think it’s only fair I have the right to say who she brings into the home.’
‘That’s bullshit,’ Juliet spat out. ‘You know I’d never do anything to hurt Poppy.’
Thomas kept hold of her gaze, his own unwavering. ‘I don’t know what you’d do, Juliet. I never thought you’d hit anybody, either, but you did. After we separated I realised how troubled you were. Maybe another condition should be getting some therapy for your anger problems.’
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to go screw himself. Maybe if she didn’t love her daughter as much as she did, it would be an option. But as everybody had told her – as long as Poppy was a minor Juliet had to deal with this asshole sitting across the table from her, and as delicious as it would be to flounce out, it wouldn’t achieve anything.
Apart from giving him some satisfaction.
‘I c
an’t agree to that.’ She kept her reply terse.
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s unreasonable. I let you make decisions for me for the past seven years. I refuse to do it any more.’
‘So you’d rather put our daughter in danger?’
She hated the way he kept his voice so reasonable. He had this way of making himself look like the good guy even when he was completely in the wrong. The trouble was, she’d let him, and he’d grown stronger, and now he thought he was invincible.
Even though he’d been the one to cheat, and the one to introduce his daughter to the other woman, without so much as consulting Juliet, he was still trying to turn it back on her.
Well, he could try as hard as he wanted. She wasn’t going to let him get away with it this time.
‘I’ve never put our daughter in danger,’ she told him. ‘Everything I do has her best interests at heart. I’m not the one who ended this marriage, and I’m not the one who brought another woman home and had sex with her in our bed. If you want to talk about instability, let’s talk about morals, too. And whether you or Nicole actually have any.’
‘I really don’t think this is helping … ’
Thomas waved the mediator off. ‘You want to talk about morals, sweetheart? Why don’t we talk about how you accidentally fell pregnant and forced me to marry you? Or how you physically assaulted my new partner. Don’t come the high horse with me, because you’re going to lose.’ He leaned across the table, his face twisted with fury. ‘If I don’t trust you with our daughter, that’s because you haven’t earned any trust. I ask you for reasonable things and you do everything you can to put up roadblocks.’
‘Is that what this is about?’ she asked him. ‘Are you punishing me because I didn’t agree to you having Poppy for Christmas?’
Thomas laughed. ‘You’re making it all about you again. I just want what’s in my daughter’s best interest.’
‘She’s our daughter, and I want what’s best for her too. But that doesn’t include you having any say in my personal life. I won’t agree to anything that gives you control over me.’ She felt empowered, as though a weight was falling from her shoulders and smashing to smithereens on the ground. Thomas stared at her, as though surprised at her vehemence. He wasn’t used to not getting his own way.