The judge inquired whether the doctor felt that she was in particular need of a mother figure, or if he thought that she would fare as well without.

“Absolutely not,” the doctor exploded. “Without a woman to relate to, that child will never come out of her shell. She needs a mother's love.” The judge pursed his lips then, and Teddy waited, and half an hour later the decision was announced. Permanent custody was to be granted to Greg and Partie. Greg looked relieved as he left the court, and Pattie was elated. She didn't even look at Teddy, as she forced Vanessa to walk ahead of her. The child walked like a machine, without looking, seeing, feeling. Teddy didn't even dare reach out to touch her. He couldn't bear it. And as he walked slowly down the steps in the chill air, his mother came up beside him.

“I'm sorry, Teddy.” Her voice was husky and he turned to her with angry eyes.

“No, you're not. You could have helped me, and you didn't. Instead you've left her to those two.” He indicated the limousine pulling away from the curb, carrying Vanessa back to their apartment.

“They won't do her any harm her mother didn't already do. And you'll see enough of her.” He said nothing, but walked away from her as quickly as he could.

He sat home alone that night, in his darkened rooms, staring out into the night. It had begun snowing. And tonight he planned to be just like his brother. He had taken out a full bottle of Scotch when he got home, and he planned to drink it all before morning. He was halfway into it when the doorbell rang, and he ignored it. There was no one he wanted to see now and his lights weren't on, so no one could know he was home, but after the bell rang for almost fifteen minutes, someone began banging on the door. They pounded repeatedly and finally he heard muffled shouts of “Uncle Teddy.” Startled, he put his glass down, jumped to his feet, ran to the door, and pulled it open, and there she was. Vanessa, carrying a paper bag in one hand and an old doll he had given her years before in the other.

“What are you doing here?”

She said absolutely nothing for a minute, and suddenly she looked afraid. “I ran away.”

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry as he looked at her. They were both standing in the light from the hallway. And self-consciously, he flicked on the lights in his apartment. “Come on in and we'll talk about it.” He knew however, that there was nothing to talk about. He would have to take her back as soon as they had discussed it.

As though reading his thoughts, she braced herself stubbornly in the hall. “I won't go back.”

“Why not?”

“He's drunk again, and she hates me.”

“Vanessa,” he sighed tiredly, and wished he hadn't drunk the half bottle of Scotch before she'd got there. He wasn't thinking as clearly as he should, and he was so damn glad to see her. “She doesn't hate you. She wouldn't have fought so hard to get you if she hated you.”

“She just wants me like a thing.” Vanessa sounded angry. “Like all those clothes she buys, and the crystal stuff on the coffee table and the dolls she buys me. It's just stuff. That's all I am to her. More stuff.” Teddy knew that she was absolutely right but he couldn't say so. “And I hate them.”

“Don't.” He knew she was going to have to live with them for a long, long time. The court had ruled.

“I won't go back there.” She glared at him and he sighed as he flicked on the lights.

“Vanessa, you have to.”

“I won't.”

“Come on, let's talk this over.” He was feeling a little unsteady on his feet and it was a welcome relief to sit down with her.

But Vanessa looked as stubborn as the proverbial mule. “I won't go back to them, no matter what.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Will you please be reasonable, for chrissake? There's nothing we can do. You can't live with me if the court gave them custody.”

“Then I'll just keep running away, and they'll send me away to school.”

He smiled sadly. “They wouldn't do that.”

“Yes, they would.” Vanessa looked matter-of-fact. “She said so.”

“Jesus Christ.” For this they took her away from him? To threaten her with boarding school. “Look, nobody is going to send you anywhere, Vanessa. But you can't stay here.”

“Just for tonight?” The eyes were so big and sad that he melted and reached out his arms to her with a smile.

“Oh, princess, how did all of this happen to us?”

There were tears in her eyes when she turned her little face up to his, and once again he saw the face of his brother in this small child. “Why did Mommy have to die, Uncle Teddy? It's so unfair.”

“Yes.” He could barely speak as he thought of her. “It is.”

“Oh, please,” she said, clinging to him, her little hands warm against his shirt, “don't make me leave you. Just for tonight?”

He sighed, feeling suddenly very, very sober, and then he nodded. “All right. Just for tonight.” But he never got a chance to call Greg and Partie. Pattie called him before he could get up to call. He reached for the phone, and she shrieked at him instantly.

“Is she there?”

“Vanessa?” His voice was strangely calm. “Yes.”

“God damn it, Teddy, bring her back here! The court gave her to us, now she's ours!” Like a vegetable, or a suitcase. The very thought chilled him.

“I'll bring her back to you in the morning.”

“I want her now!” Pattie was strident, and Teddy's eyes began to blaze.

“She wants to spend the night.”

“Never mind what she wants. She's ours now, she's to do as I say. I'm coming over to get her.”

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” His voice was smooth as velvet, but it had an edge of steel. “I told you, I'll bring her back to you in the morning. She can sleep here.”

“No, she can't. You heard what the judge said. It's unsuitable, you're a bachelor. She is not allowed to spend the night at your house,” Pattie said archly. “I want her home right away.”

“Well, she's not coming. I'll see you in the morning.”

But what he saw in the morning was not Pattie, but the police. They arrived just as he was making breakfast for Vanessa. The doorbell rang, an officer asked if he was Theodore Fullerton, he said that he was, he was told that he was under arrest, handcuffs were clapped on him, and in front of Vanessa's horrified eyes he was led away. Another officer turned off the fire under the breakfast and gently told Vanessa to get her things. For a minute she started to get hysterical and looked around her frantically.… There was something about the uniforms … the police … she couldn't place it but they terrified her.… She grabbed her doll and ran for the door, looking for Teddy. But when she got downstairs, accompanied by the other officer, the car carrying Teddy to the station had already pulled away. Vanessa was driven back to Greg and Pattie's apartment, where she was returned to Pattie with a kind word and a smile.

At the exact same moment Teddy was downtown at the station, being booked for kidnapping. Pattie had brought charges against him during the night. Bail was set at fifteen thousand dollars, an extortionate amount, and a hearing was set in front of the very same judge the next day.

The next morning, looking unshaved and exhausted, Teddy was led into court, the handcuffs were removed, and the judge glared at him for several minutes before clearing the court. He ordered everyone out of his courtroom, especially the reporters—the headlines that morning had been bad enough: SOCIALITE SURGEON KIDNAPS NIECE. There was even some subtle intimation in the piece that, given his passionate interest in her, perhaps Vanessa was his child and not Brad's.

“Well, Doctor Fullerton, I can't say that I'm pleased to see you here again. What exactly do you have to say about all this? Off the record, just for the information of the court.”

“I didn't kidnap her, your honor. She arrived at my door.”

The judge looked troubled. “Had you told her to do that?”

“Of course not.”

“Did she give you a reason?”

“Yes.” He decided to be honest. He had nothing to lose now. “She hates my brother and his wife.”

“That's not possible, she said nothing about that in my courtroom.”

“Ask her again.”

The judge looked angry. “Have you primed her?”

“I have not.” Teddy's eyes flashed. “My sister-in-law is already threatening to send her to boarding school, that's how much they love her, your honor. If I do say so myself—he looked chagrined as he smiled ruefully at the judge—”you made a very poor choice.”

The judge looked anything but pleased with Teddy's comment. “She's a very disturbed child, Doctor. You know that. She needs a normal household with a mother and a father. As much as you may love her, you are only a man.”

Teddy sighed. “My sister-in-law doesn't have a maternal bone in her body, your honor, she hated Vanessa's mother with a passion. Vanessa's father jilted her for the child's mother. In a way I think Pattie—Mrs. Fullerton—wants to get even. She wants to finally ‘take possession’ of his child at all costs, to prove something. She doesn't love Vanessa, your honor. She doesn't even know the child.”

“Is it true that the child's mother hated Mrs. Fullerton?”

“I don't think so. I think the hatred was all on Mrs. Pattie Fullerton's end. She was wildly jealous of Serena.”

“Poor woman.…” He thought of Serena and shook his head. “And your brother Gregory?” The judge looked mournful, it was the worst case he'd had in years, there seemed to be no right solution for Vanessa. “Is he fond of the child?”

“Your honor,” Teddy sighed, “my brother is an alcoholic. In my opinion he's in the very last stages of it. Not a very pretty scene for Vanessa to see, or anyone else for that matter.”