Chapter 12 - THE RESTRAINING ORDER HEARING
The final legal reckoning took place in the county probate and family court. The judge issued a permanent, lifetime injunction barring Evelyn Cross from coming within one mile of Renata, the children, or their residence, accompanied by an order for mandatory, secure inpatient psychiatric treatment.
As the gavel came down, the heavy pall of fear that had hung over the house in Cedar Hollow for years finally evaporated. Renata squeezed my hand in the courtroom gallery, her face radiant with a hard-earned smile. The nightmare was officially over.
