After they left, I sat in my driveway for another hour before I felt steady enough to go inside. The next morning, I called Victoria. She said she’d been expecting this. We filed for a restraining order that afternoon. The court hearing was scheduled for 5 days later. Victoria spent 3 hours preparing me for what to expect.
I had to write down every threatening message, every boundary violation, every time Lily had felt unsafe in her own home. Putting it all in writing made the pattern impossible to deny, but I was scared the judge wouldn’t take it seriously enough because my husband had never actually hit anyone. Victoria said emotional abuse and harassment were valid grounds for protection orders.
She said judges were getting better at recognizing patterns of control and intimidation. I wanted to believe her, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I signed all the paperwork. The restraining order paperwork sat in my email inbox for 2 days before my husband found out about it. I don’t know how he got the information so fast, but he must have been checking court records or maybe his lawyer told him.