November didn't have the context, but as she spoke Ben couldn't help think through it all. He didn't have to reach an agreement with Melody about anything. He had the grounds to divorce her even before last night — Aldous had said as much — and he was fairly confident that if he wanted to, he could push to have Eleanora removed from her custody immediately and permanently. He had looked into the logistics of it while Melody was pregnant and things had been rocky between the two of them; care of their daughter would be granted to him by default in the event that they divorced, and Melody would have to petition to reverse the decision if she wanted to. Given that she had no income of her own and no family to support her, the likelihood that she would be able to do so successfully was slim... even before the grounds for the divorce came into play. Cold as it was, he didn't need her to agree to anything, if he decided that separating her from Eleanora was in their daughter's best interests.
"But can Eleanora keep her prospects if this comes out?" he pressed. "That's the first question. As to whether we could live together — I don't know, maybe. Probably, I guess. But if this — or something like this, in a year or two or three — was being talked about, and we stayed married, and Melody kept raising her — then what does that mean for Nora?"
"But can Eleanora keep her prospects if this comes out?" he pressed. "That's the first question. As to whether we could live together — I don't know, maybe. Probably, I guess. But if this — or something like this, in a year or two or three — was being talked about, and we stayed married, and Melody kept raising her — then what does that mean for Nora?"
MJ made this <3