John Storrow and Mattie Devore’s relationship

John Storrow and Mattie Devore’s relationship grows out of the custody case over Kyra: he becomes her lawyer and strategic ally, helps revive her resolve against Maxwell Devore’s campaign, and recognizes an attraction that professional ethics prevent him from acting on while he represents her. Their connection therefore remains poised between legal partnership and a possible future romance, with no outcome confirmed in the available account.

The Legal Alliance

After Mattie’s father-in-law, Maxwell Devore, sets the custody case in motion, Michael Noonan tells her that he has been subpoenaed to give a deposition before Elmer Durgin, the court-appointed guardian ad litem for Kyra. Mattie distrusts Durgin and believes he is aligned with Maxwell; she also describes the local real-estate figure Richard Osgood and Deputy George Footman as part of the pressure surrounding the case. Michael explains the risks Storrow has identified: the court-appointed representative’s view may carry substantial weight with the judge, while Maxwell can afford extensive legal and witness support. Mattie, by contrast, cannot expect the court to provide her comparable resources.

Storrow’s role is consequently more than appearing for Mattie at a hearing. He explains the procedural imbalance and begins assembling a response. When he tells Michael that a court-appointed guardian ad litem is meant to protect the child’s interests, he also notes that the appointee’s interpretation can shape a judge’s decision in practice. The legal arrangement may be formally centered on Kyra’s welfare, but Storrow understands that influence and presentation can determine how that welfare is assessed.

Mattie’s trust in him becomes visible when she phones Michael after speaking with Storrow. She reports that Storrow is coming to the area, that they will spend Friday discussing the case, and that he has found a separate lawyer to accompany Michael at his deposition. More important to her than these arrangements is that Storrow has told her she can win. She credits Michael with helping bring this support about, but Storrow’s assessment gives her a reason to recover the fighting spirit she had been losing.

Advocacy and Its Consequences

At a picnic behind the town common’s bandstand, Mattie greets Michael with open delight after his deposition. Storrow is there too, having met Michael in person, and the three move from the deposition into a working discussion of the case. Storrow has already set inquiries in motion: a researcher in California is gathering information about Roger Devore and Morris Ridding, while Storrow is examining Roger’s relationship with his father and whether Roger has made any record concerning his niece. He is also mapping Maxwell’s activities since returning to TR-90 and has obtained the name of a private investigator recommended by Romeo Bissonette.

The preparation reflects Storrow’s effort to contest a case backed by money and local connections, not simply to respond to allegations as they arise. He tells Mattie and Michael to use caution in their communications, warning that telephone lines may be tapped and telling them not to meet at Mattie’s trailer. His instructions make the strain of the case part of their ordinary routines: even a conversation or a visit must be considered in light of surveillance and the opposing side’s reach.

That reach becomes tangible when Mattie loses her job at the Four Lakes Consolidated Library. The dismissal is presented as budget tightening, but Michael connects the library’s financial dependence to Maxwell’s support, and Mattie recalls that Storrow had predicted Maxwell would try to leave her in the weakest possible position for the custody hearing. She had believed the library director would not act against her; the job loss makes Storrow’s warning feel prescient and demonstrates how pressure surrounding the case can reach beyond the courtroom. The episode deepens the practical significance of his advocacy, even as the evidence does not establish that Storrow himself can prevent every such consequence.

Professional Boundaries and Attraction

The relationship is not exclusively professional in its emotional implications. After the softball game, Storrow tells Michael that he is taken with Mattie. He says he cannot court her while he is representing her because it would be unethical, and adds that it would not be safe either. He does not rule out a later possibility; he leaves it open, conditional on the case and on what may follow.

Michael’s response makes clear that Storrow’s admission changes how he understands their alliance. Michael has feelings for Mattie himself, but hears Storrow’s interest as a plausible path toward her happiness and feels rueful relief alongside hurt. He considers Storrow a suitable age for her and thinks of him as a second possible Prince Charming. This is Michael’s private assessment, not proof of a relationship between Storrow and Mattie; Storrow’s own words establish attraction and restraint, not a courtship or commitment.

Mattie, meanwhile, responds warmly to the support Storrow and Michael provide. Earlier, after hearing that Storrow believes she can win, she tells Michael that she would give him a kiss if he were there and says that, when the case is over, she will make him a proper meal. These remarks are directed to Michael, not Storrow, and distinguish her close bond with Michael from the professional relationship forming with her lawyer. At the town common, Mattie kisses Michael before Storrow, then turns to Storrow to ask whether it was all right. Storrow answers that it probably was not, but notes that they are out of view of local observers. The moment places him in the role of a careful witness to Mattie and Michael’s intimacy, rather than making him a participant in it.

An Unsettled Future

The evidence leaves the relationship at a deliberate threshold. Storrow’s work gives Mattie legal assistance, a plan for investigating Maxwell’s position, and the reassurance that the case is not hopeless. His attraction introduces another possible bond, but professional ethics defer it until the representation ends, and no later account confirms that the two begin a romance.

The wider custody struggle also continues beyond the initial burst of confidence. Later, Michael describes Kyra as having been placed in two foster homes since Mattie’s death, while Mattie’s aunt has shown little interest in caring for her. He says Storrow has urged patience and has described their progress as remarkable given Michael’s position as an unmarried, middle-aged man. This later reference confirms Storrow’s continuing importance to the effort to protect Kyra, but it does not supply the case’s final legal outcome or resolve the earlier possibility of a relationship with Mattie.

Significance

Storrow and Mattie’s connection links intimacy to the unequal machinery of the custody dispute. He is both the lawyer who recognizes how a guardian ad litem’s recommendation can affect a judge and the potential suitor who refuses to use that professional position to pursue her. His restraint gives the relationship a clear boundary, while his practical work—investigating family history and Maxwell’s activities, preparing for the deposition, and cautioning against exposed communications—shows what his support means in action.

Mattie’s growing confidence is one consequence of that alliance, but the job loss and the later uncertainty surrounding Kyra’s placements resist a simple victory narrative. Storrow’s significance lies in sustained advocacy under imperfect conditions, while the possible romance remains secondary, conditional, and unresolved.