I said, “A child can survive disappointment better than she can survive confusion. If the court says these visits happen, then let them happen where the truth is fenced.”
He nodded.
After the first visit, Ruby was quiet the whole ride home.
Then she said from the back seat, “Mommy said she was just trying to help me rest.”
Daniel gripped the steering wheel.
“What do you think?”
Long pause.
“I think helping doesn’t feel scary.”
That was Ruby.
No lawyer in the world could improve on that.
As for Vanessa, bits and pieces filtered through as they always do in towns like ours, where people pretend not to watch each other while watching each other constantly.
She moved into a smaller apartment.
Started seeing a therapist.
Lost some friends.
Kept a few loyal ones who believed stress should excuse whatever it wanted.
Her criminal case ended with a plea agreement. Probation, mandatory counseling, parenting classes, restrictions. Not prison. Some people would call that too light. Maybe it was. But law is not vengeance, and if you expect it to satisfy grief, you will grow old disappointed.
Once, nearly a year later, I saw her by accident in the produce section at Kroger.