Chapter 8
A year later, the kids were different.
Not fixed.
Different.
Maya laughed louder.
Ethan played soccer again.
The pantry became an open snack shelf with colorful bins.
Maya called it “the no-door food place.”
Dr. Hall said that was excellent reclamation.
Rachel said it was the world’s most expensive therapy pantry.
Both were true.
I started parenting classes.
Not because the court ordered it.
Because I needed to learn how to help children heal.
I had spent months blaming myself.
Dr. Hall finally told me, “Guilt can make you attentive, but it cannot become your home.”
So I worked.
I learned.
I apologized without making the kids comfort me.
I listened without flinching when they told me memories.
I stopped saying “I should have known” in front of them.
May you like
Because Ethan once said, “When you say that, I feel like I should have told better.”
Never again.
