Dawson began crying again.
I thought about Lucy and Sam.
How much they'd changed in four years.
The first missing teeth.
The school plays.
The scraped knees.
The bedtime questions.
Dawson had missed all of that with Elliot.
And no court proceeding could return those days.
That evening, I finally spoke with Megan.
She called from an unfamiliar number.
"Claire?"
Her voice was unsteady.
I sat beside my mother's hospital window.
"What do you want?"
She began crying.
"I know what you think of me."
I stared at the dark glass.
"Do you?"
She swallowed.
"I never meant for it to go this far."
I closed my eyes.
"You told Dawson his son was dead."
She began sobbing.
"You don't understand."
"Then help me understand why you let him visit a grave."
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
Then she whispered, "I was afraid Ryan would leave me."
I stopped breathing.
