Financial records.
Letters from teachers.
Evidence showing Vanessa’s decade-long absence.
I also produced the single email she’d sent after abandoning the boys.
Do whatever paperwork you need. I can’t do this.
Rachel read it twice.
“Keep the original.”
Meanwhile, Vanessa requested visitation.
The court permitted supervised contact while the matter was pending.
I didn’t oppose it.
Part of me wanted to.
Another part remembered that Jeffrey and George might one day ask whether I had stopped their mother from knowing them.
I never wanted that answer to be yes.
The first supervised visit lasted an hour.
Vanessa brought gifts.
Expensive sneakers in the wrong sizes.
Two identical gaming cards even though Jeffrey preferred drawing and reading.
She spent most of the first fifteen minutes telling them about herself.
Cities she’d lived in.
Trips she’d taken.
Her apartment.
Restaurants.
Then, according to the boys, her questions changed.
