Part 6 — What the Boys Had Been Hiding
I tried to keep our routine normal.
That became my mission.
Breakfast at seven.
School at eight.
Soccer on Tuesdays.
Robotics club on Thursdays.
Pizza on Friday.
Laundry on Saturday.
Pancakes on Sunday.
But children notice fear even when adults hide it behind grocery lists and packed lunches.
Jeffrey started having trouble sleeping.
George became unusually quiet.
One night, around eleven, I found Jeffrey sitting at the kitchen table.
A glass of milk sat untouched in front of him.
“What are you doing awake?”
He shrugged.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
I sat across from him.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he asked, “If the judge says we have to go with her, do we really have to?”
I wanted to tell him no.
I wanted to promise that no one could ever take him from me.
But I had raised those boys to trust my word.
