The judge leaned forward.
“Jeffrey, is there something you want to say?”
My grandson swallowed.
“Yes, sir.”
“You understand you don’t have to speak unless you want to.”
“I know.”
The judge nodded.
“All right. Take your time.”
Jeffrey drew a slow breath.
Then another.
He looked at the judge.
He looked at George.
Then, finally, he turned toward the woman who had left him on my doorstep when he was two years old.
Vanessa was still smiling.
Jeffrey opened his mouth.
And what he said next was only five words.
Five words that wiped the smile from Vanessa’s face.
Five words that made her attorney turn sharply toward her.
Five words that made everyone in that courtroom go completely silent.
But before I tell you what my grandson said, you need to understand why his mother had disappeared for ten years…
…and why, after all that time, she suddenly wanted her children back.
