Chapter 10: What Came After
Robert was formally charged six weeks later.
Patricia called while I was feeding Lily in the kitchen.
I had started calling her Lily the day we brought her home.
Willie had been very firm about this.
"The DA filed this morning," Patricia said.
"Filing a false report of death, unlawful transfer of a minor, and conspiracy.
Dana has accepted a plea agreement in exchange for full cooperation.
She will face probation and community service."
"And Robert?"
"He is facing trial.
His attorney is negotiating, but the DA is not inclined to reduce the charges." A pause.
"He called me yesterday, through Moss, asking whether you would consider a statement of support in exchange for a reduced sentence."
I looked at Lily.
She had fallen asleep against my arm.
"No," I said.
"I told them that would be your answer."
After I hung up, I sat for a while at the kitchen table.
The glass jar was still on Willie's dresser upstairs.
I had asked him once if he wanted to spend the money now that Lily was home.
He had thought about it seriously.
"I want to keep it," he said.
"So I remember that I tried."
Eleanor, Robert's mother, called once.
I let it ring.
She left no message.
Dana sent a letter.
I read it once, then put it in a drawer.
It was full of Robert's justifications repeated back in Dana's handwriting, with an apology layered on top.
I was not ready to decide what to do with it.
I set it aside and went back to Lily.
Robert came to the house once, three weeks after the hearing, while his bail conditions still permitted contact with Willie.
He stood on the front step.
Willie came to the door, looked at him, and said, "I don't want to talk to you right now, Dad."
Robert looked at me over Willie's head.
I said nothing.
I put my hand on Willie's shoulder.
Robert left.
That evening, Willie and I sat on the back porch after Lily was asleep.
It was warm enough to be outside.
He had a glass of lemonade.
I had tea.
"Are you angry at me?" he said.
"For not telling you sooner?"
"No," I said immediately.
"Never."
"I was scared."
"I know."
"I thought—" He stopped.
Started again.
"I thought if I told you, something bad would happen.
I didn't know what.
I just thought it."
"You were protecting yourself," I said.
"That was the right thing to do.
And then when you were ready, you told me.
That was also the right thing to do."
He was quiet for a moment.
"She looks like you," he said.
"Around the eyes."
"You think so?"
"Yeah." He took a sip of his lemonade.
"I'm glad I picked the rabbit with the floppy ears.
I almost got the one with the bow.
But the floppy ears one looked more like a friend."
I looked at him in the last of the evening light.
"It was the right choice," I said.
He nodded, satisfied.
We sat there until the fireflies came out.
Lily slept inside.
Willie pointed out the first one, then the second, then stopped counting and just watched them.
The jar on his dresser still had every coin he'd saved.
He never spent a single one.
---
Some people make decisions for us and call it protection.
But a mother's love is not a problem to be managed — it is the truest thing in the room.
Have you ever had someone take something precious from you, believing they knew better?
May you like
Share your story in the comments.
You are not alone.
