The next week I attended a parenting class arranged through our family case plan.

I learned that infants do not respond to grand intentions.

They respond to familiar voices, gentle routines, food when hungry, comfort when frightened, and adults who do what they promise.

I wrote those words on a card and put it on my desk where the fleet acquisition schedule used to sit.

PART 16

The first major hearing involving Tiffany and Walter was not the courtroom showdown I had imagined.

It concerned evidence preservation and financial records.