Especially on a day when everyone wanted them to mean more than they had decided.

PART 8 — A Safe Tomorrow

Mara’s first approved visit happened at the hospital later that day.

The children remained there under the treating team’s observation, and the placement worker was coordinating what would happen when they were medically ready to leave.

The hospital was not a place they could occupy indefinitely simply because the court process continued.

For that afternoon, it was where they were.

Mara stopped several feet from the nursery glass.