I had told them only that there was a private family matter and I wasn’t discussing Mason without Lauren’s permission.

For once, I refused to defend myself to an audience.

The letter from Patricia was four pages long.

The first page tried to explain her fear for my career.

The second described how worried she had been during my deployment.

Halfway through the third, the language changed.

She wrote that she had allowed her own fear to become a reason to control decisions that did not belong to her.

She acknowledged receiving Lauren’s letter, reading it without permission, and sending a response that suggested I knew about the pregnancy.