A whole child’s life had happened while I sent cards to his mother and asked Patrick whether she needed anything.

“How long did Patrick know?”

Samantha’s face crumpled.

“Since he was three.”

Nine years.

I had arrived believing the ring might separate Patrick’s truth from Samantha’s lies.

Now I understood that he had helped create the thing he was warning me about.

I took the ring from its small protective pouch and set it beside the phone.