Below the signature was a sworn statement.

“I acknowledge that my military obligations prevent me from providing a stable home,” I read out loud.

My voice sounded completely flat in the empty room.

“They were going to file this while they were out of the country,” Rebecca said.

“By the time you finally got home, Patricia would have had a default judgment.”

I stared at the forged letters.

They had stolen my money, abandoned my child, and drafted a legal fiction to erase me completely from my own family.