“You hurt them too, Mom,” I said, my voice dangerously calm. “You didn’t just abandon me.”

“I know,” she whispered.

Suddenly there was a scuffle of noise on the other end. A sharp, commanding voice barked in the background. “Give me the phone, Elaine.”

The muscles in my neck tightened.

“Caleb,” my father’s baritone boomed through the speaker.

I waited, letting the silence be my shield.