“I know.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to.”

Colleen sat down beside me and didn’t try to argue me out of what I felt.

PART 11

I had never understood how many different systems could become involved when a child’s safety was in question.

The police investigated the circumstances of the exposure and the false information used to obtain the prescription.

Child-protection workers assessed our household.

The family court considered where I could live safely while those questions were resolved.