Nothing in this is your fault.”

I said it slowly, then repeated it when he asked whether he should have told me sooner.

After the call, I sat on the bed until Frank returned to the table with the petition.

It described the removal, the planned relocation, the disputed school documents, and the financial transactions as specifically as the records allowed.

I corrected a time he had written from my hurried telephone account.

“Read every paragraph,” he said.