They would not lie awake wondering what they had done wrong.

They would not learn to distrust every kind man who ever entered their lives.

They would not grow up believing that love comes with a hidden invoice.

I would take the betrayal, the whole of it, into my own two hands, and deal with it so completely and so cleanly that by the time they were old enough to understand what had nearly happened, the only lesson left standing would be the right one — not people will hurt you, but your mother kept you safe. That is what a parent is for, in the end.

Not to keep the dangers from existing, because you cannot; the world makes its Nathans and always will.