Legal custody was placed with Caroline, subject to the relevant orders, and protections were established concerning future contact.

Everyone involved emphasized that arrangements should continue to serve the children’s safety and welfare.

Caroline did not call the result a happy ending.

It was a serious legal outcome after something the girls should never have experienced.

There were still appointments to attend, school years to navigate, and difficult questions that might surface as Nora and Violet grew older.

Yet the decision gave their days a shape that had been missing: they knew where they would wake up tomorrow and who would be there to make breakfast.