“It’s none of our business.”

“Oh, it’s not? Because whatever it was, it led to my daughter getting stolen from me.”

“This is a very dangerous way to look at what’s happened.”

“It’s a very realistic way to look at what’s happened.”

She sighed, hesitantly sitting down next to me, “But it’s not going to help you.”

“Mom, it’s just the way it is. I’m sorry, but it is.”

“Glen, there’s something I need to ask you.”

I had known that one day she would need to know. But still, I felt a wave of anxiety pass through me. Answers were not something I was able to provide. The truth wasn’t something I was good at confessing.

“What is it?” I asked, cold beads of sweat clinging to my skin like the lies I had told to pacify my mother in the months before.

“How did this begin?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“There’s a reason she had to kidnap her, isn’t there? There was a desperation that was there. Not only that, but she seems a little ambitious for someone strung out on drugs, doesn’t she?”

“I guess so.”

“Was she ever on drugs?”

I shrugged. I felt like I was eleven years-old, standing in front of the broken window my baseball had smashed through. I was always leaving behind the glass of my mistakes for others to step in. My mistakes always multiplied.

“Glen…”

“I needed my daughter close to me, ok? And she wanted to take her away from me and move to New York. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“So you lied.”

“So I lied.”

“What did you think would happen?”

“I obviously didn’t think it through. I know that. But I’m a parent. I would’ve done anything to be near my child. I’m sorry, but I can’t apologize for something I felt I needed to do.”

“You can be a parent and not be a man,” she said, shaking her head, “what you did, Glen…whether you apologize or not…”

“Well, look, she wins. Doesn’t she? So I guess the joke is on me. She has her.”