Fanfare (Country Roads #2) - Chapter 29

I was almost at the Blue Ridge when Kat called, so I just went in to talk to Chef instead of calling. He understood why I couldn’t train and he’d expected it, since Mrs. Leighton had called him from the police station to update him on what was happening.

I ended up getting to Hanna’s house right as Kat pulled up in an SUV being driven by Mrs. Leighton. As we all started getting out of our cars, Hanna came running outside, hugging Kat as soon as she was out of her car. Until this whole thing started, I hadn’t realized how close the two of them had become. It was a pretty far departure from Hanna hating Kat just a few months ago, because Kat had dated Aaron. Of course, that was before Hanna learned about Kat’s condition and how little control over her life Kat had.

While Kat caught Hanna up on everything that had happened that day and Mrs. Leighton went to talk to Mrs. Phillips, I carried Kat’s suitcase upstairs to the guest room. It was huge and incredibly heavy but I guess it was everything Kat thought she couldn’t live without, since she’d made it sound like she was never going back.

Mrs. Phillips had made the bed and set out some towels and other things that Kat might need, but otherwise, the room was pretty Spartan, since it was usually empty. By the time I got back downstairs, all four of them were in the living room, with Mrs. Leighton explaining what would happen from here.

“Right now, you’re here as a temporary measure while CPS continues its investigation. Normally that is all that would happen, but because you were removed from school and are not currently enrolled in another school, we believe this is grounds for a court to order a temporary assignment of guardianship.”

“Even if you get the guardianship assigned to me, it’s still temporary though, right?” Mrs. Phillips asked. “If the investigation finds no evidence of abuse, wouldn’t it revert back to her father? How would that affect a ruling assigning me guardianship?”

“Normally, yes. However, I think that’s unlikely here. First off, because she’s seventeen and able to give testimony to the abuse, and there is some evidence of the physical abuse beyond her testimony, I think the investigation is going to find that she should be removed from the home. More importantly, her birthday is two months from today. While preliminary investigations usually happen in seventy-two hours, if an agent does decide to open a full investigation, it could take months to conclude and probably several weeks more to petition the court for a reversal of the order granting temporary guardianship. If you’re granted legal guardianship tomorrow, there just isn’t enough time for her father to get it back before she turns eighteen.”

“What about after?” I asked. “She’s supposed to go to college and she’s been training to compete in swimming at an international level. Doesn’t he have to pay any kind of support if he loses guardianship? Isn’t there some kind of child support?”

“In this case, no. Child support is paid when a parent retains custodial rights and responsibility, but doesn’t have active custody of the child. When a parent loses all custodial rights, they don’t normally have any remaining responsibilities either. There are ways to force him to continue supporting her, however. We need to get past the guardianship first, but North Carolina allows a ten-year statute of limitations from the day she turns eighteen to sue her father for any abuse that occurred when she was a child. Since it was ongoing, this can be pretty significant.”

“Do we need to hire a lawyer to do that?” Mrs. Phillips asked.

I remember Hanna telling me about how bad her mother’s divorce lawyer was, which was probably why she seemed so concerned as she asked that question.

“One of the victims’ advocacy services we offer is helping child victims get restitution from their abusers, so no. We’ll be able to help you with that so you don’t have to find the money for a lawyer. We understand just taking in someone else’s child can be a burden for a new guardian, so we don’t want to have to push that on you as well. I normally deal with the family law cases, so we’ll have one of the attorneys who assist us with civil actions contact you about starting that process.”

“When can I go back to school?”

“Your hearing isn’t until the early afternoon, so we probably won’t have the order until it’s too late to file the actual guardianship papers until Monday, which means it’ll probably be some time in the middle of next week.”

“But I’ll be able to go back?”

“As long as Mrs. Phillips gets legal guardianship, yes. Since you weren’t enrolled in any other schools after your withdrawal, they can’t mark you as transferred, meaning they have to allow you to return, although there’s a good chance you’ll have a lot of makeup work to do.”

“Kat’s a genius. She’ll be able to catch up,” Hanna said.

“What about a psychiatrist?” I asked. “Her father would never get her evaluated, but I know you heard from Dr. Rothstein about her condition. If Mrs. Phillips has guardianship, can she start getting help?”

“Yes, although you won’t be able to have her father pay for it and the lawsuit can take some time. I wouldn’t expect anything until next year at the earliest. So any help she does get will be out of pocket.”

“Can I put her on my insurance?” Mrs. Phillips asked.

“It’s unlikely. If Mrs. Phillips has foster guardianship of her, then she’d be eligible for Medicaid coverage until she’s twenty-six or able to cover her own expenses, but temporary guardianship outside of the foster care system is kind of a crack in the system. Since her father no longer has custody, he doesn’t have to carry her insurance but it’s unlikely any insurance company would allow a temporary ward to be enrolled as a dependent.”

“That sucks,” Hanna said.

“I know. Unfortunately, temporary guardianships like this are somewhat uncommon, so there just isn’t a system in place to support kids like Katherine.”

“I think maybe we need to let Katherine rest. She’s already had a long day and tomorrow’s not going to be any better.”

Kat had been slowly shutting down during the conversation, but especially during the last part. It was a good bet her anxiety was going into overdrive, since there was always the outside chance that Mrs. Phillips wouldn’t get guardianship, which meant she’d end up back with her dad. Mrs. Leighton had tried to allay some of those fears, but someone with Kat’s level of anxiety wouldn’t really listen to that.

“You’re probably right. I need to make the drive back to my offices and start preparing for tomorrow. I’ll meet you here at around noon so we can prepare Katherine for what’s going to happen tomorrow, and then we can all drive over together.”

“Can people come watch the case?”

“I don’t know. It really depends on the judge on the day. Sometimes they seal courtrooms when it involves a minor, but I’ve seen them leave it open for seventeen-year-olds before. You can come and see if they’ll let you in.”

“Okay.”

I’d have to skip baseball practice, but there was a good chance with all of the bullshit with Harry lately Coach Dean would give me a one-time exception. If I had to skip without permission, I would. This would be tough on Kat and I wanted to be there to support her if at all possible.

Coach Dean approved my missing practice when I told him I had a family activity that I had to attend, which was a lie, but only a little one. Chef had already told me it was okay for me to miss a second class in a row the night before when I’d called him, since he knew about the court case.

The hearing itself was being held in Asheville since the courthouse in Wellsville had one part-time judge that dealt with non-felony crimes and municipality issues. Any civil cases, felonies, or specialty cases like family court was handled in Asheville. I took it as a good sign that, after we drove an hour we were at least allowed inside the courtroom, which was open to spectators.

It had taken us longer to get there after school let out than either of us thought, and the trial was already underway when we walked in.

“… and how often did these assaults occur?” Mrs. Leighton was asking Kat.

“It varied. Sometimes it would be a couple of days in a row, other times it would be weeks in between. He travels for work a lot, and he’d have a family friend come and stay with me, instead. He’d usually want to … uhh, do it again when he came back from his trip, though.”

“You described one of these encounters. Is that how it went most of the time?”

“No. Sometimes he was … angry about something and he’d hurt me when he did it.”

“Is that the only time he hurt you?”

“No. I mean, he didn’t hurt me on purpose that much when I was younger, but once I started saying no, he’d get really angry and would slap and punch me.”

“What else did he do when you started turning away his advances?”

“He thought someone I knew, one of my friends, was the reason why I’d started saying no. Before Christmas when I decided to start standing up for myself, I’d never really said no. I’d just … accepted that was what a good daughter was supposed to do. He said I wasn’t to spend time with anyone else anymore and that I could only go to school, swim practice, and home.”

“And did you do that?”

“No. When he was at work or traveling, I’d still go out with my friends. That was working okay, except for the bruises my friends would ask me about, until he came home from a trip early a few weeks ago and I wasn’t home when I should have been. He found me at the school talking to a friend after his baseball practice. He was so angry I’d disobeyed him. He came charging at me like he was going to hurt me, but my friend got in the way, so he just took me home. The next day he pulled me out of school and told me he was going to find an all-girls school for me to go to where I wouldn’t be around bad influences.”

“So you haven’t been to school in several weeks, then?”

“No.”

“He still went to work though, during the day. Is that correct? How did he make sure you didn’t sneak out?”

“He had my aunt stay. She isn’t really my aunt, that’s just what I’ve always called her. He told her I was on drugs and that I’d try to go out and get more, so that she’d watch me and keep me from sneaking out.”

“And were you on drugs?”

“No, ma’am. I’ve never done drugs in my life.”

“That’s all my questions.”

“Mr. Levitt, do you have any questions for the witness?” the judge asked.

“Katherine, do you have any proof to these claims of abuse?” a lawyer in what looked like a very expensive suit said.

“I don’t know what you mean by proof.”

“Did anyone see it happen? Was he ever caught touching or engaging with you inappropriately?”

“Of course not. He never did it when other people were around. I have the bruises though.”

“And before Christmas when you made new friends, had you ever spoken to anyone about this abuse before?”

“No,” she said, almost shrinking back into herself.

“Before you started making these accusations, before Christmas, did you suddenly change large portions of your routine, like suddenly ignoring old friends and breaking up with your boyfriend?”

“I … what does that have to do with anything?”

“Don’t you find it odd that you never once mentioned this abuse that had been, in your words, going on since you were little? All of a sudden you change large aspects of your life. Getting rid of friends and breaking up with your boyfriend at the exact same time that you started making up these stories? What did you start doing that made you change your life so drastically?”

She was getting scared and I could see her anxiety was starting to go off the chart. She started looking around the room desperately until she found me in the back of the courtroom. I’d anticipated how difficult this would have been for her, so before I left I told her that if she started feeling anxious I wanted her to find me in the courtroom, so she could see that I was there to support her, and that I wanted her to be brave and answer their questions. I knew it would take a toll on her, but if she could get through this, we could actually start her on a path to recovery.

Her eyes locked with mine and she took a few breaths before looking back at the lawyer and saying, “I decided to start standing up for myself. My boyfriend took advantage of me and wanted me to do things with his friends, and the ‘friends’ I stopped hanging out with saw it happening and didn’t try to stop it. It’s why I started telling people about what he was doing and why I started saying no when he wanted to use me again. I decided I wasn’t going to be afraid anymore.”

“So it wasn’t the drugs that caused this sudden behavior change.”

“I told you, I don’t do drugs.”

The lawyer walked back to the table her father was sitting at and picked up a piece of paper, holding it up.

“Your Honor, I have here a drug test done a week and a half ago by her father. He was concerned for his daughters’ behavior and took some hair from one of her brushes, mailing it to a company that offers testing remotely. These results will show traces of both THC, the chemical component of marijuana and methamphetamines.”

“That’s a lie,” Kat yelled out. “I don’t do any of that.”

“Ms. Moore, please only speak when asked questions. Let your lawyer handle any objections.”

“Your Honor,” Mrs. Leighton said, standing up. “We have no way to know how the lab could verify that the samples her father sent in were in fact from Ms. Moore.”

“Noted, counselor. Mr. Levitt, do you have any further questions?”

“A few more, Your Honor.”

“Proceed.”

“Katherine, when all these changes happened after Christmas, did you also ask your father to take you to see a psychiatrist?”

“Yes. He didn’t want to take me, though.”

“Did you also start telling your friend, or former friends, that you had a serious mental illness around the same time?”

“I told them I had a condition that made me have a lot of anxiety, and that was why I’d let Aaron and the others talk me into things I didn’t want to do.”

“So you found you had what you’ve told former friends was a serious mental illness before you suddenly began acting completely uncharacteristically, changing your friends, making accusations of lifelong abuse that you’d never once mentioned before and, as we’ve shown, doing drugs after finding a new group of friends to hang out with?”

“It’s not like that,” Kat said angrily.

“I’m sure it’s not,” the lawyer said before turning to the judge. “I’m finished with this witness, Your Honor.”

“I have a few re-direct questions for Ms. Moore, Your Honor.”

“Go ahead.”

“Katherine, did your father ever take you to a psychiatrist?”

“No.”

“Have you received a diagnosis of any kind for any kind of psychological or mental illness?”

“No.”

Mrs. Leighton had gone over these with Kat the night before, since we knew there was a chance it would come up. Although her father didn’t know about Dr. Rothstein, she had told him that she had asked him to take her to get help from a psychologist after that one session with Rothstein, and mentioned she had a condition that was causing her problems. Mrs. Leighton had felt there was a good chance that her father’s lawyer would bring it up as a way to discredit her testimony about the abuse, which was the thing the entire guardianship hearing was about.

She had to be careful of how she asked the question, however, since the last thing they wanted to admit was that she had, in fact, talked to a doctor and had her condition identified. The last thing we wanted was to actually confirm that Kat had any kind of mental condition, since it might convince the judge to doubt her claims.

“Thank you,” she said to Kat before turning to the judge. “That was all of my questions, Your Honor.”

“Do you have anyone else you’d like to call?”

“Not at this time, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Levitt? Is there anyone you’d like to speak for your client?”

“Yes. I’d like to call Mr. Moore to testify.”

Kat was walking back to the table where Mrs. Leighton was sitting when her father walked past, heading in the other direction. He didn’t try to reach out to her or anything, but he came close enough that she visibly flinched. I saw the judge notice it, her eyes following Kat instead of the witness stepping up into the witness stand. After a second she refocused, turning and addressing Kat’s father, having the clerk swear him in, his hand on the bible.

Knowing Kat as I did, I knew her reaction was visceral and completely genuine. I could see the fear in her eyes when she realized how close he’d been. I only hoped the judge’s reaction was because she had seen Kat’s reaction for what it was. If she did, it would go a long way to convincing her that Kat was telling the truth about her father.

“Mr. Moore, have you ever hit your daughter?”

“No. I mean, I spanked her a few times when she was little, but that stopped around the same time as when her mother died, because I couldn’t stand seeing my little girl in pain after what she experienced. Beyond that though, no. I’ve never hit her.”

“Your daughter testified that she had bruises several times and blamed them on the alleged assaults. If you didn’t hit her, where could those bruises have possibly come from?”

Although her father’s lawyer’s words were asking legitimate questions, his tone made it sound like it was ridiculous to even ask why Kat had shown up to school bruised.

“I don’t really know. I’ve asked her about it, of course, but she didn’t really have an answer for it. I just chalked it up to kids being kids. She spent a lot of time in the pool, practicing her turns and whatnot, so I thought maybe there was a chance they came from bumping into the wall or maybe repeated dives. Besides that, I really couldn’t say.”

“Your daughter has also made very serious allegations of abuse against you. Have you ever touched your daughter in an inappropriate manner?”

“No. Of course not. I love my daughter and I want more than anything to keep her healthy and happy. And besides, even if she wasn’t my daughter, she’s still a child. I’m not a monster.”

The fact that he could sit there and say these things with a straight face, especially while looking at his daughter, meant he was even more than just a monster. He was evil. I saw his face when he rushed his daughter. That wasn’t the look of a man who only wanted to keep his child healthy and happy. That was the look of someone who planned to beat another person unconscious.

“Can you explain why your daughter would say these things about you then? Why would she make something like this up?”

“I really don’t know. I can’t imagine there’s anything I could have done that would justify her saying these things. My only thought is that one of these friends of hers put her up to it. She was angry when I forbid her from seeing them, but I could tell what kind of influence they were becoming over her. I was worried that if I did nothing and just let that influence continue, she’d be too far gone for anyone to help. I know she was mad when I pulled her out of school to get her away from them, but even then, she wouldn’t have come up with something like this on her own.”

“Your daughter’s her own person though, isn’t she? How could a proud young woman allow other kids to talk her into making such outlandish accusations?”

I kept wondering why Mrs. Leighton didn’t object. Kat’s father’s attorney was making pretty directed statements, like calling constantly downplaying the accusations. Of course, Mrs. Leighton knew more about courts than I ever would, so maybe she had a reason for not objecting. It was a judge hearing, after all, and not an actual trial in front of a jury, and I assumed judges were harder to sway with this kind of rhetoric than twelve average people. Of course, if that were true, then it didn’t make sense why the lawyer kept making the statements.

“Ever since her mother died, Kat’s had serious mental issues. She’s always anxious and has a hard time standing up for herself. I always hoped it was something that might go away, but it’s clear that her condition is even more serious than I realized. I think some of these kids figured out just how unwell Katherine is, and took advantage of her. I don’t blame her for this, I really don’t. I just want a chance to help her get well.”

“That’s all my questions, Your Honor.”

“Fine. Mrs. Leighton?”

Mrs. Leighton patted Kat’s hand and then got up and stood in front of the table she and Kat sat at, moving to stand in front of it.

“Mr. Moore, have you ever taken your daughter to a mental health professional?”

“No.”

“But you just testified that she’s had serious mental health issues since her mother died. If you’ve never taken her to a professional to get evaluated, how would you know that?”

“Because I know my daughter. I love her and she’s a wonderful person, but anyone can see how much trouble she has. I think her mental illness is pretty obvious.”

“If it’s so obvious, then why haven’t you ever taken her to get help for it?”

“Because I thought it was something we could deal with at home, without subjecting her to the embarrassment of needing to see a psychologist.”

“But you clearly thought it was serious. Serious enough that you pulled her out of school and were working on finding an all-girls boarding school for her. If it was that serious but you thought you could help her at home, why would you then send her to live away from you at a boarding school? Did you arrange for her to see a mental health professional while she was at this boarding school in Raleigh that you had her interview with?”

“No. I mean, first, we needed to get her into the school. I couldn’t really make any other plans until we did that.”

“Earlier you said you’d never hit your daughter, that the bruises people could see were caused by accidents at her swimming lessons.”

“I said maybe they were. That was a guess. I don’t know where she got them.”

“Do you think she got them fighting other kids? Was Katherine in some kind of fight club?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No, I don’t think she’s been fighting. I think she’s just a little accident-prone.”

“Didn’t your daughter get into the next Pan American Games? Doesn’t she train with a group of high-level coaches with the express goal of making it into the Olympics? Do you think it’s believable that someone with that level of athletic ability is clumsy and regularly falls down and seriously injures herself? Do you expect us to believe that?”

“Like I said, I was just guessing. I don’t know how she hurt herself.”

“Your Honor,” Mrs. Leighton said, twisting around and picking up several sheets of paper that had pictures large enough that I could almost see them where I was sitting. “I’d like to submit defense exhibits A, B, and C.”

“Let me see them please,” the judge said.

Mrs. Leighton walked across the open area to the raised bench where the judge sat and handed them to her. The judge looked at each one before handing them back to Mrs. Leighton.

“So ordered,” the Judge said.

“May I show these to the witness,” Mrs. Leighton asked.

“You may.”

“Mr. Moore, please look at these pictures. Do the injuries photographed in these pictures look like the kind of injuries that someone would get falling down?”

I couldn’t see the pictures she was holding up, but I had a pretty good idea of which ones they were. Hanna had taken some pictures of Kat when she’d come to school a few months ago looking really beat up. She’d had a serious black eye, a slight yellowish bruise on her cheek, and a welt at the corner of her mouth, all on the same side of her face. It was impossible to see that picture and not come to the conclusion that she’d been hit. Her father was doing his hardest to try, though.

“I don’t know. I’m not a doctor or an expert in bruises. I just know that one morning she woke up and they were there, and she wouldn’t tell me where she got them. I keep telling you I don’t know where she got hurt.”

“So you don’t see how clearly these are bruises from being hit in the face,” Mrs. Leighton asked.

“Objection, Your Honor. Asked and answered,” The other lawyer said.

“Move on, Mrs. Leighton.”

“You told the friend staying with the two of you that Katherine had been pulled out of school because of drug use, but you testified now that it was because you were worried about the people she was associating with, calling them bad influences. Why would you tell your friend one thing and this court another?”

“Maybe I was embarrassed. I know mental illness isn’t something to be embarrassed by, but I didn’t want to admit my faults at raising my daughter and not preparing her to deal with these kinds of people.”

“So you lied to her? You don’t believe your daughter was using drugs.”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past those friends of hers to try and get her on drugs, but no, I don’t know if she was.”

“I’m sorry, was that yes, you did lie to your family friend?”

“Yes, I lied to her.”

“Because you were so concerned about her finding out about your daughter’s mental illness, the one that’s so serious you never sought professional help or any kind of evaluation for?”

“Objection, Your Honor,” The other lawyer said again. “Argumentative.”

“I’ll allow it,” The judge said. “Answer the question please.”

“I … I might have gotten her help once she was at the new school. I just wanted to get her away from those people and make sure she was safe. I hadn’t really thought beyond that yet.”

“Mr. Moore. You lied about your daughter being on drugs. You say that she has a mental illness but have never made any steps to get her evaluated or treated. You told this court that you have no idea where the bruises on her face came from. With all the things you didn’t seem to do to protect your daughter, do you really think we should believe you when you say she’s lying about your sexual assaults on her?”

“Your Honor,” the other lawyer said, sounding exasperated.

“That’s enough, Mrs. Leighton. Do you have any other questions for this witness?”

“No, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Levin, do you have anyone else you believe this court needs to hear from?”

“No, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Levin, do you have a closing statement you would like to present?”

“Yes, Your Honor. We would like to submit that Katherine Moore is a very sick girl. She’s been exposed to the wrong element, who has been leading her down a dangerous path. When her father attempted to intervene and get her away from these bad influences, she did what a lot of kids her age do. She lashed out. She was convinced to make these outlandish claims of abuse, in order to stay with these friends of hers and get back at her father for his intervention. Mr. Moore loves his daughter and doesn’t hold any ill will towards her for her reaction. He admits that he may not have always been there for her. It’s difficult for a single parent to raise a child while putting in the work to make sure he can afford to offer her the experiences and opportunities that might allow her to excel in her adult life. Despite these failures and the actions taken by his daughter, Mr. Moore still loves her and would do anything to protect her. We believe that it is in her best interest that she stays with her father, who is the right person to get her the help she needs.”

The lawyer sat down when he finished, which was apparently how they signaled they were finished.

“Thank you, Mr. Levin. Mrs. Leighton?” The judge said, promoting Kat’s lawyer to start.

“Thank you, Your Honor. Katherine Moore has had a hard life. Told at a young age that shewas at fault for the death of her mother, and responsible for her father’s worst desires, she has spent her young life enveloped in abuse. She has suffered physical abuse, mental abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse at the hands of the one person with whom she should have been able to feel the safest. Beyond her word, we have presented solid evidence that this abuse occurred. We have submitted statements from others who have witnessed his emotional outbursts and pictures of the aftermath of the beatings she suffered at his hands when she had the gall to turn his advances down. We have shown, through Mr. Moore’s own admissions, that she was isolated from those who tried to help her in an attempt to keep her vulnerability in place.”

“Mr. Moore would like you to believe those were all coincidental, just aftereffects of a father trying to help his mentally ill daughter. A daughter he was so concerned about getting help for that he never once took her to a mental health professional, despite her requesting it. He received no diagnosis of mental illness for her, made no attempt to get treatment for these supposed mental illnesses he says she suffered from, and told no one in his life that his daughter suffered from them. Despite the voluminous lack of evidence, he would like the court to believe that they are the cause of everything that has happened.”

“He doesn’t want you to listen to her allegations of sexual abuse, because of a non-existent mental illness. He wants you to ignore her being removed from school, because of a non-existent mental illness. He wants you to write off the signs of her abuse, because of a non-existent mental illness. The facts are this. Mr. Moore sexually abused his daughter. He hit and slapped his daughter. He traumatized his daughter. She now faces a lifetime of healing from these abuses, but for that healing to start, she needs to be in a safe environment and she needs to get the routine of her life back, which means being re-enrolled in school. This is why we feel like an emergency grant of custodial rights should be granted to Mrs. Phillips, who State Child Protective Services have decided is the best place for her for the time being.”

Mrs. Leighton sat back down, and the judge looked down at the notes she’d been scribbling the whole time.

After several moments she looked back up and said, “Normally, I would take a few days to go over the facts of this case and the relevant law, but parties submitted petitions for immediate relief, and I believe that such relief is warranted in this case. Because of that, I am granting immediate emergency custodial guardianship of Katherine More to Jennifer Philips, to last until Ms. Moore turns eighteen or Child Protective Services removes Katherine Moore from Mrs. Phillips’ home.”

“Your Honor, we request a withholding of judgment until we have had time to appeal this ruling, allowing Mr. Moore to retain his custodial rights until the appellate court rules on our appeal.”

“Denied, Mr. Levin. You can of course request an injunction from the appellate court, as is your right, but I will not make Katherine exist in limbo while this case drags out.”

“Your Honor,” Mr. Levin tried again, only to be shut down by the judge.

“No more. This case is closed and the parties are dismissed. See my clerk on the way out for the signed orders,” she said, signing something and handing it to the clerk.

I had high hopes that we’d win and Kat would be finally free, but part of me had been prepared to be disappointed once again. With all the things that had gone wrong over the last few months with Kat and her father, I’d had to remain cautious in my optimism.

But here we were. Kat was finally free, which meant she was coming back to school and back into our lives.