For the first time in all the years I’d known him, Jasper looked truly unsure of himself.
The weeks that followed were a whirlwind of legal meetings and hard conversations.
Kelly never appeared in court. In fact, she vanished from the picture pretty quickly once things got “complicated.” I guess she wasn’t as ready for the reality of parenting as Jasper wanted to believe.
Howard started therapy. He needed a safe place to talk about why he felt like he had to protect his dad. It’s a lot of weight for a child to carry.
The weeks that followed were a whirlwind of legal meetings and hard conversations.
For the first time since the divorce, I stopped worrying about being “difficult.”
I used to bite my tongue to keep the peace. I used to let things slide because I didn’t want to be the “crazy ex-wife.”
But I realized that being right is more important than being easy. Keeping my son safe is more important than Jasper’s comfort.
A month later, I was picking Howard up from his final cast check. He was walking with a slight limp, but he was mostly back to his old self. We were walking to the car when he stopped and looked up at me.
Being right is more important than being easy.
“Mom?” he said quietly.
“Yeah, buddy?”
“I don’t like keeping secrets,” he said.
I squeezed his hand. “You don’t ever have to do that anymore. Not for me, and not for anyone else. Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay.”
