Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO NEEDED FREE CHILD CARE
Colin agreed to meet me in a restaurant near his apartment.
He brought a folder from his divorce case. Inside were messages Diane had sent him over the previous six months.
She described Bethany as financially overwhelmed but devoted. She blamed the separation for Bethany’s angry outbursts and asked Colin to delay selling the house until “another family arrangement” could stabilize the mortgage.
“What arrangement?” I asked.
“She never explained.”
Colin had initially agreed to wait because Mason needed stability. Then he learned Bethany had stopped paying the mortgage despite receiving temporary support.
Diane claimed legal bills consumed the money.
The trust requests suggested another plan.
Colin looked at the photographs of Rosie’s injuries and shut the folder.
“I should’ve pushed harder when Mason said Rosie cried in the basement.”
“What did he say happened?”
“He heard Bethany telling her to repeat something. When I asked Bethany, she said Rosie was practicing lines for preschool.”
I wanted to blame Colin for accepting the explanation.
Then I remembered all the explanations I had accepted.
Rosie had started begging to stay home on Tuesdays. I assumed she was tired.
She stopped wearing dresses with short sleeves. Diane said she had become shy.
She once told me Grandma wanted to know how loudly she could cry. I thought they were playing.
I had needed family care because it was familiar, flexible, and free. After Megan’s death, I treated Diane’s willingness to help as proof that she was safe.
The truth was less flattering.
I ignored discomfort because changing the arrangement would have required rearranging my job and admitting that I did not trust my own mother.
Colin watched me close the folder.
“You didn’t do this to Rosie.”
“I left her there.”
“So did I, with Mason.”
Our shared guilt did not make us allies, but it ended the argument neither of us needed.
Colin promised to tell his custody evaluator what Mason had reported.
Before leaving, he hesitated.
“Bethany wrote me a letter last week.”
“What kind of letter?”
“She asked me not to mention Rosie during our custody hearing.”
“Do you still have it?”
“Yes.”
“Bring it to my attorney.”
Colin looked toward the window.
“She says your mother made the plan.”
I felt a surge of relief that Bethany might not be the person directing everything.
May you like
Then Colin finished the sentence.
“But she admits she helped.”
