Chapter 13 - DIANE ASKED TO SEE HER GRANDSONShe asked when Samuel was six months old.
I said no.
At one year, she asked again.
I said no.
At eighteen months, she wrote a letter.
This one was different.
No talk about family.
No talk about rights.
No “I’m his grandmother.”
She wrote:
I understand why you do not trust me near him.
Then:
I spent years confusing my role in this family with authority over everyone inside it.
Good.
Then:
I am not asking you to ignore what I did. I am asking whether there may ever be a path to supervised contact if you and his doctors believe it is safe.
I showed the letter to my therapist.
Then my attorney.
Then Julian.
Eventually, when Samuel was two, we allowed a supervised thirty-minute visit.
Diane cried when she saw him.
She did not touch him until I said she could.
That mattered.
She brought no expensive gift.
Only a children’s book.
Also good.
She said:
“Hello, Samuel.”
Not:
May you like
Grandma’s baby.
Progress sometimes begins in grammar.
