I stared at one of the half-dozen photos on my desk. Before Chelsea, Justin, and Lyla came back into my life, there’d only been one. A picture of Kennedy and me the day she’d broken ground on the new center. Now, they crowded my desk. So many memories in just a couple of years.

“My father was physically abusive, and my mother covered for him.”

There was a pause on the line and then typing. “I’m incredibly sorry you went through that.”

“I won’t let the same happen to my niece and nephew.”

“We’ll do everything we can to prevent them from being placed with your parents. I have to ask you—is there anything they could use as ammunition against you?”

I squeezed my eyes closed, gripping the phone tighter. I’d regretted getting involved with Derek countless times. Trusting him. Giving him everything I had. But I’d never regretted it more than in this moment. “Yes.”

There was no typing now. “Tell me. And remember, this is a safe space. We’ve all made mistakes, Anna.”

Except mine would haunt me for the rest of my life. If it sent Justin and Lyla into my parents’ care, I’d never recover. But that wouldn’t happen. I would take the kids and run first. “When I was fifteen, my boyfriend and I were arrested for possession with intent to distribute. The drugs weren’t mine, but he cut a deal first. It got put on me. My lawyer took a plea deal that sent me to juvie for thirty months for possession. They dropped the distribution charges.”

Keisha was quiet. I couldn’t read her silence. Doubt, like anyone else I’d tried to plead my case to? Judgement for my stupidity? “I swear to you, I’ve never done drugs in my life. My tests were clean then, and I’ll take any test you want me to now. And my fingerprints were only found on one bag. An old makeup bag I’d left at my boyfriend’s house.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you. It sounds like your attorney didn’t know what the hell they were doing.”

I gripped the edge of my desk. “It was a court-appointed lawyer, who seemed to be in a rush.”

“Your family couldn’t afford private counsel?”

It was my turn to be quiet. Why did this feel like the greatest shame of all? “My parents didn’t even come to the police station when I was arrested. They told the detective they were done with me.”