We met Dana two days later.
Brandon brought his own attorney.
That initially frightened me.
Then Dana reminded me that adults getting independent legal advice was better than adults making threats they didn’t understand.
Nobody filed for divorce that week.
Nobody promised there would never be one.
Instead, we created a thirty-day temporary parenting arrangement while the twins and I stayed with Rachel.
Brandon came every evening after work.
Three nights each week, he handled the twins’ entire bedtime routine.
Saturday mornings were his responsibility from six until noon.
I stayed nearby initially because they were infants, but I stopped managing him.
If he forgot wipes, he found wipes.
If a bottle wasn’t ready, he prepared one.
If both girls cried, he learned which cry meant hunger and which meant exhaustion.
There were mistakes.
There were also consequences he finally experienced himself.
One Saturday, he arrived twenty minutes late after staying up watching a game.
