I said immediately. “You are not in trouble.”
“Because we didn’t move,” Owen said. “We stayed where she told us.”
“I know you did.”
“We weren’t bad,” Lily added, almost pleading.
I turned fully toward them, lowering my voice so only they could hear. “Listen to me. None of this happened because you were bad. Nothing about this is your fault.”
Owen looked at me for a long moment, then hugged his bear so tightly the seams stretched.
Children did not always believe what adults said.
Sometimes they believed what had been repeated to them most.
Two airport police officers approached with calm faces and careful steps. One was a woman with kind brown eyes and silver at her temples. Her badge read Daniels. The other, younger and taller, kept his distance, as though he knew too many uniforms at once might frighten them.
Officer Daniels crouched a few feet
