Changed Circumstances

Martha listened.

When I finished, she was quiet for a moment in the specific way of someone who is not just being polite but is actually thinking.

"Can I ask," she said, "what the other party's current position is? The father."

"Unknown," I said. "We've had no direct communication."

"And the child is in his custody."

"Yes. In Chicago."

"Illinois," she said, which was the relevant fact—the or