May your eyeliner,

[Maybell]

Given how you finished that last post, why would you doubt your son?

And what reason would your son have to lie?

Ggrass, I can't stress enough how important it is to treat your son's claim seriously. His following you around talking shows him trying really hard to connect and get your attention. I would give a lot for my kids to make that kind of effort with me.

With regard to your H's public persona... Our former neighbor was charged with sexually assaulting two little girls at his daughter's slumber party a couple of years ago. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 22 years. He also was highly respected and very, very visible in our community. Something like 75 people wrote testimonials to his good character based on his community activities. The testimonials were excluded from his trial, which was used as grounds for a successful appeal. Less than three months after his release additional detailed complaints surfaced based on a girl's conversation with a mandatory reporter. There is no doubt in my mind that he is guilty, though when the initial charges were filed we were all pretty stunned. 75 people were sufficiently impressed by his public persona to write testimonials... Do you think it was harder for them to do that than it was for those girls to describe, over and over, the ways in which he'd hurt them?

What I'm trying to say is, your son has very good reason to find it hard to tell you someone you care about hurt him. That is going to make it hard for him to confide in you -- as you can tell by how hard it was for him to get it out. Protect your son and your relationship with him, take him at his word. The things you've shared about him show that he loves you very much.