Trying wasn't good enough. With children it was cut and try. You either become the best parent you could your you didn't, plain and simple, in Jefferson's eyes at least. Because of him, Grace didn't have a mother. She was also alone for how knows long without him because he was too prideful. Trying didn't cut it.
"Like it meant a whole lot when she begged me not to leave and I broke my promise to come back home, too." He grabbed a pin cushion at random, a bag of sewing needles, tossing them into his basket with agitation. "And now here I am, gone again. My cup is just overflowing with doing right."
He let the basket hit the top of the counter with a heavy 'whap', not caring if he disturbed the person in the back. At the desk there were other things he needed, reaching around to pull out a yard stick, a tinier pair of scissors, clamps. "You learn quick when there's a hungry mouth to feed. When every moment of their survival depends on you, figuring things out and making them work the best way you can sort of becomes second nature. The Enchanted Forrest didn't really have much in the way of exquisite delicacies to choose from."