Custody battle story at salon.com exposes depths of nymphotropism

Of course by the end of this story we're supposed to pity the woman who abandoned her child but continued to collect child support from her ex-husband while he raised the child. Excerpt:

'"She abandoned us," my client had told me. She was never the kind of woman you marry, he'd said. He should have known. They'd been married less than a year when she packed her clothes in a single cardboard box and drove off, leaving him. Leaving their infant daughter.

So when I pushed my way through the ancient revolving door of the common pleas court, I was ready to hate her.
...
I was ready for her. When was the last time you saw your daughter? Six years. You've never seen her? No. Have you called her? No, I haven't. Do you know her phone number? No. So you haven't seen her since she was a baby? No. What school does she go to? I don't know. You don't know the name of her school? That's what I just said. Are you working? Yes, I'm a bartender. How long have you been at your current job? Six months. And before that? Before that, what? Before that, where did you work? I was unemployed. For how long? Two years. Before that, what did you do? I did some bartending. Why haven't you tried to see your daughter? I just couldn't.
...

The promise of tears on the witness stand was the only time the woman came close to crying. She didn't cry when she signed the judgment entry. And she didn't cry when the magistrate asked her if she understood the agreement. She said yes, she understood and agreed to everything, and she picked up her purse and walked away, leaving behind the one gift she could give her daughter: freedom from a future of pain.
...
My husband emerged from the kitchen with the baby on one hip and smiled at me. "Did you win?"

I nuzzled my cheek against my daughter's. "No."'