My voice came out barely above a whisper.

“Why would you let her do that to him?”

He dragged both hands down over his face.

When he lowered them, he still would not look at our son, asleep and burning in my arms.

“Because she said,” he told the floor, “it would help him sleep long enough that you would calm down at last.”

Chapter 11 — Dead Silence

The room went dead silent.