“Come get your worthless daughter and take her back,” my mother-in-law shouted my father as I lay broken at the bottom of the stairs after my husband shoved me down. “Your family will answer for it if she has even a scratch,” was the sole warning Dad offered her. They had no notion who my father really was, so they made fun of him.

Dad squeezed my shoulder lightly.

“We’ll get those planners from the police first thing tomorrow.”

Maya looked from one to the other of our serious faces. “ can I go see our house in the morning?” “

‘Not tomorrow, honey,’ Dad whispered.

“Right now it’s a lot better for you to play at my house.

“Because Mommy needs to rest?” Maya enquired.

“Because the grown-ups have some very important work to do,” Dad said softly.

Maya accepted the answer without comment, laying her small head on my arm.