“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’s cell phone buzzed in his hand again.

This time he stared at the caller ID for a few seconds before pushing the button.

“Arthur speaking,” he said, voice strained.

He listened to the voice at the other end and his face went completely white.

“What address did you say?“Dad said, his voice shaking a little.

He listened, alertly, for a moment.

“You are absolutely sure?Dad insisted.

There was another long silence in the room.