“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.

“Is she really okay, Maya?“I said, wanting a bit more confirmation.

“She’s okay,” said Gabriel softly.

“She’s home with your father and Mrs.

Gable, the neighbour who’s known you since you were a kid.

I shut my eyes for a moment and felt relief course through my body.

Earlier that morning, I kept seeing Maya’s small hand in mine, in the yellow raincoat.

I had promised to help her cut the stems after work because she was worried about a primary school project involving paper flowers.

I’d not been home from work.