Everything after that, the therapist, the years, the patient nights, was possible only because that first stitch went in early and held.

So if you take nothing else from my daughter’s story, take this: when a child tells you something is wrong, believe them, and tell them, immediately, that it is not their fault, and then do not leave.

That is the whole of it.

That is what turns a wound into a scar you can live with instead of a wound that never closes.

Fiona is going to be all right.