I Found My Daughter’s Note in Her Wet Backpack After I Picked Her Up From Her Dad’s — and Realized That Night Wasn’t the First

“No,” she said, running her thumb over the worn fabric.

“Why keep it?” I asked.

“Because that’s where I kept the note.” I asked her, carefully, whether looking at it brought back the bad memories.

“It used to,” she said.

And then she looked up at me, and her eyes were clear.

“Now it just reminds me that I wasn’t crazy.”