My Daughter Was 15 When She Finally Looked Me in the Eye and Whispered, “I Don’t Tell Dad When I’m Hurting Anymore. He Says I Only Do It for Attention.” The Next Afternoon, I Checked Her Out of School and Drove Her to the Hospital Without a Word to My Husband. Halfway Through the Scan, the Technician Went Completely Quiet.

“I’m packing a few bags of clothes tonight, because Paige and I are moving into Karen’s house while I talk with a family lawyer about custody arrangements.”

Gregory stared at me with wide, stunned eyes and demanded to know if I was really ready to throw away seventeen years of marriage over one medical disagreement.

“I’m not leaving over one medical disagreement, Gregory; I’m leaving over the cruel pattern of neglect that this emergency finally dragged into the light.”

For the first time since I had met him back in college, Gregory couldn’t come up with a single clever argument to defend what he had done.

PART 13