My husband pushed me down the stairs, and as I lay shattered at the bottom, my mother-in-law called my father and said, “Come get your worthless daughter and take her back.” Dad gave her only one warning: “If she has so much as a scratch, your family will answer for it.” They laughed at him because they had absolutely no idea who my father truly was.

“Big noise,” I agreed.

She reached for my hand.

I took it, not because I needed her to comfort me but because holding hands was something we both liked.

We had talked with her counselor about how grown-ups could have difficult feelings without making children responsible for solving them.

I breathed slowly until the thunder passed, then asked Lily whether she wanted to choose our first movie night.

She chose the same animated film she had watched a hundred times.