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.

On that point, he was correct.

The case was being investigated, not already decided.

I held Dad’s hand and forced myself to listen.

The judge asked why Martin had sought to restrict all contact between mother and daughter rather than propose safe exchanges pending a fuller hearing.

His lawyer referred to concerns about emotional stability.

Gabriel pointed to the absence of medical support for those claims and to the sequence of the filing so soon after my hospitalization.

Then the judge turned to Martin.