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.
She froze at the sight of my arm sling.
“Mommy, are you sick?”
“I’m hurt,” I said.
“The doctors are helping me heal.”
“Can I hug you?”
“Yes, sweetheart. Gently.”
She climbed onto the chair beside me and leaned her head against my good shoulder.
I had imagined the reunion a thousand ways.
