My Mother Screamed That I Had an Iceberg Where My Soul Should Be and Slammed the Door Hard Enough to Rattle the Photos — I Stood There Waiting for the Guilt That Always Came, and for the First Time in Thirty-Two Years, It Never Did

You stopped paying a debt you never owed.

Breathe.

Chapter 14 — I’ve Got You

I carried Iris into the nursery and sat down in the glider and rocked her, slow and steady, until her frantic breathing began to match my own, until her tight fists uncurled and came to rest against my collarbone, until the terror drained out of her small body and she was only a sleepy baby again, safe against her mother.

“I’ve got you,” I whispered into the soft fuzz of her head.