And the way Marlene kept telling me that challenging Daniel made things worse.

Claire didn’t diagnose our family from a few conversations.

She asked what I’d seen.

What Daniel actually said.

What I could verify.

She also urged me to have the baby medically assessed whenever I noticed concerning symptoms, rather than relying on Daniel’s assurances that everything was fine.

One afternoon, she walked with me to my car.

The blue diaper bag was on the passenger seat.