My Wife Was Seven Months Pregnant When She Stopped Leaving Bed—Then I Lifted the Blue Blanket and Realized My Mother Already Knew What Was Underneath

It means locks.

Legal boundaries.

Documentation.

Knowing what to do if contact occurs.

Then going to the grocery store.

Clara reached a point where Brenda’s eventual release no longer dominated every month.

That was progress.

My own relationship with the idea of my mother changed.