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

Made terrible meatloaf every Thursday.

Loved me.

Then committed serious violence against my wife.

All true.

I did not need to erase my childhood to maintain no contact.

Nor did childhood love create a duty to resume a relationship.

People are not equations where enough good acts cancel terrible ones.

Clara once asked: