She did not see parenthood as something Liam and I shared.

She saw Hazel as mine, wholly and solely mine, my job, my responsibility, my problem to figure out, while her son’s only real duty in life was to protect himself from stress.

She had just handed me, out loud, the actual architecture of my marriage.

And strangely, there was almost a relief in hearing it said so plainly, the way there is a grim relief in finally getting a diagnosis for a pain you have been living with and doubting for years.

For a long time I had wondered whether I was imagining the imbalance, whether I was too sensitive, too demanding, whether other mothers carried this load without complaint and there was something wrong with me for finding it heavy.