“No,” he said. “But Ava may deserve one eventually.”

The words stung because they were true. I folded my arms. “You think I don’t know that?”

“I think you’ve spent years protecting her from the worst possibility. Now you may need to consider whether there are other possibilities.”

I looked at him sharply. “You didn’t see him that night.”

“No. But I saw you afterward.”

He had found me on the steps outside the hospital before dawn, my suitcase beside me, unable to stop shaking. He had driven me to his sister’s apartment, found me a lawyer, and helped me transfer to a residency in Wisconsin under my maiden name.