't come with us, he stayed behind to "console" his mother. I sat in the waiting room, holding Lily' s

because I' d bought a brand of coffee she didn't like, collapsing in the grocery aisle until a crowd gathered. I remembered h

friends or strangers, dropping to her knees and begging me to forgive some imaginary slight. It was a brilliant, wicked tactic that painted me as a cruel, un

ace for Mark' s sake, for Lily' s sake. Now I saw it for what it was: a ca

m, putting in sixty-hour weeks to make sure the mortgage was paid, the lights stayed on, and

e couch with his laptop, surrounded by empty bags of chips, while he played video games and occasionally typed a sentence or two. His dream was

did it because Mark insisted his mother was lonely and needed a purpose, and because a full-time daycare was slightly

keeping her for observation, but the initial check-up showed no lasting dam

her, Mark finally showed up at the

had to give her a sedative. I think you should give me some money to buy her

unequivocal "no" formed in my

No

if I' d just spoken

did you

t giving you money for you

m, his grip surprisingly strong, an

t the wall. The impact knocked the wind out of me. "You think

ly let out a frightened cry. She had heard her father' s angry voice. That sound

ossessed rose up in me. I pushed him back wi

low and shaking with rage. "Don' t

y arms. She clung to me, her little body trembling. I didn' t look back at Mark.

d out into the night air, carrying my daughter a

"You walk out that door and you' ll be sorry! You' ll come cra

ch step taking me further away from the ruin of my marriage.