She barely shook her head.
That scared him more than anything his mother had said at the dinner table.
He finally understood that the dinner was not the beginning of the problem. It was the moment when everything became impossible to hide.
When he sat beside Emma, he did not call his mother. He did not call the relatives who had watched.
He put his phone face down.
“I’m not calling anyone yet,” he said. “Tell me what you need.”
Emma’s answer was quiet.
“Change the locks. Save every picture. And don’t let your mother know where they’re discharging me.”
For the first time, he stopped looking for an explanation from the people who caused the damage.
He started listening to the person who had been trying to survive it.
Then he asked about the older injury.
Six weeks earlier, while he was working late, his mother had entered their home and criticized Emma for how she was preparing the nursery. The argument moved into the hallway.
