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.
His mother shoved Emma against the corner of a dresser.
Then she told Emma the pain was proof she was too emotional to become a good mother.
Emma had almost called him.
But his mother convinced her that nobody would believe her.
She told Emma everyone already thought pregnancy had made her unstable.
“She said they would all believe her,” Emma explained. “She said you’d have to choose between your wife and everyone who raised you.”
