That sentence had carried our marriage for years.

Meadow shook her head.

“A brave girl who deserved better.”

That was the first moment Meadow cried without hiding her face.

That night, Dustin came home expecting an argument.

Instead, he walked into silence.

Meadow was asleep in my bed, curled against me because she refused to be alone.

I was sitting at the kitchen table.

Waiting.

The moment he saw me, his expression shifted defensively.

“Mom called,” he said immediately. “She said you overreacted.”