I remember sitting in the hospital bed, holding my newborn daughter, still exhausted from delivery, still emotionally bruised from the betrayal I had discovered months earlier. My father’s words echoed in my mind, not because they brought comfort, but because they made me feel even more alone. I had always believed my father to be the moral anchor of our home growing up—steady, honest, and protective. Hearing him excuse my husband’s behavior by comparing it to his own choices left me both heartbroken and confused. I stayed because I was scared, overwhelmed, and unsure of what stability looked like for a newborn. But as my father stood at the foot of my bed, eyes strangely heavy, I sensed there was something deeper beneath the words he’d spoken earlier.Continue reading…
