Chapter 7 - THE MARRIAGE AFTERWARD
Trauma nearly destroyed us even after the danger ended.
That surprised me.
I assumed surviving together would make us inseparable.
Instead:
I flinched when Ethan raised his voice.
He stopped touching me unexpectedly.
We argued about Lily.
Everything became safety.
Temperature.
Food.
Sleeping position.
Visitors.
Childcare.
Windows.
Doors.
I trusted nobody.
Ethan trusted himself too much.
“If anything happens, I’ll handle it.”
I hated that sentence.
“No.”
“What?”
“We are not building our family around you becoming violent if someone scares us.”
His face changed.
“I saved her.”
“Yes.”
“I stopped Marla.”
“Yes.”
“And you hate how I did it.”
“I’m afraid of what rage does to you.”
That conversation nearly broke us.
He slept in the guest room.
The next morning, he scheduled therapy.
Not because I demanded it.
That mattered.
Months later he told me:
“I liked thinking my violence proved how much I loved Lily.”
I stared.
“And?”
“My therapist asked whether Lily needs a father who can hurt people for her or a father who can stay in control when she's scared.”
I exhaled.
“What did you say?”
“That I wanted both.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
“So did he.”
Ethan smiled.
“Then he charged me another three hundred dollars.”
Worth it.
We rebuilt.
Not by pretending the kitchen incident made us stronger.
It made us injured.
Healing made us stronger.
May you like
Different thing.
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