Penelope closed her eyes as tears slipped down her cheeks.
She thought about all the subtle ways Gabriel had systematically built a fake case against her sanity over the past year. He was the one who had secretly moved her car keys only to ask why she kept losing things, the one who canceled her doctor appointments and then accused her of forgetting them, and the one who whispered to their neighbors that she was becoming increasingly unstable while playing the role of a patient husband.
It had never been mere marital neglect or emotional coldness; it had been methodical architecture.
Daisy leaned her small head against Penelope’s arm. “I really didn’t know what those paper words meant, Mommy Penelope.”
Penelope pulled the child closer into a protective embrace. “You did the absolute right thing, my sweet girl.”
Daisy’s tiny lips trembled as she looked up. “Daddy told me that you were trying to steal our house away from us.”
