“Baby… has Ryan touched you?”
She burst into tears so hard she could barely speak.
“I told him to stop…”
Every instinct inside me shattered.
I pulled her into my arms and held her tightly while she sobbed against my chest.
That night, I locked our bedroom door.
I told Ryan Lily was sick and sleeping beside me.
He looked annoyed for only half a second before smiling again.
That smile.
I suddenly hated it.
I barely slept.
Lily clung to me all night, waking every hour from nightmares.
At 3 a.m., I finally whispered:
“Can you tell Mommy exactly what happened?”
For a long time she said nothing.
Then, in broken little sentences, the truth came out.
It had started two months after the wedding.
Ryan would come into the bathroom while she was bathing.
At first he acted playful.
He’d joke.
Splash water.
Sit on the toilet talking to her while she washed.
Then he started insisting she wash “properly.”
He told her secrets were normal in families.
He said moms get angry when children lie.
One night, according to Lily, he touched her while helping her rinse shampoo from her hair.
She told him she didn’t like it.
He laughed.
