I grabbed Lily before Daniel could touch her again. – yilux

Mara told me that on the first night, when I couldn’t stop shaking.

She sat on my kitchen floor with paper cups of vending-machine coffee and said, ‘Bad men count on hesitation. Good mothers still get to learn after the first lie. You stopped it when you saw it.’

I have repeated that sentence to myself more times than I can count.

By the time the preliminary hearing came around, Lily’s shoulder had healed into a deeper pink version of the mark she was born with. It didn’t disappear. It probably never will. Some of the texture changed where the skin had been burned, and maybe one day she’ll ask why that part feels different under her fingertips.

When she does, I’ll tell her the truth in age-appropriate pieces. Not a sugar-coated version. The truth.

That someone tried to make her smaller to fit inside their fear.