My sister smiled just before my little daughter slipped into the hotel pool. When I tried to reach her, my father grabbed my arm and refused to let me go.

“You need to fix this.”

“No.”

“She’s alive.”

I looked across the living room at Emily, sitting on the couch with Adam, wrapped in her favorite purple blanket, refusing to let her feet touch the floor since the pool. She had begun waking up screaming. She would not take baths. She flinched when someone laughed too loudly.

“She is not untouched,” I said.continue reading …