"Holding her as a child was necessary. But now?" I suppressed my fury. "This isn't illness, Mark; it's indulgence! Dependency! You're not helping—you're crippling her! She'll never learn independence! Cut the cord; let her handle emotions alone!" "Cut it?" Mark sprang up, voice rising.
Escalation
"Easy for you to say! Yesterday, she was trembling in a corner, incoherent! If I didn't go, what then? Staring at the ceiling till sunrise? Scaring herself to death?" His eyes reddened. "She's my flesh and blood! My only sister! As kids, parents neglected her; I stepped in! Let go? Watch her destroy herself?" He panted, chest heaving.
An Endless Cycle
"And me?" I stood too. "I'm your wife! What of our home? Do you ever consider my feelings? Every time she cries, I become invisible! What is this place to you? A hotel? A pit stop after tending to Sophie?" Tears welled unbidden. "She needs you—but what when I need my husband? Where is he? Holding another woman in bed, soothing her to sleep?" Years of pent-up words erupted.
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