She used the walker.
One step.
Then another.
Her stepmother stayed where she was.
We left the bedroom together.
I did not let my daughter walk alone. But I also did not carry her when she did not need to be carried.
At the end of the hallway, she stopped.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“What happens now?”
I looked down at her brace, then at her hands on the walker.
“Now we make sure nobody takes this from you again.”
She nodded.
But the next thing she said made me stop.
“She doesn’t only take the walker.”
I turned toward her.
“What else?”
My daughter looked toward the closed door behind us.
“She takes something else when you’re gone.”
“What?”
She swallowed.
“My phone.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“When does she take it?”
“After you leave.”
“Where does she put it?”
My daughter pointed toward the kitchen.
