At my five-year-old daughter’s funeral, I clutched her favorite teddy bear while my husband—her stepfather—repeated his story about the “tragic accident.” I placed the toy beside her tiny coffin and pressed the hidden playback button, desperate to hear her recorded laughter one last time. Instead, her frightened voice whispered, “Please stop… you’re hurting me.” Then my husband’s voice followed…
The first voice that rose from my daughter’s coffin was not laughter. It was Lily begging my husband not to hurt her.…