He said he’d been stressed at work and took it out on us, but he was going to do better. He said we could work through this if I just give him a chance. Each message was carefully worded and reasonable sounding. I read them and recognized the pattern I’d been missing for 2 years. The way he was rewriting what happened, making himself the victim of misunderstanding instead of the person who told a 16-year-old girl to leave her own home, making his cruelty sound like tough love, making my protection of my daughter sound like an overreaction. I responded once. I told
him the 30-day notice stood and all further communication needed to be in writing through lawyers. He called immediately. I didn’t answer. He sent five more texts that got progressively less reasonable. I saved all of them in my documentation folder. My friend Rachel had recommended a family law attorney named Victoria Morgan.