As she entered her preteen years, his tone with her grew more brittle. Where once he corrected her gently, he now snapped. Where once he lingered to answer her endless questions, he grew curt, waving her away. It wasn’t outright rejection, not yet, but it felt as if he was putting distance between them with every passing season.
Miriam learned to approach him cautiously, choosing her words carefully, as though stepping across a floor with hidden weak boards. What unsettled Miriam most was how differently her father treated Daniel and Elise.