Deeper Than Silence

Summary

1.

Ethan had barely spoken to me since Leo was born.

It wasn't complete silence―he'd grunt in single syllables, a "yes" or "no" when necessary, but any real conversation was dead.

His therapist called it "selective mutism with severe emotional avoidance," a nasty cocktail brewed from his childhood trauma and a dose of postpartum depression.

For three years, our entire relationship existed on sticky notes, text messages, and a bone-chilling silence.

My body never recovered after childbirth.