The Debt I Paid in Snow

I held my daughter close, her breathing gone ragged, and knelt in the snow, pounding on the door like a man possessed.

On the video doorbell screen, my wife Susan was raising a glass with her high school sweetheart.

"Susan! Nora can't breathe! Open the door and give me her medication!"

Susan let out a cold laugh, her voice cutting like frostbitten air.

"Ethan, are you seriously pulling this act just for that little bastard of yours?"

"She's your own daughter! She's only five years old!"