Ryan completed the parenting class, badly.
I know because his instructor’s report said he was “engaged but resistant to feedback regarding infant-centered responsiveness.” Priya translated this as, “He thinks the baby should adapt to his calendar.”
Supervised visits continued.
To his credit, or perhaps because he hated failing publicly, Ryan improved in certain ways. He learned to change a diaper. He stopped wearing expensive shirts to visits. He began speaking to Lily instead of the supervisor. He sent fewer hostile messages.
Then came the psychological evaluation.
It did not declare him evil.
Real life rarely gives such convenient paperwork.
But it described narcissistic traits, emotional defensiveness, externalization of blame, poor distress tolerance, and a tendency to interpret boundaries as attacks.
When Priya read the summary, she said, “That may be the most expensive version of ‘man cannot handle no’ I’ve ever seen.”
The divorce filing came when Lily was five months old.
