Well, sure he loved her. He would drink and become too close for comfort for either her or me. Imagine trying to teach your child boundaries while the other parent ignores and minimizes her screams and wont stop chocking her. Hurts her in her private areas while I watch, feeling helpless to do anything. I tell him to stop it. He says "stop what", "doing that toher, stop means stop and no means no, right daddy?" "I'm not doing anything, don't put the sexual abuse on ME just because YOU had that experience", "Steve, you are hurting her!" "She can get away if she wants to..." and on and on. She is only 5 yrs old and he is 50! We did finally get away from him, and boy are we both relieved! No more ER trips from concussions strange illnesses or cuts to the genitals. And funny as it might seem, I am much less of a freaked angel these days. My income doesn't get sidelined to him. My childs new school clothes stay cleaner. We have more time, money, and fun. I don't feel constantly fatigued. It no longer matters that he doesn't want to work...happy to let me do it all. It doesn't matter that he drinks so much. It doesn't even matter that he tried to kill himself a month and a half later because he failed the polygraph test for being way more messed up than he EVER tried to have me think that I was. I really loved him. 6 years. Andnow it is finally over! I encourage any one else in a similar situation to get the **** out. He is broken, like they say