Dear Mary: My mother saw my father sexually molesting me, but failed to protect me and instead chose to keep up appearances

Ask: I’ve been in a quandary since I read the article about the sexual abuse of Alice Munro’s daughter. My father abused me when I was eight/nine years old. My mother saw him once. She ran out screaming and he went after her and said, “I thought she was you.” He molested me at least three more times that I can remember. I never said a word to anyone. He was a terrible alcoholic and is long dead. No one knows the terror of a small child and the power that abusive parents have over them.