My dog charged toward my two-year-old daughter, barking with his teeth bared… I thought he had turned on her—until I spotted one tiny detail behind her.

But enough.

My arms tightened around Mila so suddenly that she cried out. The faint metallic click I had heard had not been a toy. It had not been something falling in the yard. It had been the latch. The gate had somehow swung open — perhaps it had never latched properly, perhaps the wind had worked it loose, perhaps Mila’s small fingers had found continue reading …