....after looking at the family picture and seeing how unresponsive (sad) the middle girl and the baby were, plus the artificial smile on the oldest daughter, I suspected the same thing.
I was an abused child myself.
So was I, SweetCaroline, but we must be careful not to see everything as a nail, just because we were hammered. (messing with that metaphor, I guess)
But, family photos tell way more than most realize.
A photo can be very revealing, or it can capture the odd moment of weird looks that we all have from time to time. I have seen photos of myself that make me look drunk/drugged, and I wasn't. There are photos of our children in which one child looks to be a zillion miles away. But maybe the child was abused. We have no idea.
I was looking at the church bulletins of the church where they previously worked, and there is a farewell letter from HIM and only him. I find that odd. And they were having a baby shower for the Winklers just before the Winklers moved. McMinnville isn't a metropolic, but it is a bigger town than the one where they moved. And they moved to a much smaller congregation. Very isolating for a city girl. (I read here that she was from Knoxville.) I wouldn't be surprised if there is a postpartum depression excuse here. But I am speculating . . . . (I think this is called "idle gossip", so I'll shut up.
It's just a snapshot. Probably the picture taker did not try to get the baby to smile, and the middle girl could just be tired. I've got plenty of childhood snapshots of me with a grumpy, tired or numb look on my face.