Because it was expected of her, the baby had always been officially her darling. But none of these things had held any truth in them. She had always been aware that the self of her children was as far removed from her as the self of Henry, or, indeed, her own.
There is a misogyny here that she acquiesced to because it was expected of her, and despite that, she loved her husband while seeing the truth of it. Maybe he acted in ways of fatherhood because he had been so taught.
