My family took my pregnant wife’s phone and keys when she tried to leave dinner. I came home unexpectedly and found her crouched beneath the table, coughing, while my mother stood over her holding fish bones. Six relatives watched without helping. I carried her to the hospital, where she asked me to change the locks. Then she opened a conversation on her phone—and I saw my mother discussing exactly when I would be away.

I only turned the car around because I had left a work folder on the desk in our…