Chapter 4 - Laura arrives
Laura came into the hospital at 6:38.
Still wearing navy scrubs.
Hair tied back.
Hospital badge clipped to her waist.
She was thirty-seven.
My ex-wife.
Emily’s mother.
The woman I had once believed I would grow old beside.
She saw me.
Then Emily.
Her face collapsed.
“Baby.”
Emily reached for her.
That mattered.
Whatever I felt about Laura’s judgment, my daughter still wanted her mother.
Laura sat beside the bed and cried into Emily’s hair.
“What happened?”
I stared.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Derek locked her in the dog cage.”
Laura looked at me as if the words were in another language.
“What?”
“Padlock.”
“No.”
“Mrs. Harris called me.”
“No.”
“She was in there for hours.”
Laura stood.
“Where’s Derek?”
“Police.”
Her face changed.
“Why?”
I could not believe the question.
Then I realized she meant:
Where exactly?
Detained?
Arrested?
Inside the house?
I said:
“At your house.”
“Did they find him?”
“Yes.”
She sat again.
“Emily.”
My daughter whispered:
“Mom, I told you he’s mean.”
Laura froze.
There.
A sentence I would replay too often.
She had told her.
What had Laura heard?
What had she dismissed?
I wanted answers immediately.
Maren stopped me before I started.
“Not here.”
I looked at her.
She was right.
Emily had eaten.
Been examined.
Was exhausted.
This was not our divorce mediation.
Laura took Emily’s hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily looked at her.
“Can I stay with Dad?”
Laura’s face broke again.
Then:
“Yes.”
May you like
No argument.
That choice mattered too.
