Chapter 12 - THE THIRD INCIDENTThere had been a third incident.
Not a child.
Not Rebecca.
Daniel.
Six months before Lily’s birth.
I was thirty-two weeks pregnant.
Patricia came to our house without calling.
I was napping.
Daniel met her outside.
They argued because he would not let her in.
She slapped his shoulder.
Then shoved him once in the chest.
He caught her wrists.
Told her to leave.
She cried.
He apologized.
Yes.
He apologized.
Daniel did not tell me.
Instead he told me Patricia had “gotten emotional.”
When he finally admitted this, I stared at him across our kitchen table.
Lily was sleeping beside us.
“You knew she had become physical recently.”
“She shoved me.”
“Yes.”
“She’s my mother.”
“That makes it less physical?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were pregnant.”
I laughed.
A terrible sound.
“That is exactly why you should have told me.”
“I didn’t think she would ever touch you.”
“You didn’t think. Or you didn’t want to deal with what I would do if I knew?”
He looked down.
There.
Truth.
“If you knew,” he said, “you would have said she couldn’t be around the baby.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“And you thought that would be unfair.”
“At the time.”
“So you made the decision for me.”
May you like
He started crying.
I did not comfort him.
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