Chapter 4 - DANIEL’S FIRST LIEThat night, while Lily was in pediatric intensive observation, Daniel sat beside me.
We had been moved to a small family room.
I had not slept.
He had not slept.
Patricia had left the hospital after police interviewed her.
Not arrested.
Not yet.
There was no dramatic handcuff scene.
Officer Morales explained that investigators would review medical records, statements, security video, and determine charges with prosecutors.
I appreciated that.
I did not want theater.
I wanted facts.
Daniel kept staring at his hands.
Finally I asked:
“What do you know?”
He looked up.
“About what?”
“Your mother.”
“Emily—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
I had known Daniel for nine years.
Married six.
I knew his tells.
He rubbed the side of his thumb when he lied.
He was doing it.
“Has she hit someone before?”
“No.”
Thumb rubbing.
“Daniel.”
He closed his eyes.
“Not like this.”
That was not an answer.
“Has she hit someone before?”
A long pause.
“My sister.”
Rebecca.
Daniel’s older sister.
Forty.
Living in Colorado.
We saw her once or twice a year.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“How many?”
“Emily.”
“How many years?”
“Seven.”
I stood too quickly.
Pain shot through my abdomen.
I gripped the chair.
Daniel stood.
“Sit down.”
“Don’t touch me.”
He froze.
“What happened?”
“They argued.”
“About?”
“Dad.”
Daniel’s father, Michael, had died eight years earlier after complications from pancreatic cancer.
Rebecca had managed much of his hospice care.
Patricia had disagreed with almost everything.
Medication.
Visitors.
Food.
When to call the nurse.
Whether Michael was “giving up.”
One night Rebecca told Patricia to leave the bedroom.
Patricia slapped her.
Once.
Daniel saw it.
“What did you do?”
He stared at the floor.
“Dad was dying.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I separated them.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Did Rebecca?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Dad begged us not to make his last weeks about fighting.”
My knees weakened.
Not because that old slap proved Patricia would hurt Lily.
It didn’t.
Because Daniel had watched his mother hit someone during a crisis and decided I did not need to know.
May you like
Then he said:
“There was another time.”
Related Stories
