Chương 5
Grace looked at her.
“Who taught you that?”
“Grandma.”
“Of course she did.”
Lily held the rabbit against her chest.
“Will Daddy come to Grandma’s?”
Grace looked toward the closed examination-room door.
On the other side of it, Nathan was waiting with four years of questions and no idea yet which answer would hurt most.
“I don’t know,” Grace said.
For once, it was the easiest truth she had told all day.
The doctor arrived ten minutes later, a compact woman with silver-framed glasses and the brisk kindness of someone accustomed to people understating pain.
She examined Grace’s shoulder, tested her range of motion, asked whether she had struck her head, and ordered an X-ray because Grace winced when lifting her arm higher than chest level.
Lily watched every movement.
When Grace tried to smile through one of the tests, Lily said, “That’s the face.”
The doctor glanced at her.
“I believe you.”
Grace gave her daughter a betrayed look.
Lily seemed pleased with herself for the first time since leaving the mansion.
The X-ray showed no fracture.
The doctor called it a significant contusion and likely muscle strain, prescribed rest, ice, and over-the-counter pain medication, and warned Grace that the soreness might worsen overnight.
Then her tone changed.
“You said someone struck you intentionally.”
Grace looked at Lily.
The doctor understood.
She lowered her voice.
“Do you want her out of the room for this?”
“No.”
Lily hugged the rabbit.
“I’m staying.”
The doctor’s mouth twitched.
“All right.”
Grace rubbed her thumb across the edge of the examination paper.
“I don’t want police called from here.”
“That’s your choice.”
The doctor paused.
“But I do want you to understand that documentation matters, even if you don’t decide anything today.”
Grace looked up.
“Documentation?”
“I’m recording what you told me, where you were injured, and what I observed.”
The doctor gestured toward Grace’s shoulder.
“If bruising develops more clearly tonight, take photographs in good light.”
Grace felt a knot form in her stomach.
The idea of photographing the bruise made what had happened feel less like a private catastrophe and more like evidence.
Lily leaned against her knee.
“Can we go now?”
“Almost.”
The doctor printed discharge instructions and handed them to Grace.
“Someone else should drive.”
Grace glanced toward the closed door.
“That part is handled.”
When they returned to the waiting room, Nathan stood immediately.
He had been staring at his phone.
The moment he saw Grace, he locked the screen and put it into his pocket.
“What did they say?”
“No fracture.”
His shoulders loosened.
“Strain?”
“And bruising.”
“How bad?”
“Manageable.”
Nathan looked at the papers in her hand.
“Can I see?”
“No.”
His jaw set.
Grace expected an argument.
Instead he nodded.
“All right.”
Lily walked past him toward the exit.
Nathan watched her.
“Does she always just leave when she decides she’s done?”
Grace followed.
“Frequently.”
“She gets that from you.”
Grace looked back at him.
“That is not remotely true.”
Nathan almost smiled.
It was gone before it became anything.
Outside, daylight had shifted warmer, and traffic thickened along the road beyond the parking lot.
Grace lowered herself carefully into the back seat.
Nathan waited until Lily climbed in beside her and buckled herself with intense concentration.
He checked the buckle without touching it.
Lily watched him.
“I did it.”
“I can see that.”
“You checked.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Nathan opened his mouth.
Grace looked away because she knew the answer would matter.
“To make sure you were safe.”
Lily considered him for a second.
“Mommy checks too.”
“I imagine she does.”
Grace felt something uncomfortable move through her chest.
Nathan closed the door and returned to the driver’s seat.
He started the car but did not pull away.
“Address?”
Grace gave him her mother’s.
Nathan typed it into the navigation system.
Then he sat with both hands resting on the wheel.
“Before we go there, I need one answer.”
Grace’s body tightened.
“Not in front of her.”
“I know.”
His voice was controlled.
“That isn’t the question.”
Grace waited.
“Is Victoria going to know where you are?”
Grace looked at him.
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because she’s never been to my mother’s house.”
Nathan nodded once.
Then he drove.
They traveled nearly fifteen minutes without speaking.
Lily fell asleep with the plastic rabbit under her chin.
Grace kept one hand on the child’s knee.
Nathan glanced into the mirror every few minutes.
“You’re checking again,” Grace said quietly.
“I’m driving.”
“You’ve looked back six times.”
“I didn’t count.”
“I did.”
“That also sounds like you.”
Grace watched buildings slide past the window.
“You don’t know what sounds like me anymore.”
Nathan’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“No.”
The answer held no defense.
That made it harder to resent.
Grace shifted carefully.
“You asked who knows.”
“Yes.”
“My mother knows everything.”
Nathan nodded.
“My sister knows you’re Lily’s father.”
“And your friend?”
“She knows there is a father.”
“She doesn’t know who.”
“No.”
Nathan waited.
“Why does your mother know everything?”
Grace gave a humorless breath.
“Because she found me crying on her kitchen floor with a pregnancy test in my hand.”
Nathan’s eyes flicked toward the mirror.
Grace regretted the image immediately, not because it was private, but because she could see him trying to place himself inside a moment he had not been part of.
“Was that before I left?”
“No.”
“How long after?”
“Three weeks.”
Nathan stared ahead.
“You knew three weeks after I left.”
“Yes.”
His voice changed.
“You knew.”
Grace looked at Lily sleeping between them.
“Lower your voice.”
Nathan swallowed.
For several blocks he said nothing.
Then, quieter, “Did you try to tell me?”
Grace closed her eyes.
There it was.
The question she had feared more than accusation.
“Yes.”
Nathan’s head turned slightly.
“How?”
“I called.”
“When?”
“The week I found out.”
“I never got a call.”
“I know.”
He frowned.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
Grace looked out the window.
“The first time, it rang until voicemail.”
