Chương 5
“Who told you not to?”
Emma looked down at their joined hands.
“Juliette.”
Christopher waited.
The ambulance rolled over a seam in the road, and one of the cabinet doors rattled behind Parker’s shoulder.
Emma traced the edge of the blanket with one finger.
“She said it was a surprise.”
“For me?”
Emma nodded.
“When did she tell you?”
“Last week.”
Christopher searched his memory for anything Juliette had done differently.
She had skipped wine at dinner twice, but she sometimes did that before events.
She had complained about being tired.
She had gone to bed early.
None of it had registered.
“Did she say how far along she was?”
Emma shrugged.
“She said the baby was still tiny.”
Parker glanced at Christopher, then returned to checking the monitor.
Christopher did not know whether Juliette was pregnant.
He only knew that his daughter believed she was.
That distinction mattered.
Everything mattered now.
“What else did she say?”
Emma’s eyes tightened.
“She said you were going to be really happy.”
“I would be happy about a baby.”
Emma nodded without looking convinced.
Christopher felt something twist inside him.
“What did she say after that?”
“She said maybe I could stay with Mom more.”
Christopher’s hand went cold around hers.
Emma’s mother, Rebecca, lived forty minutes away and shared custody with him.
Their divorce had been unpleasant but not vicious.
They had made mistakes, said things through lawyers they should have said to each other, and eventually built something workable out of the wreckage.
Emma spent alternating weeks between their homes.
Christopher had never once suggested changing that arrangement.
“Did Juliette say I wanted that?”
Emma gave another small shrug.
“She said it would be easier.”
“For who?”
“The baby.”
Christopher leaned forward.
“Emma, listen to me.”
She looked at him.
“No baby changes where you belong.”
Her eyes filled instantly.
He hated himself again.
He should have said it months ago, before she had ever needed to hear it.
“You live with me because you’re my daughter.”
Emma wiped her nose with the back of her wrist.
“And if Juliette has ten babies, you’re still my daughter.”
Parker looked down, hiding a faint smile.
Emma frowned.
“Ten would be gross.”
Christopher almost laughed.
The sound came out broken.
“Agreed.”
For a moment the ambulance was just an ambulance carrying a wet child and a frightened father through afternoon traffic.
Then Emma said, “She told me not to bother you.”
Christopher looked at her.
“When?”
“All the time.”
He swallowed.
“What does that mean?”
“When you’re working.”
“That’s not her decision.”
Emma did not answer.
Christopher remembered closed office doors.
Meals where Emma had appeared, then disappeared before dessert.
Afternoons when he had assumed she preferred her tablet or the backyard or a friend’s house.
He had been busy.
He was always busy.
Busy had become a moral excuse he granted himself without examining it.
Parker interrupted before the silence could deepen.
“We’re five minutes out.”
Christopher nodded.
“Thank you.”
He reached for his phone.
The screen showed eighteen missed calls.
Four from Juliette.
Three from Teresa.
Two from Rebecca.
The rest were from security, his assistant, and numbers he did not recognize.
His stomach dropped when he saw Rebecca’s name.
Someone had told her.
Of course someone had told her.
He called immediately.
She answered before the first full ring.
“Where is she?”
“In the ambulance.”
“Is she breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Is she conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Christopher, what happened?”
He looked at Emma.
Emma was watching him.
“She went into the pool.”
Rebecca’s voice sharpened.
“Went into?”
“I’ll explain at the hospital.”
“Was Juliette there?”
Christopher closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then Rebecca said, “I’m coming.”
“You should.”
“What hospital?”
He gave her the name.
Rebecca hung up without another word.
Emma asked, “Is Mom mad?”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
That answer, at least, was easy.
The emergency department swallowed them in fluorescent light and clipped voices.
Christopher stayed beside Emma through triage while staff replaced her wet blanket, checked her temperature, listened to her lungs, examined her hand, and asked variations of the same questions.
One nurse gave Christopher a pair of hospital scrub pants and an oversized sweatshirt after noticing water pooling beneath his shoes.
Christopher changed in a restroom while his phone vibrated continuously on the counter.
When he emerged, Rebecca was already there.
She crossed the waiting area at a near run.
Emma saw her first.
“Mom.”
Rebecca dropped her bag on the floor and wrapped both arms around her daughter.
She kissed Emma’s wet hair once, then again, then pressed her forehead against Emma’s temple.
Christopher stood two steps away.
Rebecca looked over Emma’s shoulder at him.
“What happened?”
Her voice was quiet.
That was worse than shouting.
Christopher glanced toward the nurse.
“Not here.”
Rebecca rose.
“She almost drowned, and you’re worried about privacy?”
“No.”
“Then talk.”
Emma stiffened between them.
Christopher saw it.
“So did Rebecca.”
Her face changed.
She crouched beside Emma again.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to talk to Dad right outside.”
Emma grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t go.”
Rebecca’s anger vanished.
“I’m not leaving.”
Christopher said, “I can.”
Emma grabbed him too.
For several seconds the three of them remained caught in an awkward triangle around the hospital bed.
A nurse walked past and pretended not to notice.
Rebecca sat.
Christopher sat on the opposite side.
Nobody spoke.
Finally Emma said, “This is weird.”
Rebecca laughed once despite herself.
“Yes.”
Christopher rubbed his face.
“Extremely.”
Emma looked satisfied that they agreed on something.
A physician came in ten minutes later, introduced herself as Dr. Shah, and explained that Emma’s oxygen levels were reassuring but that they wanted to observe her because breathing problems could develop after submersion.
She also wanted imaging of Emma’s hand because of tenderness over the knuckles.
Rebecca turned sharply toward Christopher.
“Her hand?”
Christopher stared at Dr. Shah.
“Can we talk outside?”
Dr. Shah looked at Emma.
“Only if she’s comfortable with that.”
Emma nodded.
May you like
Rebecca kissed her forehead.
“We’ll be right there.”
