Chương 10
One child at a time.
"Is your mom drinking?"
Lily did not answer for almost two minutes.
When she did, she wrote, "She said it's vacation."
I closed my eyes.
That was not an answer and was absolutely an answer.
Then another message arrived.
"Don't tell her."
The fear in those three words landed harder than anything Martha had sent me.
I typed carefully.
"I won't tell her you contacted me unless I need to get help to keep you safe."
The reply came fast.
"Okay."
Then, "Can you get me?"
I looked at the bassinet.
At the hospital bracelets still around my wrist.
At the swelling in my ankles.
At the keys on the counter.
Every part of me wanted to stand up, drive to an airport, and remove Lily from whatever room she was sitting in.
That would have been satisfying.
It also would have been stupid.
I called Denise.
She answered on the fourth ring.
I told her Lily had contacted me.
Her voice changed immediately.
"Do not coach her."
"I'm not."
"Do not ask leading questions."
"I asked whether anyone was hurting her."
"That's fine."
"She wants me to pick her up."
A pause.
"Do you know the hotel?"
"No."
"Can she send you the address?"
"I can ask."
"Ask for the name of the hotel or a picture of something with the hotel name on it."
I messaged Lily while Denise stayed on the line.
A minute later, a photograph arrived.
It showed a folded card beside a room-service menu.
The hotel logo was visible at the top.
Denise wrote it down.
"Good."
"What happens now?"
"How long?"
"I can't promise a timeline."
My jaw tightened.
"She's eight."
"I know."
"She's asking me to get her."
"I know."
Denise's tone remained calm.
It made me want to yell at her even though she was the one person actually doing something useful.
"Can the police remove her?"
"That depends on what they find."
"So everyone just waits until something gets bad enough?"
"No."
She let the silence sit for a second.
"We verify."
I hated the word.
Verification felt like bureaucracy when you were scared.
It probably felt like protection when someone was falsely accused.
That was the point.
I knew that.
I still hated it.
Denise asked me to preserve the messages and not contact Penny about Lily.
Then she asked whether Travis had called me.
"Yes."
"He told me he's filing."
"Good."
"You sound relieved."
"I am."
"Are you sure?"
The question annoyed me.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because two days ago you barely knew what role he played in Lily's life."
I rubbed my forehead.
"Fair."
"I don't need you to trust him."
"That's comforting."
"I need you to be accurate."
That landed.
Accurate.
Not loyal.
Not forgiving.
Not protective.
Accurate.
After we hung up, I sent Lily one final message.
"Keep your phone charged and stay near safe adults."
She replied with a heart.
I put the phone down and cried anyway.
Rosa found me twenty minutes later sitting at the table with one hand over my face.
She did not ask what happened first.
She picked up Hazel, who had started fussing, and carried her into the living room.
Only when the baby settled did she come back.
"Now."
I showed her the messages.
Rosa read them slowly.
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"That child has been parenting herself."
I flinched.
"I should have noticed."
"Maybe."
I looked at her.
That was not the answer I expected.
Rosa shrugged.
"You should have noticed some things."
The honesty hurt.
"You were also being lied to."
"Both can be true."
"Yes."
She opened the refrigerator.
"Good."
"What is good?"
"That you know both can be true."
She pulled out eggs again.
"You make too many eggs."
"You complain too much for someone who forgets meals."
I watched her crack them into a bowl.
Normal sounds.
Fork against ceramic.
The refrigerator motor.
Hazel making little grunting noises from the living room.
I wanted to stay inside those sounds.
My phone rang.
This time it was Martha.
Rosa glanced at me.
"Don't."
"I need to know what she knows."
"No, you want to know how angry she is."
I hated that she was right.
The phone stopped.
Then rang again.
I answered.
"Maya."
My mother's voice was low and controlled.
"What?"
"Did you give Travis information?"
I looked at Rosa.
She lifted one eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Answer me."
"No."
"Don't play games."
"I spoke to him."
"You had no right."
"He is Lily's father."
"He is an alcoholic."
"He's sober."
"According to him."
"Do you know otherwise?"
Martha went silent.
That silence told me more than a speech would have.
"You always do this," she said finally.
"Do what?"
"Take one piece of information and decide you understand everything."
The accusation was almost funny.
For years, that had been exactly what she trained me to do.
She gave me one version.
I funded it.
"Did you know Penny was going to Miami before you texted me?"
Martha inhaled.
There it was.
Small.
Barely audible.
But real.
"That is not what this is about."
"Did you know?"
"She had already paid."
"That isn't an answer."
"She was under pressure."
"Did you know?"
"Yes."
The word was almost a whisper.
I stood up.
Rosa stopped stirring the eggs.
"You knew."
"She was going to cancel."
"But she went."
"Because the money was nonrefundable."
I laughed once.
It sounded ugly.
"So you invented loan sharks because her vacation was nonrefundable?"
"I did not invent anything."
"Then who are the dangerous people?"
Martha said nothing.
"Names."
"I don't know their names."
"Because they don't exist?"
"You are twisting this."
"No, I'm making you finish the sentence."
Her voice rose.
"You think because you wear a uniform you can interrogate your own mother?"
"This has nothing to do with my uniform."
"Everything with you has to do with rules."
I felt something in me settle.
Not calm.
May you like
Clarity.
"Mom, where did ten thousand dollars come from?"
