Chương 7
“Decide,” he said.
“She might tell us what happened.”
“She might.”
“We need information.”
“We do.”
Emily held out her hand. “Put it on speaker.”
Daniel answered but did not speak.
Margaret’s voice came through thin and breathless. “Emily? Emily, are you there?”
“I’m here.”
“Oh, thank God. I have been sick with worry.”
Emily watched Daniel’s expression close.
Margaret continued. “Madison has gone home. The police made her feel like a criminal. Your father is extremely upset, and none of his cards work. I understand you were frightened, but this has gone much too far.”
“What happened Thursday night?”
A pause.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Lily slept at Madison’s apartment.”
“I wasn’t feeling well.”
“What happened there?”
“You would have to ask Madison.”
“I’m asking what you knew.”
Margaret exhaled. “Emily, you have just lost a pregnancy. You had major surgery. This is not the time to interrogate your mother.”
“Did you ask Madison whether my adoption could be reversed?”
Daniel sat very still.
The silence from the phone lasted long enough to answer.
Margaret said, “That is not how the conversation happened.”
“How did it happen?”
“We were discussing options.”
“For what?”
“For keeping everyone safe.”
“Everyone except Lily.”
“That is unfair.”
“Did you know Madison told her we were returning her?”
“I knew Madison was trying to explain that your household might need help.”
“She said Lily had to make space for my real children.”
Margaret’s voice lowered. “Madison has always had a sharp way of speaking.”
“That isn’t a sharp way of speaking. That is cruelty.”
“She was under pressure.”
“From you?”
“No.”
“Who typed the messages from your tablet?”
Another pause.
Margaret sounded smaller when she answered. “Some were me.”
“Which ones?”
“I cannot remember every line.”
“You remember enough.”
“I remember being terrified. You were bleeding. Daniel would not leave the hospital. Lily needed somewhere to stay. Your father was having chest pressure. Madison was trying to manage everything.”
“Madison called the adoption agency.”
“She was asking questions.”
“She called child welfare.”
“I did not know that until later.”
“How much later?”
“Emily, listen to me. Your sister believed Daniel was keeping information from us. He refused to allow us into your room. He was hostile and controlling.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Emily said, “He was following my instructions.”
“You were unconscious.”
“I gave them before surgery.”
Margaret’s breathing changed. “You always defend him.”
“He stayed with me.”
“And abandoned that little girl.”
Lily moved in her sleep.
Emily’s voice became quiet. “My daughter has a name.”
“I know her name.”
“Then use it.”
“I am not going to be spoken to like this after everything your father and I have done for you.”
The old sentence. It had ended arguments since Emily was seventeen.
She felt its familiar weight settle over her: tuition, the first car, holidays, babysitting, the down payment gift Richard had mentioned for years despite Emily having repaid it. Gratitude in the Carter family did not expire. It accumulated interest.
Emily looked at Daniel.
He waited.
“What did you do for me this week?” Emily asked.
Margaret made a wounded sound. “How can you say that?”
“What did you do?”
“I took care of your child.”
“You handed her to Madison.”
“I was ill.”
“You let Madison frighten her.”
“I told her not to upset Lily.”
“You asked whether she could be sent away.”
“I asked whether there were temporary arrangements.”
“Why?”
“So you could recover.”
“Why would Lily need to leave for me to recover?”
“Because your life is changing.”
“How?”
Margaret began to cry.
Not loudly. Margaret rarely cried loudly. She allowed tears to enter her voice while preserving enough control to accuse anyone who continued speaking of being cruel.
“You lost the baby,” she said. “You may never have another chance. I thought you needed room to grieve and decide what your future looks like.”
“My future includes Lily.”
“Yes, but—”
The word stopped.
Emily waited.
Margaret tried again. “No one is saying it doesn’t.”
“You just did.”
“I did not.”
“You put a ‘but’ after my daughter.”
“Emily, please.”
“Did Dad know?”
“Your father was trying to keep the peace.”
“Did he know?”
“He knew we were concerned.”
“Did he know Madison went to the school?”
“I do not know.”
“Did he know she called the agency?”
“I don’t remember who knew what.”
Emily’s eyes burned.
Margaret said, “You are making us sound monstrous.”
“I’m repeating what happened.”
“We love Lily.”
From the other bed, Lily spoke without opening her eyes.
“No, you don’t.”
Margaret stopped breathing into the phone.
Emily reached across the space between the beds. Lily’s hand emerged from beneath the blanket and found hers.
Daniel took the phone.
“This conversation is over,” he said.
Margaret’s voice sharpened. “Do not hang up on me in my daughter’s room.”
“It’s a hotel room.”
“What?”
“We’re not home. You don’t know where we are. You will not come looking. You will communicate through the attorney.”
“You have no right to separate her from her family.”
Daniel looked at Emily before answering.
“She is with her family.”
He ended the call.
Lily’s eyes remained closed.
Emily held her hand until the child’s fingers loosened in sleep.
The next morning, a child welfare caseworker named Tessa Ramirez arrived at ten fifteen.
She was in her forties, with rain-darkened curls and a canvas bag full of forms. She did not behave as though the report was obviously false, which Daniel disliked immediately and Emily understood.
Tessa asked to speak with each adult separately. She asked to see Lily alone. She asked where they planned to stay, whether Emily could safely supervise a child while recovering, whether Daniel had work obligations, whether there were weapons in the home, whether Madison had ever used physical discipline, and whether Lily had access to food, medication, school, and a trusted adult outside the immediate household.
May you like
Daniel answered too quickly at first.
“No, no, absolutely not, of course she has food.”
