Chương 6
Anna pulled the blanket higher.
“Hey, bug,” she said.
Sophie did not move.
Liam stood near the window. Dana had advised everyone to let the child set the pace.
“Grandma said Uncle Liam got Dad arrested,” Sophie said.
Anna looked at Liam.
He felt the immediate urge to explain. He swallowed it.
“No,” Anna said. “The police arrested Dad.”
“Because Uncle Liam called them.”
“Uncle Liam called because I was hurt.”
Sophie looked down at the vitamin container. “Grandma said you fell.”
Anna’s hand tightened around the blanket.
Liam watched her decide whether to lie.
“I told people that,” she said. “But it wasn’t true.”
Sophie’s head lifted.
“Did Dad push you?”
The room changed.
Anna breathed carefully through the pain in her ribs. “Dad hurt me.”
Sophie stood frozen for another moment, then crossed the room and climbed onto the bed before anyone could stop her. Anna gasped.
Sophie immediately pulled back.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just this side.”
She guided the child against her uninjured shoulder.
Liam turned toward the window because their faces had become something he could not look at without intruding.
Behind him, Sophie whispered, “Is Dad in jail?”
“For now,” Anna said.
“Is he mad?”
Anna did not answer immediately.
“No one is allowed to come near us,” she said at last.
That was not the question, and Sophie knew it.
She held her mother more carefully.
Anna was discharged to a confidential apartment operated by a local family-safety organization. She refused Liam’s offer to stay at his house.
“He knows where you live,” she said.
“I have security cameras.”
“He knows where you work, where you shop, which neighbor feeds your cat.”
“I don’t have a cat.”
“You did.”
“Six years ago.”
“You still buy food for the neighbor’s cat.”
Liam frowned. “How do you know that?”
“You complain about it every Sunday.”
She had remembered something ordinary. The fact comforted him until he realized Ethan probably knew those details too.
Dana arranged transportation that did not use Liam’s car. Sophie’s school received copies of the protective order. The apartment had two bedrooms, mismatched furniture, and a refrigerator that hummed loudly enough to interrupt conversation.
Liam carried in one bag of groceries, then waited near the door.
“You can put them in the kitchen,” Anna said.
He placed them on the counter.
“You bought six cans of soup.”
“You like soup.”
“I liked soup when I was twelve.”
“You still eat it.”
“Because people keep buying it.”
Sophie opened a cupboard. “There’s more soup already.”
Liam looked inside. Nearly the entire lower shelf was filled with donated cans.
Anna began laughing.
It hurt her ribs, so the laugh became a grimace, which made Sophie laugh too. Liam stood holding a loaf of bread and felt absurdly relieved.
Then Anna stopped.
The apartment became quiet again.
“I need my things,” she said.
“Tell me what you need. I’ll buy it.”
“I don’t want new things. I want my clothes. Sophie’s school projects. Mom’s recipe box.”
“The police can arrange a civil standby.”
“Ethan’s mother has a key.”
“We’ll change the locks.”
“It’s his house too.”
“The order may give you temporary possession.”
“May.”
Liam placed the bread on the counter. “You shouldn’t go back there.”
“I didn’t say I was going alone.”
“You shouldn’t go at all.”
Anna looked at him.
He heard himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You keep saying that.”
“I keep needing to.”
The police arranged for Anna to return to the townhouse two days later while Ethan remained in custody awaiting a bond hearing. Detective Vega accompanied her with another officer. Dana went too. Liam was asked not to attend.
He spent the hour pacing through his empty apartment, stopping each time his phone lit up.
Anna returned with three suitcases, two boxes, Sophie’s bicycle helmet, and their mother’s wooden recipe box. She had left most of the furniture. She had also left her wedding photographs, though Sophie had quietly placed one in her backpack.
Ethan was released on bond the next morning.
The court prohibited contact with Anna and Sophie and required him to stay away from the apartment, the school, and Riverside Hospital. His attorney issued a statement saying Ethan denied all accusations and looked forward to clearing his name.
The statement described Anna’s injuries as resulting from “a tragic medical accident compounded by family conflict.”
Liam read the phrase twice.
Anna’s attorney, Rachel Dunn, advised her not to respond publicly.
Rachel was in her late forties, with cropped hair and a voice that seemed impatient even when she was agreeing. She worked for a legal-aid organization and handled both the protective-order proceedings and the early custody dispute.
“Silence is not surrender,” she told Anna during their first meeting. “It is often just not giving the other side free material.”
“They’re calling her unstable,” Liam said.
Rachel looked at him. “They will call her unstable whether she speaks or not.”
“Then she should defend herself.”
“On whose schedule?”
He leaned back.
Anna sat beside Rachel at the folding table in the confidential apartment. Her bruises had turned yellow at the edges. She wore the gray cardigan Liam had brought to the hospital.
Rachel opened a file. “Ethan is requesting temporary supervised contact with Sophie.”
“No,” Liam said.
Rachel did not look at him. “I asked Anna.”
Anna stared at the recipe box on the kitchen counter. “Sophie misses him.”
“That doesn’t answer the question,” Rachel said.
“No.”
“Good. We will oppose it.”
Liam shifted in his chair. “Based on the assault.”
“Based on the current order, the pending criminal charges, Sophie’s exposure to coercive behavior, and the need for a professional risk assessment.”
“Did Sophie see him hurt Anna?”
Rachel turned a page. “That is not a question we ask a child repeatedly.”
“I’m not asking her.”
“You just asked in front of her mother.”
Anna rubbed the cuff of her cardigan between two fingers.
Liam stood. “I’ll make coffee.”
May you like
“There’s no coffee maker,” Anna said.
He looked toward the counter.
