Chapter 2 - The Messages That Never Came From Me
I took Emily and Noah to the downstairs guest suite.
Margaret stayed in the living room while I called my older sister Hannah.
Not the police.
Not yet.
Emily wanted space.
Noah needed feeding.
Everything in me wanted immediate punishment, but my wife needed me to stop making decisions over her head.
That was something I would understand more clearly later.
Hannah arrived twenty minutes later.
The instant she saw our mother sitting rigidly on the sofa, she stopped.
“What happened?”
Margaret answered first.
“Emily had an episode.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
One word.
Margaret blinked.
I had spent my entire life allowing her to finish explanations because she was good at sounding reasonable.
Not tonight.
“You grabbed my wife by the hair.”
“She attacked me verbally.”
“That sentence should embarrass you.”
Hannah looked toward the hallway.
“Where’s Emily?”
“With Noah.”
Then she saw the torn bracelet on the coffee table.
Her expression changed.
“What did Mom do with that?”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
Hannah didn’t answer.
That frightened me.
Upstairs, Emily finally handed me her phone.
There were dozens of messages from Margaret.
Some looked ordinary.
Did Noah feed?
Try to sleep while I’m downstairs.
Daniel says he’ll be late.
Then I found others.
Daniel asked me to stay because he’s worried you’re not coping.
Please don’t make him come home again. He’s already exhausted.
He doesn’t want to upset you, but he thinks you need supervision until you settle down.
My hands went cold.
“I never said any of this.”
Emily stared at me.
“You’re sure?”
The question hurt.
“Emily, I swear.”
She looked away.
For two weeks, she had believed I was privately reporting concerns about her to my mother.
Then she showed me messages Margaret had sent me.
Or rather, messages I had received.
Emily finally slept. She asked me not to bother you.
Rough night. She doesn’t want you worrying.
She says she feels guilty that you’re doing so much.
I had believed those too.
“Did you say any of this?”
“No.”
The shape of what Margaret had been doing became visible.
She told Emily I was worried about her.
She told me Emily wanted distance.
Then she stood between us as the person who supposedly understood both sides.
I had thanked her.
Repeatedly.
Then Emily opened one final message.
It had arrived that afternoon.
Daniel said you should let me handle Noah tonight. You need to prove you can accept help.
“I never said that.”
“I know now.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“That’s why I confronted her.”
“And the bracelet?”
Emily looked toward the nursery.
“She ripped it off when I told her I was calling the hospital nurse.”
Hannah spoke from the doorway.
“Daniel.”
I turned.
May you like
My sister looked pale.
“She did this to me too.”
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