Chapter 2 - Grandma Wasn’t Outside the Door by Accident
Nathan didn’t go home.
He drove Rosie to a pediatric urgent-care clinic in Westerville, north of Columbus, because he wanted someone other than himself to see the marks while they were fresh.
By the time a nurse brought them into an examination room, his hands had begun hurting from how tightly he had gripped the steering wheel.
Rosie sat on the paper-covered table with Nathan’s jacket around her shoulders.
The physician examined her cheek and arms, asked Nathan what had happened, then spoke to Rosie in simple language without feeding her answers.
Rosie repeated the part Nathan already knew.
Aunt Bethany had put her in the bathroom.
But when the doctor asked whether anyone else had been there, Rosie rubbed one sneaker against the other.
“Grandma was outside.”
Nathan looked up.
“What do you mean, sweetheart?”
Rosie glanced at him.
“Grandma said I had to stay until I was sorry.”
Nathan stopped breathing normally for a second.
He had assumed Diane’s threat at the front door came after the fact—another attempt to protect Bethany once everything had already gone wrong.
Rosie was saying Diane had known before Nathan opened that bathroom door.
The physician documented what Rosie said and explained that because the injuries raised a child-safety concern, the clinic had reporting obligations. Nathan gave his information and did not object.
He had barely finished when his phone began vibrating on the chair beside him.
Bethany.
Then Diane.
Then Walter.
Then Bethany again.
A text arrived from Walter.
You assaulted your sister in front of witnesses. Think carefully before you destroy yourself over this.
Nathan read it twice.
There it was.
Not Rosie.
Not the bathroom.
His punch.
The one thing he had done that could be used against him.
And Walter was already using it.
Another message appeared, this one from Daniel.
Back up those bathroom photos somewhere they can’t get to them.
Nathan stared at the screen.
He typed:
Why were you grabbing my phone?
The typing indicator appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Finally:
Because I knew Bethany would go for it.
Nathan wrote:
How?
Daniel did not answer that question.
Instead he sent something stranger.
Ask Rosie whether Grandma said the same words Bethany said.
Nathan looked across the examination room.
Rosie was coloring on a sheet the nurse had given her.
He hated bringing her back into it, but he kept his voice calm.
“Rosie, when Grandma was outside the bathroom… what did she say?”
Rosie chose a purple crayon.
“She said Aunt Bethany was teaching me.”
Nathan looked down at Daniel’s message again.
Bethany had said:
Someone had to teach her.
Diane had apparently used almost the same phrase before Nathan ever entered the room.
May you like
Which meant his mother hadn’t merely defended what Bethany did.
She had approved it while it was happening.
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