Chapter 2 - THE NIGHT RYAN FINALLY STOPPED LISTENING TO HIS MOTHER
Ryan took Emily to the emergency department at Emory Midtown.
Margaret did not come.
Jessica did.
The obstetric team monitored Emily and the baby.
Emily had swallowed very little.
Her vital signs remained stable.
The baby’s heart rate was reassuring.
The doctor still made one thing clear.
“No unidentified homemade preparation belongs in a pregnant patient’s mouth.”
Ryan sat beside Emily’s bed.
“I should’ve come home yesterday.”
Emily looked at him.
“This isn’t because you traveled.”
“My mother was in our house.”
“Because you gave her a key.”
Ryan looked down.
That was true.
Margaret had called Emily “overly anxious” throughout the pregnancy.
Ryan had repeatedly translated it into concern.
When Margaret arrived with soup, he called her thoughtful.
When she reorganized the nursery after Emily told her not to, he called her excited.
When she contacted Emily’s obstetric office twice to ask questions without permission, Ryan told himself his mother was frightened about becoming a grandmother again.
Emily had been telling him for months that Margaret was crossing boundaries.
Ryan had kept answering:
She means well.
Now Emily had dark liquid dried across her dress.
Jessica sat near the window holding the jar inside a hospital specimen bag.
Ryan turned toward her.
“What did she give you?”
Jessica rubbed her hands together.
“I never knew exactly.”
“What happened?”
She stared through the glass.
“Our parents were separating.”
Ryan frowned.
Their father, Daniel Carter, had left when Ryan was seven.
That was the family history.
Daniel drank too much.
Had a temper.
Walked out.
Margaret raised both children.
Jessica continued.
“I wanted to live with Dad.”
Ryan almost laughed.
“You hated Dad.”
Jessica looked at him.
“No.”
The answer came so calmly that Ryan stopped.
“I was scared of Mom.”
Ryan stared.
Jessica continued:
“She gave me that stuff whenever I got ‘worked up.’”
“What does that mean?”
“It made me sleepy.”
Ryan’s expression changed.
Jessica swallowed.
“Before meetings with lawyers. Before the school counselor came. Before a custody interview.”
Ryan sat back.
“That’s impossible.”
Jessica nodded slowly.
“There you are.”
“What?”
“That face.”
“What face?”
“The one everybody made when I tried to tell them.”
Ryan looked toward Emily.
She said nothing.
She did not need to.
Jessica continued:
“Mom told everyone Dad was making me unstable.”
“Dad was unstable.”
“Sometimes.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“No.”
Jessica cut him off.
“It doesn’t.”
Ryan stopped talking.
His sister looked exhausted rather than angry.
“That’s the point.”
The obstetrician returned.
Emily could go home after several more hours of monitoring.
Ryan asked whether they should call police.
The doctor said the hospital could document the incident and connect them with an advocate, but what they reported was their decision unless additional mandatory-reporting circumstances applied.
Emily answered first.
“I want it documented.”
Ryan looked at her.
May you like
She met his eyes.
“And Margaret is not coming back into our house.”
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