Chapter 6 - A Family Built on Dependence
Paige reached my room before Ethan did. She wore the navy cardigan she wore when afraid and carried a payroll sheet she never opened. "You did the right thing," she said, then asked me to withdraw the complaint until Friday. The center owed its insurer, the equipment vendor, and half the night staff. One lost week could push it into default. Ethan had told the family Serena caused the crisis by demanding special treatment, and his father had already called her a home-wrecker. Paige did not believe him. She also would not defend me publicly. "I have forty people asking whether they can buy groceries," she said. "I can't make this about your marriage." For the first time, I understood that Ethan had built a shield from other people's dependence. Dr. Keene joined us and refused to resume deliveries without an outside safety officer. Paige snapped that doctors could find new jobs. Caleb answered from the doorway, "Not after a preventable death." June had survived, but nobody corrected him.
