Chapter 1 - The Number She Shouldn’t Have Known
Daniel’s hand was already locked around Rachel’s upper arm when Lily’s monitor gave another soft, steady beep.
“Daniel, let go.”
Instead, he yanked her toward him.
Rachel caught one glimpse of their five-year-old daughter sleeping beneath a pale hospital blanket before Daniel shoved her backward. Her hip struck the padded visitor chair, and the chair legs scraped hard across the floor.
A white X-ray envelope landed in her lap.
“Thirty-six magnets. A stray dog would’ve watched her better than you.”
Rachel stared up at her husband.
For six hours she had been answering questions from nurses, signing consent forms, trying not to picture what could have happened if the magnets had traveled farther through Lily’s intestines. The pediatric gastroenterologist had managed to remove them before they caused a perforation.
Lily was safe.
That was the only fact Rachel had been able to hold onto.
Daniel’s mother stood near the window in a burgundy blouse, arms folded.
Margaret’s mouth curved.
“Call CPS. Maybe Lily can finally get a mother who isn’t useless.”
Something inside Rachel stopped trying to negotiate.
Daniel reached for her again.
She ripped her arm free, stood, and slapped him once across the face.
The sound cracked through the private hospital room.
“Keep your hands off me.”
Daniel staggered half a step.
His blue eyes widened before rage rushed back into them.
Rachel expected him to lunge.
Instead, a different thought cut through the fear.
She looked at Margaret.
Then at the envelope.
Thirty-six.
Not “a bunch.”
Not “dozens.”
Thirty-six.
The doctor had told Rachel the final count less than fifteen minutes earlier, after asking Daniel and Margaret to wait outside while he reviewed the endoscopy with her.
Rachel slowly lifted her eyes.
Margaret’s smug expression weakened.
“The doctor told me thirty-six in private,” Rachel said. “So how did you already know the number?”
Daniel turned toward his mother.
Margaret’s face lost its color.
She took one small step backward.
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And for the first time since Lily had been rushed into treatment, Rachel stopped wondering how she had failed her daughter.
She began wondering who already knew exactly what Lily had swallowed.
