Chapter 6 - The Mother Everyone Called Anxious
The screenshot changed Claire’s anger.
Until then, she had been afraid Janice had done something reckless around Harper.
Now she began to suspect the fear itself had been the point.
Claire went back through four months of messages.
After every monitor alert, she had texted Evan.
Sometimes she called Janice.
Sometimes Janice called first.
Claire had written things like:
I’m scared something is wrong.
I barely slept.
I keep checking her.
What if the monitor caught something real?
Taken individually, they were normal messages from a frightened mother.
Collected together by someone with an agenda, they could become something else.
A portrait.
Unstable.
Obsessive.
Overprotective.
Janice had been painting that portrait publicly for months.
At family dinners.
During phone calls.
In little jokes.
And Evan had allowed it because admitting his mother was cruel would have required confrontation.
Claire realized she had helped too.
She laughed along.
She stayed quiet.
She accepted the description “anxious” because fighting it made her look more anxious.
At Megan’s house, Harper toddled unsteadily between the couch and coffee table.
Megan watched her niece.
“She seems pretty happy for a baby allegedly surrounded by chaos.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
That afternoon, Evan arrived.
He looked exhausted.
“I confronted my mother.”
“And?”
“She says the monitor logs prove nothing.”
“What about the bracelet?”
“She says it broke months ago.”
“Convenient.”
“Claire.”
“No. Don’t Claire me.”
He sat down.
“I’m not defending her.”
“You keep saying that right before defending her.”
He looked hurt.
Good, Claire thought.
Then she hated herself for thinking it.
Evan placed his phone on the table.
“There’s something else.”
He had searched the family cloud account Janice used for shared photographs and documents.
Inside was a folder labeled Harper Care.
Claire opened it.
Dates.
Screenshots of monitor alerts.
Claire’s worried texts.
Notes describing her behavior.
Claire called pediatrician after one vomiting episode.
Claire refused overnight visit due monitor concerns.
Claire cried at Thanksgiving after discussion about sleep.
Claire looked up.
“Why does your mother have this?”
“I don’t know.”
One line made her stop.
Evan agrees documentation may be useful if anxiety worsens.
Claire slowly turned toward her husband.
He looked away.
The betrayal shifted.
May you like
Janice had created the file.
But Evan knew it existed.
