Chapter 2 - Grace Refuses to Come Back
Daniel called an ambulance.
Margaret had bruising and a strained shoulder but no new fracture.
The emergency physician told Daniel she had been extraordinarily lucky.
Grace refused medical treatment at the house.
She also refused Daniel’s apology.
“I thought my mother was falling down the stairs.”
“You thought,” Grace said.
They stood beside the open front door while rain darkened the stone steps outside.
“You didn’t ask.”
Daniel looked at the swelling along her cheek.
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes.”
Nothing in Grace’s voice suggested forgiveness.
Daniel swallowed.
“I’ll pay for your doctor.”
“You slapped me because your wife pointed at me.”
He had no answer.
Grace picked up her coat.
“I’ve worked here nine years.”
“I know.”
“I changed your mother’s clothes after her stroke. I sat beside Lisa when she had surgery. I stayed overnight when you and Vanessa went to Chicago.”
“I know.”
“But Vanessa screams one sentence and suddenly I’m a liar.”
Daniel looked down.
Grace opened the door.
Then stopped.
“There’s something else.”
Daniel lifted his eyes.
Grace looked toward the staircase.
“Your mother has been afraid of Vanessa for months.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“I didn’t understand it at first.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“March. Then April.”
Daniel remembered vague complaints.
Vanessa is too rough with your mother.
Margaret gets anxious when Vanessa takes her upstairs.
Daniel had interpreted them as employee tension.
Vanessa disliked Grace.
Grace disliked Vanessa.
He had decided not to become referee.
“What exactly did you see?”
Grace hesitated.
“Your mother would grab my sleeve whenever Vanessa said she was taking her somewhere alone.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“And Lisa?”
Grace looked away.
“What about Lisa?”
“They started doing something together.”
“What?”
“Gestures.”
Daniel almost laughed from confusion.
“Lisa has always gestured.”
“Not like this.”
Grace shook her head.
“Your mother learned some of Lisa’s signs after the stroke. Lisa learned some of hers. I think they made up others.”
Daniel glanced toward the hallway.
Lisa sat beside Margaret’s wheelchair, holding her grandmother’s hand.
“Did you understand them?”
“Only a few.”
“Like what?”
Grace looked directly at him.
“Door.”
“Upstairs.”
“Vanessa.”
Then:
“Scared.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
Grace stepped outside.
“Ask yourself why two people in this house who can’t speak both became afraid of the same woman.”
She walked into the rain.
Daniel remained at the door.
Behind him, Vanessa said:
“You’re really letting the maid poison you against your wife?”
Daniel turned.
Grace had been part of the household longer than Vanessa.
He had never once heard her call herself a maid.
Only Vanessa did.
“Go upstairs,” Daniel said.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“This is my house too.”
“Then stay away from my mother and my daughter while I figure out what happened.”
Vanessa stared at him.
The last time Daniel had given her a boundary, she had cried.
This time she smiled.
It was small.
Cold.
“You’re going to regret believing them.”
Daniel watched her climb the stairs.
Then noticed something.
Vanessa did not look once at Margaret.
Not to ask whether she was hurt.
Not to apologize.
May you like
Not even to pretend concern.
For the first time, Daniel saw how strange that was.
