Chapter 2 - The Emergency Room
The doctor at Westbury Medical said Lily was cold, frightened, and lucky. She had swallowed some water but her lungs sounded clear. They wanted to keep her for observation, mostly because she was shaking and had struggled to catch her breath after the fall.
"Was she alone?" the doctor asked.
I looked at Nora, who sat near the door with a wet towel around her shoulders. "The instructor was there."
"I was there," Nora said. "I heard her call from the shallow end. When I reached her, she was slipping under. I got her to the steps and lifted her out."
"Then why was she in the water alone?" I asked.
Nora held my gaze. "That's the question you should be asking."
The doctor asked us to lower our voices. Lily lay under a warm blanket, her dark curls damp against her forehead. When I sat beside her, she caught two of my fingers and would not let go.
"Sweetheart, did Nora let you go into the pool?"
Lily's eyes flicked to the door. She swallowed. "I didn't go by myself."
"Who was with you?"
Her mouth opened, but no sound came. A nurse came in to check her temperature, and Lily shut down again, turning her face to the wall.
Nora rose slowly. "She needs calm, not questions that sound like blame."
I almost told her to leave. Then Lily's fingers tightened around mine with a strength I hadn't felt in months.
"Don't send Nora away," she whispered. "She was trying to help me."
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I looked at Nora. For the first time since arriving at the pool, I wondered if I had built the whole story from the wrong picture.
The doctor explained that a child could look fine and still be frightened long after the body had warmed up. He asked us not to press Lily for details repeatedly. I wrote that down, then realized I had already done exactly what he warned against.
