Chapter 15 - The Woman in the Waiting Room
The hospital found no improper release after correcting the record. Beatriz still had a printed page from the first day. That was enough for her to sound informed while inventing everything else.
Lena was relieved by the explanation. I was tired of explanations that stopped just short of changing the consequences.
A week later, Beatriz appeared in the public waiting room outside my clinic appointment. She wore a dark green dress and the small silver cross she'd worn to Daniel's wedding. She rose as soon as she saw me.
"Mariana, I just want one minute."
Daniel stepped between us. "Mom, you were told not to come here."
"You'd turn your mother away in front of strangers?"
"Yes," he said. It was the first uncomplicated answer I'd ever heard him give her.
She turned to me. "You can't keep a child from a grandmother because of one mistake."
"One?" My voice rose despite my effort to stay calm. "I called for help for hours. You hid my phone. You told Alma I might be dead. You forged my signature. Which one are you calling a mistake?"
People looked up. I no longer cared about being the woman everyone stared at.
Beatriz's lips trembled. "I wanted to protect my family."
"You wanted to control it."
A security officer came when the receptionist called. Beatriz left without touching either of us, but she kept her eyes on Daniel until she disappeared through the doors.
Outside, he sat beside me on a bench where a row of small trees cast broken shadows across the sidewalk.
"I should've stopped this long before the hospital," he said.
"Yes."
May you like
He nodded, accepting the word without asking me to soften it. His phone buzzed. It was a message from Beatriz, sent to every relative in the family group.
TOMORROW I WILL TELL THE COURT WHAT MARIANA HAS DONE TO OUR FAMILY.
