Chapter 18 - What I Had to Admit
Emma was sitting on our living-room rug when I told her. Dr. Lowe had helped me find words a four-year-old could understand. Claire sat on the couch, tired but home for the afternoon on a supervised visit from rehabilitation.
"At the cemetery," I began, "Aunt Mallory hurt Mommy. I got scared and angry, and then I hurt Aunt Mallory."
Emma stopped arranging her toy animals.
"You were trying to make her stop."
"I wanted to stop her. But Mommy was already on the ground. What I did wasn't the right way."
"Will the police take you away?"
I swallowed. "I have to tell them the truth and accept what happens."
Claire held out her hand. Emma climbed beside her carefully, avoiding the healing scar beneath her hair.
"Being angry is allowed," Claire told her. "Hurting somebody because you're angry is not. Even when you're very, very angry."
Emma looked at both of us. "I was angry too."
"You can tell us," I said. "Always."
I met the prosecutor the next morning with my own attorney. The full video showed exactly what I had done. I agreed to accept responsibility for the assault rather than argue that anger made it justified. My lawyer explained the likely penalties and the possibility of a supervised plea.
"I don't want Emma growing up with a different story just because I'm her dad," I said.
My attorney nodded. "Then don't give her one."
Mallory's lawyer informed Ortiz that Mallory intended to plead guilty to attacking Claire and to her part in the fraud. Grant, confronted with the original recording and bank trail, was negotiating a separate plea.
I thought the next part would be simple: the court would decide, and we would go home.
Then the prosecutor asked whether Claire could provide a statement about the attack's lasting effects.
May you like
Claire looked at me from across the table.
"I want to speak," she said. "I want your sister to hear what she took from Emma."
