Chapter 3 - Not a Fall
At the hospital, an X-ray showed two cracked ribs. The doctor spoke slowly, not because he thought I was foolish but because he wanted me to understand exactly what a second injury could do.
"At your age, we take this seriously," Dr. Hsu said. "No rushing home. No pretending you feel fine."
"I've had ninety years of practice at pretending," I told him. He didn't laugh.
Malcolm arrived with Maya and a paper sack containing my glasses. He looked smaller than he had that morning. He sat beside my bed and couldn't meet my eyes.
"How long?" he asked.
I understood. "The shouting? A year. The pushing? Since spring. She saved the kicking for today."
He put his face in his hands. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did. Last Thanksgiving I said Maya was afraid to spill things. In March I told you Sloane wouldn't let me take her to the park alone. You said she was under pressure."
He remembered. I could see it happen.
"I should have listened."
"You should listen now."
He told me Officer Alvarez had arranged for a child advocacy interviewer to speak with Maya, and that Sloane had agreed to stay elsewhere for the night while police investigated. The charity photographer had called twice. Sloane chaired Harbor House, a children's wellness charity, and had a benefit in three days.
"Forget the benefit," I said.
"I think it's why she wanted Maya dressed up today."
Maya had fallen asleep in a chair, hugging the unopened blue-wrapped train. I watched her small shoulders rise and fall.
A nurse came in with a clear bag of my belongings. Inside was the purple paper bird. Someone had tucked it into the pocket of my dress before I was put in the ambulance.
A folded corner brushed my fingertips. On the back, in a child's uneven handwriting, were four words: LOOK UNDER THE PIANO.
Malcolm read them over my shoulder. "What piano?"
May you like
I closed my eyes. There was only one in the house, an upright instrument Sloane hated because it ruined the clean lines of her living room.
"Go home," I said. "And don't tell your wife why."
