Chapter 3 - Things Children Say
The pediatric urgent care clinic was only fifteen minutes away, but it felt like an hour.
Emma sat in the back seat with the air conditioning turned high, holding her stuffed rabbit in one arm and a bottle of water in the other. I kept checking her in the rearview mirror at every red light.
Claire sat in the passenger seat in silence for the first five minutes.
Then she started.
“You’re letting her control the situation.”
I kept both hands on the wheel. “Stop talking.”
“She knows exactly what she’s doing, Ethan. Since the day I moved in, she has pushed every boundary.”
“She is a grieving child.”
“She is not the only one who had to live with your grief.”
That one landed. Claire knew exactly where to cut.
I pulled into the clinic parking lot and turned the engine off. “If you say one more word blaming my daughter, you can find your own way home.”
Inside, a nurse named Brenda brought us into an exam room painted with cartoon whales. The walls were cheerful. Emma looked anything but.
A pediatric doctor came in, introduced herself as Dr. Keller, and gently checked Emma’s pupils, pulse, hydration, and bruising. When she touched the red marks on Emma’s arm, her expression sharpened.
“Emma,” she said softly, “can you tell me how these happened?”
Emma looked at me.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You can tell her.”
Claire shifted in the corner. “Can we not interrogate her while she’s upset?”
Dr. Keller looked over her shoulder. “Actually, ma’am, I’d like a little space with the child and her father.”
Claire’s lips parted. “I’m family.”
“No,” I said. “You’re not.”
That got her out the door.
The second it clicked shut, Emma started crying for real.
“She was mad because I spilled juice on the white couch,” she whispered. “She said I ruin everything.”
Dr. Keller crouched down. “Did she squeeze your arm?”
Emma nodded.
“Did she lock you in the playhouse?”
Another nod.
“Has anything like this happened before?”
Emma looked down at her rabbit. “The pantry.”
I felt my blood go cold.
“What pantry?” I asked.
Emma’s eyes got wide, like she had said too much.
Dr. Keller rose slowly and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Mr. Mercer,” she said quietly, “I need to step out for a moment.”
I knew what that meant before she said it.
May you like
When she opened the door, a uniformed hospital security officer was already standing outside.
And beyond him, I saw Claire on her phone, talking urgently to someone I couldn’t hear.
