“Daniel, she just fell. Children fall. We should make sure she’s okay instead of interrogating her.”
Daniel ignored her.
“Emily.”
His voice softened.
“You’re not in trouble. I promise.”
Emily glanced toward Claire.
That glance changed everything.
It lasted less than a second.
But Daniel saw it.
Fear.
Pure fear.
He stood with Emily in his arms.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
Claire exhaled sharply.
“She doesn’t need a hospital.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“Our daughter just fell down a marble staircase.”
“She fell down four or five steps.”
“You just said you saw her running.”
“I did.”
“So you know exactly how many stairs she fell down?”
Claire hesitated.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Daniel studied her.
He had been married to Claire for two years.
Until that moment, he had never seriously questioned whether she loved Emily.
Now, for the first time, he wondered if he had ever actually known the woman standing in front of him.
Emily whispered something against his shoulder.
Daniel bent closer.
“What did you say?”
Her voice was almost inaudible.
“Don’t leave me here.”
Daniel froze.
Claire heard it too.
Her face changed.
“Emily, don’t be ridiculous.”
Daniel turned immediately.
“Don’t.”
Claire blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t tell her what she feels.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“I’m not. But you’re frightening her by turning an accident into something it isn’t.”
Daniel said nothing.
He carried Emily toward the front door.
Claire followed him.
“Daniel.”
He stopped but did not turn around.
“We’ll talk when I get back.”
“About what?”
Daniel looked over his shoulder.
“That depends on what my daughter tells me.”
The hospital was seventeen minutes away.
Daniel drove there in eleven.
Emily sat in the back seat because Daniel wanted her strapped into the safest position possible.
Every few seconds, he looked at her through the rearview mirror.
She had stopped crying.
That worried him more.
Emily was usually talkative.
She narrated almost everything she did.
She told stories about school, the dog next door, clouds that looked like animals, and imaginary kingdoms where stuffed rabbits were elected president.
Silence was not normal for her.
Daniel wanted to ask what had happened.
He did not.
Not yet.
He did not want to pressure her when she was hurting.
Instead, he said, “Remember when you fell off your bicycle last summer?”
Emily nodded.
“You thought your leg was broken.”
A tiny smile appeared.
“It wasn’t.”
“No. You had a bruise the size of Texas, though.”
“It was purple.”
“Extremely purple.”
“And green.”
“And green.”
Emily stared through the window.
After a moment, she said, “Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“You came home today.”
“I did.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
“No.”
Another pause.
“I’m glad.”
Daniel gripped the steering wheel.
“So am I.”
He wanted to ask why.
He already knew he would not like the answer.
At St. Matthew’s Medical Center, doctors examined Emily immediately.