Chapter 3 - What the Children Knew
I wanted to keep listening.
I couldn’t.
Owen needed a doctor.
Ellie needed to feel safe.
And Natalie was somewhere outside with four years of secrets running beside her.
I called the police.
Then I called my sister, Megan.
She arrived before the ambulance did.
The moment she saw Owen’s arms, her expression changed.
“What happened?”
“Later.”
I didn’t trust myself to say more.
At the hospital, the doctor documented the bruises.
Most were recent.
Two were older.
That destroyed the last excuse I had unconsciously been making for Natalie.
This had not begun tonight.
Owen stared at his shoes while the doctor examined him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
His lower lip trembled.
“She said you wouldn’t believe us.”
My chest tightened.
Ellie sat beside him.
“She said Daddy loved her more because grown-ups listen to grown-ups.”
I had never felt like a worse father.
I had been working late.
Traveling.
Trusting.
And while I was doing all of it, my children had been learning how to stay quiet inside their own home.
I crouched in front of them.
“I believe you now.”
Owen finally looked at me.
“She got really mad after we found the box.”
“How did you find it?”
“Mom showed me.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
He quickly shook his head.
“Not really.”
He reached into his pocket.
It was a small folded piece of paper.
“I found this in my old dinosaur book yesterday.”
I opened it.
It was Laura’s handwriting again.
Owen, when you’re old enough to understand, remember where Daddy hides Christmas presents.
My office.
Years ago, I used to hide gifts under a loose floorboard before the office had been renovated.
Laura knew.
She had used the same hiding place.
“Did Natalie see this?”
Owen nodded.
“She took it away, but I had already found the floor.”
Ellie leaned against me.
“Then she started yelling.”
I asked the question I was afraid to ask.
“What exactly did she say about Mommy?”
Ellie swallowed.
“She said Mommy should’ve minded her own business.”
I felt cold.
“And then?”
“She said Mommy was alive after the crash.”
The room seemed to tilt.
May you like
Ellie looked up at me.
“She said the accident didn’t kill her.”
