Chapter 2 - The urgent-care room
The first consequence belonged to Gigi.
Not Arthur.
Not Victoria.
Not me.
My daughter.
I drove straight to pediatric urgent care.
Gigi cried for most of the first ten minutes.
Then she became quiet.
That scared me more.
“Baby?”
She looked at me through the mirror.
“Mama.”
“I’m here.”
“Uncle hit.”
My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Yes.”
“Hurt.”
“I know.”
I wanted to promise no one would ever hurt her again.
That promise is emotionally satisfying and practically impossible.
I managed:
“You’re safe with me now.”
At the clinic, the nurse asked what happened.
“My brother slapped her.”
The nurse stopped typing for half a second.
“Adult brother?”
“Yes.”
“How old is your daughter?”
“Two.”
She looked at Gigi.
Then back at me.
“Today?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
The physician found redness and mild swelling across the cheek.
No eye injury.
No dental injury.
No ear injury.
No neurological concern.
No imaging needed.
Cold compress.
Children’s acetaminophen if necessary.
Monitor.
Then:
“We’re required to make a report because an adult intentionally struck a young child.”
“I understand.”
I did.
Mostly.
Some part of me wanted police at my parents’ house immediately.
Another part remembered:
I had kicked my mother.
This was not going to become a simple story where every institution pointed in one direction.
My phone had been vibrating continuously.
Arthur.
Victoria.
Charles.
Unknown relatives.
Then a text from Victoria:
We need to discuss what YOU did before police get involved.
Another:
Your father is furious.
Arthur:
You attacked Mom. There are twenty witnesses.
Then:
Think carefully about threatening the entire family in front of everyone.
My line.
You’re all going to pay.
It looked different on a phone.
Not:
I’m going to report this.
Not:
I’m done protecting you.
It could sound like revenge.
Violence.
Something worse.
I did not respond.
Then Natalie called.
My cousin.
Thirty.
At the party.
“Clara.”
“Did you see it?”
“Yes.”
“Everything?”
“I saw Arthur slap her.”
“Did Gigi touch him?”
“No.”
“Was anything falling?”
“No.”
“Did he look like he was stopping danger?”
“No.”
My eyes closed.
“Will you say that to police?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Then Natalie said:
“Your dad is already telling people Arthur thought the cake stand was going to fall.”
I stared at the clinic wall.
“What?”
“He says Arthur reacted because Gigi was pulling a ribbon attached to the display.”
“She wasn’t.”
“I know.”
“The ribbon wasn’t attached to the cake stand.”
“I know.”
May you like
There.
The family correction process had started before Gigi’s cheek stopped being red.
