Chapter 4 - The Family Meeting
Rachel never knocked politely.
She hammered the door like she owned it.
“Daniel!”
I didn’t answer.
“Open the damn door!”
Noah began crying again.
Megan stood quickly.
“I’m taking him upstairs.”
“Go.”
Rachel shouted through the door.
“Mom is crying in my car!”
I opened it but kept my body in the doorway.
Rachel was thirty-one, dressed in hospital scrubs, her blond hair pulled into a tight ponytail.
She worked as a physical therapist.
People trusted her.
I had always trusted her.
“What happened?” she demanded.
“You tell me.”
“Mom says Megan made some insane accusation.”
“Did you put your hands on my wife?”
Her mouth fell open.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“She’s turning you against us.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Rachel pushed forward.
I didn’t move.
“Did you grab Megan hard enough to bruise her?”
Rachel lowered her voice.
“She gets hysterical.”
My heart sank.
There it was.
Not denial.
An excuse.
“When?”
“Daniel—”
“When did you grab her?”
Rachel glanced toward the driveway.
Mom sat in her car.
Watching us.
“When she tried keeping Noah from Mom.”
“What?”
“It was months ago. Mom wanted to hold him. Megan freaked out.”
“So you grabbed her.”
“She was screaming.”
“I wasn’t home.”
“No.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because it wasn’t important.”
Behind me, I heard a sound.
Megan.
She had come downstairs.
“Not important?”
Rachel’s face changed.
“You.”
Megan held Noah against her chest.
Her voice was quiet.
“You told me if I told Daniel, you would call Child Protective Services and say I was unstable.”
Rachel looked at me.
“She was having postpartum issues.”
“I had postpartum anxiety,” Megan said. “I was seeing a therapist. I was never dangerous.”
Rachel scoffed.
“You barely slept.”
“Because Noah was eight weeks old.”
“You cried constantly.”
“Because your mother came here every day and told me Daniel would eventually leave me.”
I stared at Rachel.
“You knew?”
Rachel’s confidence slipped.
“Mom was worried about you.”
“So you threatened my wife?”
“No one threatened anyone.”
Megan walked to the drawer.
She pulled out the prepaid phone.
“I recorded you too.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
Megan selected another file.
A voice filled the room.
Rachel’s.
“If you keep acting unstable, Megan, people are going to start asking whether Noah is safe with you.”
Then Mom.
“Exactly.”
Then Megan.
“Are you threatening to take my son?”
Rachel’s recorded response came quickly.
“We’re saying Daniel has options.”
I stared at my sister.
She whispered, “That sounds worse than it was.”
“What exactly would sound better?”
Mom suddenly climbed out of Rachel’s car.
She marched toward us.
I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
“You stay away from my wife.”
Mom stopped.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No. I made the mistake six months ago.”
“You don’t understand what she’s hiding.”
I almost walked away.
Then Mom said something that stopped me.
“Ask Megan where she was the night Noah fell down the stairs.”
I turned around.
“What?”
Mom smiled.
“You didn’t know?”
My pulse jumped.
“Noah never fell down the stairs.”
“Are you sure?”
I opened the door.
May you like
Megan stood behind it.
And the look on her face told me there was another secret.
