Chapter 4 - WHAT SHE DID WHILE JAMES WAS GONE
I couldn’t breathe.
“Eight months pregnant?”
James went still.
He had been overseas then.
Mom sat down.
Her hands trembled.
“It wasn’t serious.”
I laughed.
“That sentence apparently means something very different in this family.”
“Rachel…”
“Tell me.”
She looked at James.
Then at me.
“Lauren came to your apartment.”
I remembered.
It had been late.
She had shown up angry because I refused to loan her five thousand dollars.
We argued.
She left.
That was what I remembered.
Mom continued.
“She called me afterward.”
“Why?”
“She said there had been… an accident.”
My heart began racing.
“What accident?”
“She shoved you.”
The room disappeared around me.
James spoke first.
“She did what?”
Mom rushed ahead.
“She said you grabbed her arm first.”
“I was pregnant.”
“I know.”
“I was eight months pregnant!”
James’ voice dropped dangerously low.
“And Rachel went to the hospital two days later.”
I looked at him.
I had.
I’d had cramping.
Doctors monitored me for hours.
I never connected it to the argument.
Mom began crying.
“Lauren panicked.”
“You knew?”
“I didn’t know how bad it was.”
“But you knew she pushed me.”
“Yes.”
My father sat down heavily.
“You knew your pregnant daughter had been assaulted?”
“She was protecting both of them!”
Linda shouted.
“No, Susan. You were protecting Lauren.”
I stared at my mother.
“You said my stress was probably from James being deployed.”
She covered her face.
“I was afraid you’d press charges.”
“Yes!”
The word tore out of me.
“I WOULD HAVE!”
James turned away.
He put both hands on the back of a chair.
His shoulders rose and fell.
I knew him well enough to understand what he was doing.
Controlling himself.
Mom whispered, “I couldn’t lose my daughter.”
I stared at her.
“You chose one.”
Her hands dropped.
“What?”
“You were afraid of losing your daughter.”
I pointed to myself.
“So you sacrificed the other one.”
She started crying harder.
My father said nothing.
James came to me.
“We’re leaving.”
This time I nodded.
As we reached the front door, Dad called my name.
I stopped.
He looked twenty years older.
“I didn’t know.”
I believed him.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A woman spoke quickly.
“Is this Rachel Walker?”
“Yes.”
“This is Officer Daniels with the Cedar County Police Department.”
My heart stopped.
“We have your sister Lauren Miller here.”
I looked at James.
May you like
The officer continued.
“And she’s making an allegation against your husband.”
