Chapter 6 - MY MOTHER WOULD NOT HUG HER
They took my mother to the hospital.
Rosa rode with me and Officer Bennett.
Evelyn followed in another car.
I asked Rosa whether she would lose her job for leaving the gala.
“Mr. Mercer told me to stay with you.”
“Will you?”
“As long as you need.”
My mother was sitting on an examination bed when we arrived.
There was a bruise around her wrist.
A small bandage covered a cut near her eyebrow.
She opened her arms.
I ran.
For a long time, neither of us said anything.
I pressed my face into her neck and breathed in laundry soap, rain, and the sharp hospital smell.
Then she held me away from her.
“Tell me where you’re hurt.”
“My hip.”
“What happened?”
I looked toward the door.
Evelyn stood there.
My mother saw her.
Everything in her face closed.
“Sarah,” Evelyn whispered.
Mom pulled me closer.
“Don’t.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“No,” Mom said.
“You thought I was disposable.”
Evelyn flinched.
Officer Bennett asked whether Mom felt ready to explain what had happened.
Mom nodded.
“Hugh met me by the service entrance. I told him I wanted five minutes with my mother.”
“What happened next?”
“He said she had agreed. He took me downstairs.”
She rubbed her wrist.
“A man named Ross was waiting. They took my phone and bag.”
“Did you agree to leave the hotel?”
“No.”
“How were you moved?”
“Through the loading area. Hugh said if I made a scene, he would tell police I was unstable and had abandoned my child.”
I felt Mom’s hand tighten against my back.
“I should have screamed anyway.”
“You were trying to survive,” Bennett said.
Mom swallowed.
“At the guesthouse, they wanted me to sign a statement saying I’d stolen family property and tried to blackmail Evelyn.”
“The necklace?” Bennett asked.
“Yes.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“I gave you that necklace.”
Mom looked at her.
“I know.”
“Why would Hugh say—”
“Because he’s been calling me a thief for twenty years.”
Evelyn’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
My mother reached into the pocket of her borrowed hospital gown.
She pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
“They took my envelope.”
May you like
She smoothed the paper across her knee.
“But I made a copy.”
