Chapter 2 - THE WRONG QUESTION
Daniel caught up with Lily at the staircase.
“Wait.”
She froze so suddenly that he almost walked into her.
He lowered himself onto the bottom step.
“Come here.”
Lily stayed where she was.
Up close, the mark on her cheek looked worse.
“Did Vanessa hit you?”
Her eyes flicked toward the kitchen.
“Lily.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Because I kicked her?”
“We’ll talk about that. First, I need to know—”
“I didn’t want her to fall.”
Her voice cracked.
Daniel held out his hands.
“I know.”
“You don’t.”
That landed harder than shouting would have.
Behind him, Vanessa entered, barefoot and furious, wrapped in a towel.
“She needs consequences.”
Daniel stood.
“She needs ice.”
“Don’t undermine me.”
“Don’t tell me what she needs while she’s standing here hurt.”
Vanessa’s expression shifted. Her anger softened into something practiced.
“Daniel, I was startled. She came at me.”
“With a cake?”
“She gets these ideas. She wants everything to be a performance.”
Lily stared at the carpet.
Daniel looked from the child to his wife.
“Did you slap her?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“I put my hand out. She moved.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. I barely touched her.”
Mrs. Brooks appeared in the kitchen doorway carrying a folded dish towel filled with ice.
The housekeeper’s face was pale.
“Lily, honey. Let’s sit down.”
Vanessa rounded on her.
“We don’t need an audience.”
Mrs. Brooks didn’t move.
Daniel took the towel and knelt again.
“May I?”
Lily nodded.
He touched the ice gently to her cheek.
She winced.
His stomach tightened.
“Has this happened before?”
Vanessa laughed sharply.
“Be very careful what you’re suggesting.”
Daniel kept his eyes on Lily.
The little girl’s breathing grew fast.
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t have to answer right now.”
“I don’t remember,” she repeated.
Mrs. Brooks looked away.
Daniel noticed.
Vanessa noticed him noticing.
“Everyone is tired,” she said. “Let’s stop making this worse.”
Daniel lifted Lily into his arms.
For a second, she went stiff.
Then she clung to his shirt so hard he felt her nails through the fabric.
He carried her upstairs.
At her bedroom door, she pressed her mouth against his ear.
“Don’t let her know I told.”
He stopped walking.
“Told what?”
May you like
Lily buried her face in his shoulder.
And downstairs, something shattered.
