Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE GLASS
At the hospital, Charles stopped outside the surgical waiting room.
Anna’s name was on a small paper bracelet wrapped around a plastic bag of belongings.
He knew it was hers because a nurse carried the bag to Rosa.
A purse. A sweater. A pair of cheap sneakers with worn heels.
His daughter’s whole emergency fit inside a bag.
“Is she awake?” Lucy asked.
“Not yet, sweetheart,” the nurse said.
“Can you tell her I found him?”
“I will.”
Charles introduced himself at the desk.
The nurse checked Anna’s chart, then looked up carefully.
“I’ll let the care team know you’re here. Ms. Bennett listed Rosa Alvarez as her emergency contact.”
Not him.
Not anyone in the family.
He deserved that, perhaps. But he didn’t yet understand why.
Across the room, Lucy climbed onto a chair and pulled her knees beneath her dress.
Charles sat beside her.
“Does your dad know you’re here?”
“He died when I was four.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He fixed cars. He used to bring home the broken key chains people left behind.”
She reached into her pocket and showed him a little plastic astronaut with one missing arm.
“He said broken things still get to go places.”
Charles looked away.
For years, he had pictured Anna living recklessly, chasing the freedom she had demanded when she left.
Instead, she had married. Had a baby. Buried a husband.
And he had missed all of it.
Vivian arrived twenty minutes later with her son, Grant.
Grant wore a charcoal suit and the calm expression Charles usually appreciated in the company’s chief operating officer.
Tonight it looked rehearsed.
“Granddad. Let us handle the practical stuff.”
“What practical stuff?”
“The child. The media. You left your own birthday gala with a stranger.”
“She’s not a stranger,” Rosa said.
“We don’t know that yet.”
Lucy lowered her feet to the floor.
Charles stood.
“You will not discuss her like she isn’t sitting here.”
A surgeon entered before Grant could answer.
“Family of Anna Bennett?”
Rosa rose first.
Charles followed.
The operation had gone as expected, the surgeon explained. Anna would remain closely monitored. The next day mattered. They could see her briefly when the team was ready.
Lucy began crying silently.
Charles bent toward her.
“She made it through.”
“I know.”
“Then what is it?”
She wiped her face with both hands.
“I’ve been trying not to cry since yesterday.”
He put his arms around her only after she leaned into him.
Over her shoulder, he saw Vivian watching.
There was no relief on his older daughter’s face.
An hour later, Charles stood beside Anna’s bed.
She looked smaller than he remembered.
When her eyes finally opened, they moved slowly across his face.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
Her fingers tightened around the sheet.
“Where’s Lucy?”
“Safe. With Rosa.”
May you like
Anna stared at him, frightened and exhausted.
Then she whispered, “Don’t let Vivian take her.”
