Then at the doctor.
I typed three words.
It’s about your mother.
Part 3: The Question Nobody Wanted to Answer
Daniel arrived twenty minutes later.
He came through the examination-room door looking terrified.
“Where’s Emma?”
“She’s right here.”
He rushed toward her.
Emma immediately reached for him.
Daddy hugged her tightly.
“What happened?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, I placed the evidence bag on the table.
Daniel looked at the bottle.
His expression changed.
“That’s Mom’s medication.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“Why do you have it?”
I took a breath.
“Because Emma told me Grandma has been giving it to her every night.”
Daniel stared at me.
“What?”
“She said they were vitamins.”
His face went pale.
“That can’t be true.”
“I wish it wasn’t.”
He looked toward Emma.
“Mom wouldn’t do that.”
Dr. Stevens interrupted gently.
“Daniel, I understand this is difficult, but your daughter has described receiving the medication, and she has symptoms that concern me.”
Daniel sat down.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he covered his face with both hands.
“My mother has never…”
He stopped.
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
I wanted to be angry with him.
Part of me wanted him to immediately understand everything I was feeling.
But when I looked at his face, I saw something else.
Shock.
His entire understanding of his mother was collapsing at the same time mine was.
His phone rang.
The screen displayed:
Mom
Daniel stared at it.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, he answered.
“Mom?”
Diane’s voice came through the speaker.
“Where are you?”
Daniel looked at me.
“We’re with Emma.”
There was a pause.
“Why?”
Daniel’s voice became harder.
“Did you give Emma any of your medication?”
Silence.
A long silence.
Then Diane said:
“Daniel, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
My heart began pounding.
I leaned closer.
Daniel put the call on speaker.
“Emma told us you gave her pills every night.”
Diane laughed nervously.
“She doesn’t understand what she’s saying.”
I looked at Dr. Stevens.
He didn’t react.
Daniel continued.
“The bottle is here.”
Another silence.
Then Diane said something that none of us expected.
“I was trying to help.”
The room became completely still.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Help her with what?”
Diane didn’t answer.
“Mom?”
Finally, she said:
“She was becoming impossible.”
I felt my stomach turn.
“She was four,” I said.
Diane didn’t respond.
Daniel looked at me.
