Chapter 2 - The Backyard
Daniel moved between us so quickly that Margaret almost collided with his chest.
She reached for his phone.
“Give me that.”
He shoved her arm away.
Not hard enough to injure.
Hard enough to stop her.
“My pregnant wife’s been attacked,” he shouted into the phone. “She’s thirty two weeks. She’s bleeding. Send an ambulance now.”
The dispatcher asked for the address.
Daniel gave it.
Margaret screamed:
“She is lying!”
I curled onto my side.
The pain had changed.
Not one sharp impact anymore.
A deep tightening that did not release.
Daniel dropped beside me again.
“Emily, look at me.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
His voice shook.
“Look at me.”
I opened my eyes.
His white uniform knees were already stained green and brown from grass.
I had never seen him look afraid like that.
Not during deployment briefings.
Not when his father had emergency heart surgery.
Never.
He touched my face.
“Where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere.”
“Is Ethan moving?”
I waited.
Pressed hand against belly.
Nothing.
My chest tightened.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“He’s not moving.”
Margaret came closer again.
“She’s hysterical.”
Daniel turned.
“Stay back.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“You kicked her.”
“She came at me.”
Robert said:
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
Margaret spun.
“Excuse me?”
“I saw.”
“Robert.”
“You kicked her.”
His face looked gray.
Then:
“And you pushed her.”
Margaret stared at husband.
Something vicious entered her expression.
“You are taking her side?”
I almost laughed from pain.
Side.
As if this were argument about dinner.
Daniel stayed on phone.
Dispatcher asked whether attacker remained nearby.
He looked at his mother.
“Yes.”
“Is she armed?”
“No.”
“Can you separate?”
“Yes.”
Margaret tried again.
“Daniel, hang up.”
He rose.
“Back away.”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
“She fell because she was screaming at me.”
Robert said:
“That’s not what happened.”
Margaret turned on him.
“Shut up.”
Then she looked down at me.
Her face twisted.
“You useless little leech.”
Daniel’s body went rigid.
“She took my son away, she turned him against me, and now she is going to make this look like I attacked her.”
I whispered:
“You did.”
Margaret moved toward me.
Daniel blocked.
“Do not touch her.”
She kicked his forearm.
Hard.
He grunted.
Then caught her shoulders and drove her backward several feet.
Robert grabbed her.
“Margaret, stop!”
She clawed toward Daniel’s uniform.
“Let go!”
Daniel caught both wrists.
“Stop.”
“You’re hurting me.”
“You’re attacking my wife.”
“She deserved it!”
The words hung.
Robert’s face collapsed.
“Margaret.”
“What?”
“She is carrying your grandson.”
“She is using him.”
I heard sirens far away.
Daniel released Margaret into Robert’s hold.
Then dropped beside me.
I clutched his sleeve.
“Daniel.”
“I’m here.”
“He still isn’t moving.”
His eyes filled.
“Come on, Ethan.”
He pressed his hand against my belly.
“Come on, buddy.”
Nothing.
Margaret started crying.
Not for me.
For herself.
“You’re going to destroy this family.”
Daniel looked up.
“No.”
“You did.”
Then Margaret jerked away from Robert and came toward us again.
“Tell them you fell.”
Daniel stood.
“What?”
She pointed at me.
“You tell the police you tripped.”
I stared at her.
Blood staining my dress.
My baby silent inside me.
And she still believed she could command the story.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed.
A security notification.
BACK PATIO MOTION DETECTED.
He looked down.
For one second neither of us understood.
Then I remembered.
Daniel had installed his parents’ camera system two years earlier after packages went missing.
He had remained an administrator on the account because Robert never remembered passwords.
Daniel opened the clip.
The screen showed me stepping onto the porch.
Margaret behind me.
Her hands driving into my back.
My body falling down the steps.
Then Margaret coming down and striking me again while I tried to curl around my stomach.
Daniel’s face became completely still.
Margaret saw screen.
Her mouth opened.
“No.”
Daniel turned phone toward Robert.
Then toward approaching police lights.
“Look at it.”
Margaret lunged.
Daniel stepped away.
Officers came through side gate.
Margaret shouted:
“She fell!”
Daniel held up phone.
His voice dropped to something colder than rage.
“Look at the screen.”
Then he looked directly at his mother.
“You don’t get to rewrite this.”
The first officer took one glance at me and immediately called for medical priority.
The second looked at Daniel’s video.
Then at Margaret.
“Ma’am, step away from them.”
Margaret tried to speak.
The officer repeated:
May you like
“Now.”
For the first time all night, Margaret obeyed.
