Chapter 2 - The Hospital Room
The ER doctors told me Chloe was lucky. Another hour in that storm, and her organs would have started shutting down.
When Chloe finally woke up, her little hands were wrapped in thick, warm bandages. She looked around the bright hospital room, her eyes darting frantically until they found me.
"Mommy?" she croaked.
"I'm here, sweetie," I said, leaning over the rails of the bed, burying my face in her neck. "I'm right here. You are safe. You are never going back there."
"Grandma said I was homeless," Chloe whispered, tears spilling hot down her cheeks. "She said you made bad choices and I had to wait in the snow."
A cold, dark fury cemented itself in my chest. Up until this moment, a small, pathetic part of me had still wanted my parents' approval. I had spent thirty years trying to be the good daughter. But the woman who had begged for their love died the moment I saw my daughter’s blue lips.
"Grandma lied," I said, my voice fiercely steady. "We have a beautiful new house. It has a yellow door, just like you wanted. And a big backyard. And Grandma is never, ever allowed to visit."
Later that afternoon, my cell phone rang. It was Arthur.
"Sarah, you need to drop these ridiculous charges immediately," my father demanded. No asking about Chloe. No apologies. Just demands. "Your mother is in a holding cell with drug addicts! She's humiliated!"
"Good," I said.
May you like
"Sarah! We are your family! You are destroying our reputation over a temper tantrum!"
"Arthur," I said softly, stripping him of his title as my father. "By the time I am done with you, you won't have a reputation to protect. Do not contact me again, or I'll have you arrested for witness intimidation." I hung up and blocked his number.
