I got up so fast that the chair scraped the floor.
The doctor raised a hand gently.
“Let her finish.”
Lily was crying even louder now.
“I let go. He got angry. He pushed me.”
I couldn't talk.
“I hit the edge of the comfortable one,” he said. “Right here.”
He touched his side.
The same place the doctor had pressed.
“Did it help you?”
Lily nodded.
“At first he seemed scared. Very scared.”
He swallowed saliva.
“I kept saying, ‘My God, Lily, I’m sorry. I'm sorry.'"
I closed my eyes.
For six years, Marcus had had dinner at our table.
I had taken Lily to school.
I had hugged her on her birthday.
She had told me over and over again that I loved her like she was her own daughter.
And now my daughter was lying on a bed of hospital Because of her fault.
“Why didn’t he take you to the hospital?” I asked.
Lily seemed embarrassed.
“He said he was okay.”
I opened my eyes suddenly.
“What?”
“He gave me painkillers and ice. He said if we came to the hospital, people would do it wrong
It would play.”
I felt something inside me breaking.
“Did he say that?”
Lily nodded.
Then he whispered the part that hurt the most.
“He told me that if the police got involved, he could lose his job. He said maybe you'd leave him. He said our family would be destroyed because I couldn’t let a stupid accident pass.”
I stared at my daughter.
Fifteen years.
In pain.
And still concerned about protecting the man who had put her in that situation.
The doctor got up.
“I am obliged to report this.”
Lily panicked.
“No!”
He was incorporated too quickly and immediately grimaced in pain.
“Lily, go back to bed,” I said.
“Mom, please. Please don’t let him be arrested.”
I took his face in my hands.
“Listen to me.”
He looked at me in tears.
“You’re not responsible for what happens to Marcus.”
“But he said—”
“I don’t care what he said.”
My voice was shaking.
“You are my daughter. He hurt you and then convinced you that protecting him was more important than protecting yourself.”
Lily's lip trembled.
