Chapter 4
I stared through the windshield.
Suddenly the afternoon replayed itself differently.
Marlene standing in the kitchen with her hand out.
“You don’t need the car today.”
Me thinking she meant my keys.
Me checking my purse and finding them gone.
Daniel sitting at the table, staring at his phone.
Marlene telling me, “You can walk.”
Daniel saying nothing.
I had assumed she had taken my set from the counter.
But my keys were in my purse now.
I reached inside.
There they were.
My hand began shaking.
Dad saw them.
And I finally understood.
“Daniel did.”
Dad looked toward the house.
For the first time that afternoon, real anger entered his face.
I opened my door.
“Elena.”
“I need to hear him say it.”
I stepped out carefully.
Dad came around the SUV, carrying Lucas.
Before we reached the porch, the front door opened.
Marlene stood there.
Her eyes moved from me to my father.
Then to the black SUV.
Her mouth tightened.
“Well,” she said. “You called your father.”
“I didn’t.”
Dad had found me by accident.
But Marlene did not care.
She folded her arms.
“Gabriel, this is a family matter.”
My father stopped at the bottom of the steps.
“Elena is my family.”
Marlene gave a thin smile.
“She is also living under my roof.”
The door behind her opened wider.
Daniel appeared.
He looked tired.
Not shocked.
Not confused.
Tired.
Like my father’s presence was merely another problem he had to manage.
His eyes dropped to my ankle.
“You should have taken it easier.”
Something inside me snapped.
“You gave her your keys.”
Daniel froze.
Marlene answered for him.
“He gave his mother access to a family vehicle.”
“My vehicle.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Elena, not now.”
“No. Now.”
I stepped closer despite the pain.
“Did you give her your spare key?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
He looked at his mother.
That was the answer before he even spoke.
“She said she needed it.”
“For what?”
“She wanted to make sure you stopped wasting gas.”
I stared at the man I had married.
“You knew she was sending me to the grocery store on foot.”
“You had the stroller.”
“My ankle is injured.”
“It’s a sprain.”
“You knew.”
He looked away.
That hurt more than if he had shouted.
Dad handed Lucas back to me.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“My daughter was carrying your son along a road with an injured ankle while the vehicle she pays for sat in this driveway.”