Chapter 5 - I Heard Marissa Say She Tried to Warn Us
I didn't wake up so much as surface.
The rug was rough against my cheek and the chandelier light hurt even through my closed eyes. My gown was damp and stuck to my back. I could hear Noah crying, but it sounded far away, like he was tucked against something thick. Against Daniel. I tried to lift my hand and couldn't. My wrist felt heavy where the hospital band pinched the skin.
Someone was talking over me. Boots shifted on the wood floor. The diaper cart squeaked when somebody bumped it.
I couldn't open my eyes, but I could hear.
"You need to step back over here," a man said. Not Daniel. Flatter. A deputy. "Sir, I said step back."
"I'm not going anywhere," Victor said. "He hit me. You saw my face."
I heard Daniel then, closer, his voice low and right above me. "Stay down, baby. I'm right here. Clara, can you hear me?"
I wanted to answer him. My breath caught. I couldn't make sound.
A chair scraped. I smelled food, gravy and warm bread, and perfume. Evelyn's perfume. She'd been eating. That part I remembered in pieces, the plates set under the light, her fork moving while I asked to sit down.
"Marissa," the deputy said. "You came through those doors. Tell me why."
There was a long quiet. I heard Marissa breathing fast, the way she breathed when she carried laundry up too fast.
"I didn't mean to cause a scene," she said. "I heard Mrs. Hale crying in the nursery monitor. In the kitchen. The light was on. I could hear her breathing change."
I tried to hold onto her voice. Mrs. Hale. That was me now. I still wasn't used to it.
"What did you do?" the deputy asked.
"I left the dishes. I ran," Marissa said. "I knew she wasn't supposed to be up alone. She'd just come home. With the wristband. She was bleeding through and she wouldn't say anything because Mrs. Evelyn told her dinner had to be finished first."
"No one told her anything," Evelyn cut in. Her voice was calm, the same voice she used at the table. "She's a grown woman. She insisted on serving."
Daniel made a sound. "Mom. Stop."
I felt his hand leave my shoulder for a second and then come back. He kept his palm on me like he was afraid I'd slip away if he let go.
The deputy ignored Evelyn. "Keep going, Marissa. Why the back doors?"
"Because it's faster from the kitchen," Marissa said. "Through the pantry, through the double doors. I pushed them open. I was going to call out to Mr. Hale. To tell him she was on the floor and the baby was crying and nobody was helping. I was scared."
"She burst in screaming," Victor said. "She scared everyone."
"I didn't scream," Marissa said, quiet but sharp. "I said his name. I said Daniel."
I remembered that, or thought I did. The doors banging. Her apron white against her black dress. The rush of cold air from the hallway.
"And then what?" the deputy asked.
"Then he grabbed me," Marissa said.
Silence. My heart was beating so loud I thought they'd hear it over Noah.
"Who grabbed you?" the deputy asked, though we all knew.
"Victor," she said. "From behind. Around my arm. He told me to shut up and go back to the kitchen."
"It wasn't like that," Victor said quickly. "I was trying to keep her from running into the middle of a family moment. She was hysterical. I put my hand on her shoulder to steady her."
"You left a mark," Daniel said. His voice had changed. Flat. "I saw it when you had her."
"I was stopping her from making it worse," Victor said. "Your mother was upset. The baby was crying. The last thing Clara needed was staff yelling."
I felt Daniel shift beside me. Noah gave a small whimper and Daniel started rocking, just a little, the way the nurse had shown him in the hospital. Back and forth.
"She wasn't yelling," Daniel said. "She was warning me. And you put your hands on her to stop her."
"I work for this family," Victor said. "I protect this family."
"By grabbing her?" Daniel said. "That's not protection."
Another pause. I heard paper, a notebook flipping. The other deputy moved near the shelves, where the teddy bears sat over the diaper boxes. Something crinkled, a spilled diaper being stepped on.
"Mr. Cole," the first deputy said to Victor. I learned his last name that way. Cole. "Did you put your hands on Ms. Marissa to keep her from speaking to Mr. Hale?"
Victor breathed out hard through his nose. "I took her arm. I told her this wasn't her business. That's all."
"That's enough for me to write down," the deputy said. "You don't grab staff."
Evelyn's chair moved again. "This is ridiculous. Victor was helping me. That girl has always exaggerated."
"Mom," Daniel said, "don't."
"Don't what?" she said, louder now. "You're holding that baby like I did something. Marissa runs in, Victor tries to calm her, you swing at him, and now I'm the villain because I finished my dinner?"
Noah started crying harder. Daniel stood slowly. I felt the air move as he lifted him higher against his chest.
"I saw you," Daniel said. His voice was shaking. "When I came in, Clara was on the rug next to the crib. You were eating. You didn't get up. You didn't call out. Marissa tried to tell me and Victor grabbed her. You tell me what that looks like."
No one answered. The chandelier buzzed faintly.
The deputy spoke softer. "Marissa, do you know what happened before Mrs. Hale fell? What Mrs. Evelyn did?"
My chest tightened. I wanted to open my eyes. I wanted to see her face.
Marissa hesitated. I heard her apron rustle as she twisted it.
"I know part," she whispered. "I heard what was said in the dining room. I brought the towels up. I saw—"
"Don't," Evelyn said.
Marissa stopped. I could feel her fear from across the room.
Daniel stepped toward her. His shoes crossed the rug. "Marissa," he said, gentle in a way I hadn't heard that night. "Look at me. Not them. Did you come to warn me about my wife?"
A beat. Then, so quiet I almost missed it: "Yes."
"And did he stop you?" Daniel asked.
"Yes," she said again, crying now.
"Okay," Daniel said. "Then stay here. Don't go back to the kitchen. You're going to tell what you saw. All of it. When she's awake enough to hear it too."
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I tried to move my fingers. I thought I felt Daniel's sleeve brush my cheek as he knelt again.
I wasn't ready to hear it yet. But I was still there, listening on the floor while Noah cried against his dad, and for the first time that night I believed someone besides Marissa would stay between me and them.
