“No,” I said.
“You didn’t.”
Then I looked at Vanessa.
“She did.”
PART 3 — THE FALLS
The judge called a short recess.
Daniel and Vanessa did not speak to each other.
Hale pulled them into the corridor.
I remained seated.
I did not need to hear their argument.
I had been waiting eleven months for them to start having it.
When court resumed, Judge Mercer asked me about my injuries.
I told him everything.
Not dramatically.
Not angrily.
Facts are strongest when you do not decorate them.
The first incident occurred six weeks after Richard died.
Daniel had been standing in the hallway holding a document.
“Just sign it, Mom.”
“I already told you no.”
“It’s so I can help you.”
“I don’t need help.”
“You’re seventy-one.”
“So?”
His jaw tightened.
Vanessa stood behind him.
She said nothing.
I moved around Daniel.
He caught my arm.
I pulled away.
He shoved me.
My shoulder struck the wall.
The next morning he arrived with flowers.
Vanessa photographed the bruise.
The court had received that photograph as evidence of a fall.
The second incident came after I refused to give them the combination to Richard’s safe.
Vanessa gripped my wrist so tightly her fingernails left half-moon marks.
