My Husband, My Sister: A Secret Betrayal novel · Chapter 6 of 32

Chapter 6: The Welfare Check

The caseworker came to Winnie's door on Tuesday at four, while Teddy was eating peanut butter crackers at the kitchen table.

She was a tired woman in a gray blazer with a lanyard and a clipboard, and she smiled at me kindly.

"Mrs. Pierce? I'm with Children's Services. May I come in?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm the one who called you back."

Winnie took her coat, and the caseworker sat at the table across from me.

She looked at Teddy, who had cracker crumbs on his chin and his green backpack on his lap.

She looked at Bea, asleep in a high chair with her thumb in her mouth.

"Hello there," she said to Teddy. "What are you eating?"

"Crackers. Are you a police?"

"No. I just make sure everybody's okay."

"We're okay," Teddy said. "I read to Bea every night."

I put my hand under the table so nobody would see it shake.

She opened her clipboard.

"I'll be straight with you. We got a phone report on Sunday night. The caller didn't give her name, but she said she was family."

"Her."

"A woman." The caseworker watched my face. "She said you've been confused and forgetting things. She said you left a children's party in a state, drove with both kids in the car, and that you may be unwell."

Winnie, at the sink, set a cup down very gently.

"I walked out on my husband," I said. "I had my kids in car seats, and I drove two hundred yards to a neighbor's house."

"I've seen the neighbor's house." The caseworker's mouth twitched. "And the kids. Honestly, Mrs. Pierce, they look fine. This is a welfare check, not an accusation."

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