Reborn: I Let My Mother Suffer the Price of Her Favoritism novel · Chapter 3 of 32

Chapter 3: What the Hallway Saw

In the hospital hall Callie plays her video and her mother's story falls apart in front of Dale and Everett's mother. Maureen says she will be in the front pew tomorrow.

At four in the morning the emergency room hallway smelled of floor cleaner and burnt coffee.

Mom was behind a curtain with a surgeon.

Sloane was behind a locked door at the far end, with a nurse and a security guard.

I sat on a plastic chair with my phone in my hand, and the officer from the bedroom stood in front of me with his notebook open.

"Ms. Haldane," he said. "Your mother says you planned this."

"I did plan something," I said.

Dale made a noise from the next chair.

He had put on jeans and had not stopped glaring at me since the ambulance.

"Here it comes," he said. "Say it. Say you wanted her stabbed."

"I wanted to be believed," I said. "Officer, may I show you something?"

I handed him the phone and pressed play.

The video was shaky and dark, shot through the gap in the door.

Sloane crossed the frame in her red dress with the knife along her leg.

"You always get everything," her whisper said.

The officer's face did not change when the blade came down.

My mother's cry came out of the little speaker, and then her voice.

"Callie, don't call anyone. Think of Sloane."

The officer replayed that part twice.

A woman's heels came up the hall, fast and light.

Everett's mother had her coat on over her pajamas.

Behind her was Everett, in a running jacket zipped crooked, with his hair standing up.

I had called him from the ambulance bay, and he had said only, "I'm coming."

He took one look at my cheek and stopped.

It was red from the jaw to the eye, and the skin was starting to blister.

"That isn't from tonight," he said.

"It's from four o'clock yesterday."

"What happened at four o'clock yesterday?"

I looked at my brother.

"Sloane threw hot tea in my face in the front hall," I said. "My mother and Dale stood there. They told me not to tell you."

Everett's mother put her hand over her mouth.

Dale stood up.

"She's exaggerating. Sloane has an illness. Everyone in this family knows how to handle it."

"Then why did you run for the deadbolt tonight?" I asked.

Dale's mouth opened.

"I didn't," he said.

"You did. The dispatcher heard you. The call was on speaker."

The officer looked up from the phone.

"Mr. Haldane, dispatch recorded that call. I have you on it telling your sister to hang up on emergency services."

Dale sat back down.

"I was in shock."

"Ms. Haldane," the officer said, "I have to ask. Why did you move your mother into that room?"

Everett's mother was staring at me too.

So was Everett.

I told them the plain version.

"Because Sloane has gone after me for eight years. I've been burned, shoved down the back stairs and put into a wall. Every time, my family called it an accident and fixed it at home."

I looked at the officer.

"You can pull my chart from this hospital. I've been in this building eleven times. Each visit says fall or kitchen burn. I signed every one of them."

The officer wrote something down and underlined it.

"And my mother told me, tonight, even while she was bleeding, not to call you."

A nurse came out through the curtain.

"Mrs. Haldane is stable," she said. "The blade missed the artery. She'll need surgery on the muscle, but she's going to be all right."

Dale breathed out.

I felt nothing at all, which surprised me.

I had thought I'd feel glad, or guilty.

Everett sat down on the plastic chair next to mine and said nothing.

He took my hand and held it between both of his.

"Callie," he said. His voice was low. "I've eaten at that table three times."

"I know."

"I told your mother her pot roast was the best I'd ever had."

"I know, Ev."

"Did she watch you hide the marks?"

"Yes."

He closed his eyes.

His mother sat down on his other side, and for a while none of us talked.

The officer finished his notes and put the notebook away.

"Ms. Haldane, your sister is on an emergency evaluation hold. It lasts up to seventy-two hours. Someone with legal authority can sign her out sooner, if the doctor on duty agrees."

"Who has that authority?" I asked.

"The mother."

I looked at Dale.

He didn't meet my eyes.

At five o'clock they let us see Mom for one minute.

She lay propped against white pillows with her shoulder in heavy bandages and a drip in the back of her hand.

She looked small, and she looked pleased with herself.

She looked at Everett first.

"There you are, dear. I'm so glad you came."

"Mrs. Haldane," Everett said.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine by four o'clock."

I stood at the end of the bed.

"The wedding's tomorrow, Mom," I said. "Today. You can't be there."

"Oh, I'll be there," Mom said. "In the front pew, in my good blue dress, with my arm in a sling."

She smiled at me, softly.

"I want everyone to see exactly what you've done to your mother."

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