My Son's Girlfriend Destroyed My Family novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Two Ns

Bernice photographs Glenda's injuries and a police officer admits Shelby's cousin is on his shift; Glenda keeps her video for the hospital administrator, and on the phone Alan asks whether the girl ever said her mother's name.

Bernice came through the pediatric ward doors at eight that night with a casserole dish in both hands.

She stopped when she saw my face.

"Who did that?" she said.

"A nurse."

"I'll kill her."

"Sit down, Bernice. You'll wake Teddy."

She set the casserole on the windowsill and sat on the edge of my chair with her reading glasses swinging on their chain.

My sister was a county court clerk for thirty years before she retired, and she had watched a lot of people lie.

She took my chin in her fingers and turned my face to the light.

"You have seven stitches in that brow, and your ear is split."

"I know."

"Did you take pictures?"

"I took a video," I said.

Her eyes sharpened.

"All of it?"

"From after the third hit. It has her face, the whole room, and her grabbing for my phone."

Bernice let out a long, slow whistle.

"Don't show it to a soul until I say," she said. "Not to Luke, not to the police, not to Alan. You show it once, to the right people, at the right time."

"That's what I thought."

"Of course it is. You're my sister."

She got out her own phone and photographed my face from three sides, then my shoulder, then the bruise rising on my arm.

Teddy slept through every click.

At nine a police officer in a tan uniform appeared at the door of the ward and asked for Mrs. Fennimore.

He was a heavyset man with a notepad, and he looked tired and polite.

"I understand there was an altercation in the ER," he said. "Nurse Keane's side is that you forced your way into a restricted area."

"Her side," I said.

"Ma'am, tempers run high in a waiting room. She works twelve-hour shifts, and she says you grabbed her."

"I'm the one with seven stitches."

He wrote something down.

"Her cousin is on my shift," he said. "I'm only telling you so you know I'm being straight with you. She's well liked here."

"I'd like to file a complaint," I said. "For assault."

"You're sure? A report follows you. So does hers."

"Write it down," Bernice said from her chair. "Spell the name right. Two Ns."

The officer wrote.

When he asked whether I had any evidence, I said, "I have the rest of the room."

"Pardon?"

"Forty people watched. Two of them had their phones out."

He looked up then, and for the first time he looked uneasy.

"Do you have video yourself?"

"I do," I said. "I'll give it to the hospital administrator, in person, on Monday."

"You could just send it to me."

"No," said Bernice, pleasantly. "Glenda couldn't."

He closed the notepad and left a card on the rolling table.

Bernice waited until his footsteps were gone.

"He's going to tell Shelby's cousin before he's at the elevator," she said.

"Good."

"Good?"

"Then she'll know I'm not hiding."

My phone rang at ten.

The screen said Alan.

I took it out into the hallway and stood by the vending machine, where the light was bad and the hum was loud.

"Glenda, I've got fourteen missed calls," my husband said. His voice was thick with sleep and diesel. "What's wrong? Is it the house?"

"It's Teddy."

I told him all of it.

I told him about the cabinet, and the forty minutes.

I told him a nurse had hit me with a clipboard in front of a full waiting room, and that Luke had gone to her first.

When I finished there was a long silence on the line.

I could hear a truck stop behind him, the idle of other rigs and a door banging.

"Alan?"

"What was her name?"

"The nurse? Shelby Keane. She's Luke's girlfriend."

He did not say anything.

"Alan, what happened at the Macon depot?"

I hadn't meant to ask it yet.

It came out of me the way a cough does.

The silence changed.

"Where did you hear that name?" he said.

"Somebody texted me."

"Delete it."

"Who is she?"

"Nobody." His voice was low and very careful. "A woman from a depot, a long time ago. It's nothing, Glenda. Listen to me. Don't go after that girl. Let Luke handle it."

"She nearly let your son die, and you want me to leave it alone?"

"I'm saying let it settle. I'll be home Monday."

"Alan."

"Glenda." He took a breath. "Did the girl ever say her mother's name?"

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend