Chapter 2 - THE APPOINTMENT ROBERT HID
A pediatric social worker arrived before Elena could call Robert.
Her name was Simone Brooks. She spoke to Maya calmly, explained that some questions would be asked without Elena in the room, and made it clear that Maya could request her mother at any time.
Elena wanted to refuse.
Then she saw how Maya watched her face, measuring whether honesty would destroy the family.
Elena stepped into the hallway.
She called Robert.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“Where are you?”
“At Riverside.”
Silence.
Not surprise.
Elena pressed the phone harder against her ear. “Maya is pregnant.”
Robert exhaled slowly.
“You had no right to take her there without telling me.”
The hallway tilted beneath Elena’s feet.
“You knew.”
“I knew there was a possibility.”
“She’s seventeen weeks.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“You’re not even here.”
“I’m leaving work.”
His answer sounded controlled enough to be reasonable, which was how Robert had won most arguments during their sixteen-year marriage. He rarely shouted. He reduced every crisis to cost, timing, and Elena’s supposed tendency to panic.
“Who is the father?” she asked.
“We’ll discuss it privately.”
“Tell me now.”
“Elena, do not say anything to the hospital until I arrive.”
She ended the call.
When Simone brought Elena back inside, Maya’s eyes were swollen. Dr. Lawson had ordered bloodwork and additional imaging because the scan suggested dehydration and a possible infection, but Maya and the pregnancy were medically stable for the moment.
Simone sat near the door.
“Maya has agreed that I may share part of what she told me,” she said. “She says her father took her to another facility five weeks ago.”
Elena looked at Maya. “Where?”
“A pregnancy resource center near Gahanna.”
Robert had told Elena he was taking Maya to a Saturday tutoring session.
At the center, he claimed Elena was ill and signed her name on the guardian form. Staff performed a urine test but no diagnostic ultrasound. Robert told them Maya had a boyfriend her own age and that the family would handle the situation privately.
None of that was true.
“He made me promise not to tell you,” Maya whispered.
“Why?”
“He said you’d leave him. Then we’d lose the house, and it would be my fault.”
Elena moved closer but stopped before touching her.
“Who did this?”
Maya’s breathing became shallow.
Simone reminded her that she did not have to answer in front of Elena.
Maya shook her head.
“I want Mom to know.”
She stared at the hospital blanket.
“Caleb.”
Elena needed several seconds to place the name because her mind resisted it.
Caleb Thorne was Robert’s twenty-year-old nephew. He had lived in their basement for one semester while attending community college and working for his father’s heating company. He drove Maya home from soccer practice when Elena worked late. He ate at their kitchen table. He called Elena Aunt Ellie.
“He said he loved me,” Maya continued. “Then he got angry when I told him I didn’t want him touching me.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“Did he force you?”
Maya began to cry again.
Elena moved then, carefully wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“You don’t have to explain it to me right now.”
“He said nobody would believe me because I answered his messages before.”
Simone’s face remained controlled, but her pen stopped moving.
Maya said the assault happened in December after Caleb picked her up from an indoor soccer practice. He drove her home, but instead of leaving, he followed her inside. Robert was at work. Elena was helping her sister after surgery.
Maya told Robert two months later when she missed her period.
Robert made her show him the messages.
Then he deleted them from her phone.
“He said Caleb made a terrible mistake,” Maya whispered. “He said Uncle Grant would fire him if we accused Caleb.”
Robert worked for Grant Thorne’s HVAC company. Grant had also loaned Robert money when the Thornes nearly lost their house during the pandemic.
Elena had known about the job.
She had not known about the loan.
Dr. Lawson entered with Maya’s bloodwork, but stopped when he saw Elena’s face.
A knock sounded behind him.
Robert stood on the other side of the glass panel.
He reached for the door.
Simone locked it before he could enter.
May you like
Maya pulled the blanket up to her chin.
“Mom,” she whispered, staring at her father, “don’t let him take me home.”
