Chapter 2: What the Doctor Wouldn't Say in Front of Nathan
I drove to the hospital with Nathan's card still on the passenger seat.
Sophie and Ben were in the same room, both connected to monitors.
Ben's face was pale.
Sophie hadn't woken up yet.
Emily stood in the corner, arms crossed, not looking at me.
"Emily," I said quietly.
"I need to know — did you eat any?"
She shook her head.
"I don't like dark chocolate."
Something in her voice was flat.
Not grieving.
Flat.
A nurse stepped out and told us the t0xicology results would take another hour.
The substance wasn't something found in a normal kitchen.
That stopped me cold.
Nathan arrived twenty minutes later.
He didn't rush to the children first.
He looked at me.
Just…
looked at me.
And for one second, before his face changed into something that resembled grief, I saw something else entirely.
Relief.
Then his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen and stepped into the hallway.
I followed quietly.
Through the small window in the door, I watched him type a message fast, then delete the thread.
When he came back in, he put his hand on my shoulder.
"Mom, I'm so sorry.
I don't know how this happened."
But his hand wasn't shaking.
Mine was.
Then the doctor appeared in the doorway holding a folder.
"Mrs.
Ellis?" he said.
"There's something in these results we need to discuss privately."
Nathan stepped forward.
"I'm her son.
Whatever you need to say, you can say it here."
May you like
The doctor looked at me, not Nathan.
"It would be better," he said carefully, "if it were just the two of us."
