Chapter 1 - NINE
Emma screamed before I even understood what had happened.
One second she was fussing in my arms, red-faced and tired after a long Christmas dinner. The next, my sister's palm flashed across her tiny cheek.
The sound was soft.
Emma's cry was not.
It tore through my parents' dining room like a fire alarm.
"What did you just do?" I shouted.
Lauren lifted her wineglass as if nothing had happened. "Oh, relax, Sarah. It was a tap."
"You hit my six-month-old baby."
"She was screaming in my ear." Lauren rolled her eyes. "Kids need discipline. You pick her up every time she makes a noise. No wonder she's spoiled."
Emma buried her wet face against my chest. Her little body shook so hard I could feel it through her Christmas pajamas.
I looked at my mother. "Mom?"
She stared at her mashed potatoes.
"Dad?"
My father cleared his throat and studied his napkin.
Uncle Bob looked down into his drink.
Nobody moved.
Nobody said a word.
Then a chair scraped against the hardwood floor.
James stood.
My husband had been home from deployment for eleven days. Nine months overseas had carved something quiet and hard into him. He did not yell. He did not pound the table.
He walked around it.
"Get out," he said.
Lauren laughed once, but there was no humor in it. "Excuse me?"
"You struck my child. Leave."
"This is my parents' house. You don't get to order me around."
James stopped three feet from her. "If you're not outside in ten seconds, I will call the police and report you for striking an infant."
Lauren's face changed.
"You wouldn't."
"Nine."
"Mom!"
"Eight."
My mother finally looked up. "James, maybe everybody should just calm down."
"Seven."
Lauren grabbed her purse. "You're insane. Both of you."
"Six."
She shoved past him, muttering something I couldn't hear.
At the doorway she spun around and pointed at me.
"You let him talk to me like this, Sarah, and don't ever call me your sister again."
I held Emma tighter.
"Five," James said.
Lauren stormed out.
The front door slammed hard enough to rattle the framed family photos in the hallway.
For a few seconds there was only Emma's crying and my own ragged breathing.
Then my father pushed back his chair.
"You two just made a very serious mistake," he said.
I stared at him.
May you like
He looked at my crying baby, then at me.
"Because Lauren isn't the person you should be afraid of tonight."
