Chapter 2 - THE BENEFIT
The benefit was called NightBridge.
It was not government welfare.
It was an employer-sponsored family support program for nurses, respiratory therapists, lab staff, security workers, and other employees assigned overnight shifts.
Eligible workers could receive up to:
$2,400 per month
for verified overnight childcare.
The purpose was simple.
Keep night-shift employees from quitting because ordinary daycare did not exist at 2:00 a.m.
Bernice had received several emails about NightBridge.
She ignored them.
Gideon had not.
Three months earlier he told her:
“HR says you have unused family benefits.”
Bernice remembered answering:
“Great. We don’t need them.”
Gideon was usually home with Roger while she worked.
He worked days as an operations supervisor for a packaging company.
Their schedules were difficult but manageable.
Then Celina appeared on the NightBridge forms.
Bernice called St. Anne’s benefits office.
Coordinator Hannah Lee pulled the file.
“You enrolled in November.”
“I didn’t.”
There was a pause.
“Your employee portal submitted the authorization.”
Bernice’s stomach tightened.
Had Gideon stolen her password?
No.
Worse in a quieter way.
Bernice kept the hospital portal logged in on the home desktop because she used it for scheduling.
Gideon had access to the computer.
The NightBridge application was electronically acknowledged from her logged-in session.
No forged handwritten signature.
No password crack.
Still unauthorized.
Then Hannah read the provider declaration.
Celina certified she provided overnight care in the Carter residence.
Was that true?
Sometimes.
Celina admitted she had slept in the guest room on twenty-two nights over three months.
Why?
Gideon said Bernice’s hospital benefit would pay a family member to remain available in the home.
Celina had recently lost a freelance design contract.
The extra money helped.
She believed:
Roger usually slept,
Gideon might get called into work,
and she was being paid for availability.
Bernice stared.
“Did you ever actually watch him?”
Celina whispered:
“Twice.”
One night Roger had a nightmare.
One night he had a fever.
“Who handled the other nights?”
“Gideon.”
“Then why claim ten hours?”
Celina looked toward Gideon.
“He filled out the hours.”
Gideon said:
“She was in the house.”
Bernice turned on him.
“That is not the same as caring for Roger.”
“Night care is mostly being available.”
“Then why was he on the floor?”
Gideon’s face tightened.
Because Roger sometimes woke and tried to enter the guest room.
Gideon did not want him disturbing Celina.
So he created a rule.
If Roger woke while Bernice was working:
Go to the kitchen.
Sit by the refrigerator.
Wait for Daddy.
At first, Gideon said he came down within minutes.
Then one night:
fifteen minutes.
Then:
half an hour.
Last night he fell asleep while working on paperwork in the guest room.
Roger waited.
Then curled up.
Bernice felt sick.
“What paperwork?”
Gideon said nothing.
Celina looked at him.
Then at Bernice.
“I thought we were finishing provider logs.”
Bernice stared.
“Finishing?”
May you like
Celina swallowed.
“Backdating them.”
