Chapter 6 - MOMMY GETS WORRIED
Bernice asked Roger about nights only with guidance from a child specialist.
No repeated questioning.
No pressure to remember dates.
Roger said simple things.
Sometimes Aunt Celina slept in the guest room.
Sometimes Daddy worked in there.
If Roger woke up:
he could use the bathroom,
then he had to wait in the kitchen.
Why?
“Daddy said Aunt Celina needs quiet.”
Did Daddy come?
“Sometimes.”
How long?
Roger did not know.
Children do not measure forty minutes.
Then:
“Sometimes I sleep.”
Like that morning.
Bernice cried later, away from him.
Roger had not been physically harmed.
Still, he had been taught:
his nighttime needs were an interruption adults needed hidden.
Then the specialist asked whether this was why Roger had recently stopped calling for Bernice at night.
Maybe.
Too early to say.
No dramatic diagnosis.
Then Bernice reviewed the kitchen security-camera footage.
The camera covered only:
kitchen,
back door,
part of hallway.
Not bedrooms.
Thirty-day archive.
She found Roger waiting on five nights.
Night one:
six minutes.
Night two:
eleven.
Night three:
seventeen.
Night four:
twenty-two.
Last night:
one hour and forty-eight minutes.
He fell asleep after thirty-one minutes.
Gideon passed through the kitchen once.
He saw Roger.
Did not pick him up.
He whispered:
“Stay here, buddy. Almost done.”
Then returned to the guest room.
Bernice stopped the video.
That was worse than forgetting.
He had seen him.
Then Gideon explained.
He was on a call with his employment attorney.
Celina was scanning documents.
Roger was awake.
Gideon thought:
he is safe,
he is inside,
he has his elephant,
I’ll finish.
One minute became more.
Then the attorney call ended and Gideon started revising a response letter.
He lost track.
Bernice stared.
“You prioritized a paragraph.”
He started to defend himself.
Then stopped.
“Yes.”
Then NightBridge logs for that night said:
Provider Celina responsible for child continuously 8 p.m.–6 a.m.
Celina had been:
scanning documents,
then sleeping.
Gideon had been:
present,
then working.
Roger had been:
waiting alone.
The log described no one’s reality.
Then benefits coordinator Hannah Lee asked for voluntary correction.
If Bernice cooperated, St. Anne would calculate overpayment.
No presumption Bernice intentionally misused benefits if evidence supported unauthorized enrollment.
The hospital’s concern was:
correct funds,
protect employee,
improve controls.
Then the preliminary estimate arrived.
Potential ineligible reimbursement:
$5,260.
Not the full $6,680 because some documented Celina care may have qualified before Gideon’s leave or during approved job-search exceptions.
Bernice stared.
Who would repay it?
NightBridge had paid Celina.
But Gideon had received most.
The answer depended on investigation.
Then Gideon said:
“I’ll repay it.”
Bernice looked at him.
“With what?”
He had almost no cash.
Then he said:
“The home-equity line.”
Bernice froze.
“What home-equity line?”
May you like
They did not have one.
At least she did not think they did.
