Chapter 1 - HANDLE IT YOURSELF
Margaret Bennett was already standing over the twins when Claire reached the kitchen.
Emma and Ethan were only two.
Too young to understand why Grandma was angry.
Old enough to understand fear.
Margaret swung the thin wooden switch down against Emma’s guarded upper arm.
Then Ethan’s shoulder.
Both toddlers recoiled and pressed into each other.
Claire dropped to one knee.
Pain tore across her lower abdomen.
She had been home from surgery for six days.
Walking still hurt.
Standing too quickly made her dizzy.
None of that mattered.
“Please! Don’t hit my babies!”
Margaret raised the switch again.
“Move! They need discipline!”
Claire dragged herself across the tile.
One palm.
One knee.
Then the other.
She reached the twins and wrapped one arm around both.
Emma buried her face into Claire’s shoulder.
Ethan screamed.
The kitchen door burst open.
Daniel.
Claire looked up so fast the movement hurt.
Hope flooded her face.
“Daniel… help us!”
He stopped.
Saw:
his wife on the floor,
his children crying,
his mother holding the switch.
Claire waited.
Daniel looked at Margaret.
Then at Claire.
Then turned away.
“Handle it yourself.”
Something inside Claire went cold.
Margaret smirked.
Raised the switch.
Claire pushed herself against the cabinet.
Saw a lightweight plastic basin beside the sink.
Grabbed it.
Margaret stepped forward.
Claire threw it hard into Margaret’s guarded upper body.
The basin bounced away.
Margaret staggered.
Dropped the switch.
“Stay away from my children!”
The twins clung to Claire’s legs.
Daniel turned back.
Shock on his face.
Margaret pointed at Claire.
“She attacked me!”
Claire looked at her husband.
“No.”
Then at the switch on the floor.
“She protected your children.”
May you like
Daniel said nothing.
And that silence told Claire the problem had started long before she crawled into the kitchen.
