She must have surmised that I was abominable as a father, a man who’d hurt my own baby.
My jaw worked up and down. It was an accurate assumption, honestly. Even if I hadn’t meant for my world to bleed into my daughter’s life, it had. For a child, she bottled her emotions exceptionally well. I figured she mustn’t have been aware of the gravity of the situation, but even still, I’d brought in the best child psychologist to talk with her yesterday.
Valerie was a trusted employee and had been a stand-in for a nanny for quite some time. She’d assured me that my daughter didn’t have signs of trauma, that she’d seen almost nothing and was okay.
Franny sniffling was not “okay” behavior, though.
I considered whether I wasn’t observant enough, hadn’tparented well enough, and had overlooked my most important priority.
“I thought you were hurt,” Franny whispered, but then her eyes widened as she took in Mia’s scraped wrist that was, of course, bleeding now. “Oh, you are!”
“No. No.” Mia hurried to cover her wrist with the white sheet and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Those are just some scrapes from …” She glanced up at me. “A terrible bracelet I had on.”
“Ms. Darling, my grandma always says if jewelry hurts, it’s not good enough. I had earrings once that weren’t for sensitive skin. They made my ears bleed too. You’ll need a Band-Aid for your wrist.” Franny frowned and then looked at me. “Daddy, make sure you fix her wrist, okay?”
I nodded slowly and considered my daughter’s concern, considered how her eyes softened when she peered up at her teacher and murmured, “No one told me anything after how mad you were on the way home. Then Grandma said we had to leave you. I didn’t want to. The hide-and-seek game wasn’t very fun for you, was it?”
“I’m not sure I love hide-and-seek,” Ms. Darling whispered as if they were sharing a secret.
“I didn’t like that game either.” Franny wrinkled her nose and glanced at me like we all knew the secret of the game. Then I heard it, the genuine laugh that fell from my daughter’s lips. Pure. Real. Rare. I hadn’t heard it since yesterday, and the more I worked, the less I heard it. I was sure I’d do just about anything as a parent to continue to hear it.
Even if it was keeping Ms. Darling.
“Probably there was too much blood for you, Ms. Darling.” Franny’s small hand smoothed over her teacher’s cheek. “Daddy says some people are afraid of blood. I’m sorry.”
Seems Valerie missed these concerns. Franny hadn’t leton—to me or the trained psychologist—that she’d stopped watching her tablet long enough to takeinthe scene.
The only person she opened up and gave that information to was a teacher I didn’t know at all, that I shouldn’t want to know, but that I was going to find out everything I could about.
“Oh, Franny. None of this is your fault. Don’t apologize to me.” Mia’s gaze held mine over my daughter’s shoulder, and her look held disgust and contempt now.
“Were you scared?”
Mia combed her fingers through my daughter’s hair and whispered, “A little. Just a little. But you’re fine. And I’m fine.”
“I was a bit scared too. It’s better we’re home and safe with Daddy,” my daughter admitted to her, and I slid my hands into the pockets of my slacks so I could clench my fists and hold back my fury.
Someone had tainted the life I’d built for my daughter.
Someone had tarnished her joy, her innocence, her perception of safety.
Someone would pay dearly.
I collected each and every one of these realizations as ammunition for how much I would torture them.
“That’s right, Franny. We’re here now.”
My daughter didn’t look at me. Instead, she pulled back to look at Mia directly and combed her hair, and the woman didn’t stop her. She just let a small smile slip like those two had secrets between them. “You’ll stay, right? Daddy said he’d ask you to teach me here instead of the bad place.”
“The bad place?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to school. You can’t go either.” Franny shook her head solemnly. “Okay?”
“Oh, Franny.” Mia continued, “Your dad is here and—”
“He can’t teach me like you do, and he’s very busy. He’s a doctor who helps lots of people, you know?”
“A doctor? Is that what you call it now?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
