You Live, You Learn
She couldnât believe it. Things like this were not supposed to happen, especially whilst she was at work. âThereâs a call for you, itâs pretty urgentâ. At the word urgent, her stomach began churning, tying itself in knots. It could only be about Sophie, surely. Christ, what had happened? As fast as her legs would carry her, she made her way back to the nurseâs station and picked up the phone.
âMaâam, this is Officer Bennett with the LAPD, Iâm calling on behaf of your daughter, Sophie.â
They were words no parent should ever hear, and her thoughts raced. Usually, she was calm in a crisis, it was her job to be calm, to calm others, but for now, she couldnât manage it.
âOh my God, is she okay? Where is she, whatâs the matter, sheâs with her Grandmother and her Father, has something happened?â The words spilled out. She was nauseous.
Ten minutes later, she was in the park, with her four year old, who had broken her arm, falling out of a tree she shouldnât have been climbing, and her father had let her down again, by failing to catch her. By failing even to supervise her. The churning in Stellaâs stomach didnât disappear, but increased, an anger building in her so fast, and furious, she hadnât ever felt  the like of it.
God she was stupid. Darcy had promised, and promised he would get his act together, for Sophie. Their relationship, if you could call it that, was long over, if it had ever even existed, but sheâd never before been tempted to stop him having one with his daughter. Not when heâd forgotten to pick her up because he was drunk. Not because he spent money for her birthday present on drugs. No, sheâd been the fool who had tried to pick up the pieces and believed his lies and empty promises. Instead, sheâd given him trust enough that if supervised by one of his family members, and promise to be clean and sober in her presence, that he deserved a relationship with his daughter.
Heâd lost that right though, by lying to Stella, telling her sheâd be with him and his mother, even sent her to collect their child. Then heâd gone a step further, and left her alone, and unattended, to do God knows what. Forgot he was with her, apparently. Forgot his Mother had to leave. Left his four year old child, in a public park, a broken arm âwasnâ the worstâ that could have happened. But it was enough.
Lying is what addicts do best. The voice of a colleague. They saw enough of that on the wards. Why hadnât she seen it closer to home? Like always, she had been naive. This time, he wouldnât get away with it. No this time, her daughterâs cast was a visible reminder of a mistake she had made, a mistake she wouldnât make again.
She saw him, walking down the corridor towads them, and stood up. Usually, sheâd have sighed, but her head in her hands aand waited for the explanations and excuses. Instead, she instructed her daughter to stay with the nurse, and strode down the corridor to meet him. âGo.â She told him, simple, and detatched as she could. âShe deserves better than you.â And she would be better enough, for the both of them, she resolved, as she turned back to collect her little girl, and to take her home, and to keep her safe.
