Chapter 4 - “MOM KNEW”
Lena stared at him.
“Noah?”
My son pulled the blanket higher.
“You knew he gets mad.”
Her face changed.
“No, sweetheart—”
“You said don’t make Travis mad.”
I looked at Lena.
“What?”
She shook her head immediately.
“He’s upset. He’s confused.”
Noah started crying.
“I’m not confused!”
The nurse stepped closer.
“Let’s lower our voices.”
Lena reached toward him.
He recoiled.
That movement changed everything.
She stopped.
So did I.
“Noah,” I said softly, “you don’t have to talk anymore.”
The detective, who had remained near the doorway, looked toward Lena.
“Mrs. Lane, we’ll need to speak with you separately.”
“We’re separated.”
“Then Ms. Lane.”
Lena looked at me.
“Michael, please.”
“Please what?”
“Don’t turn this into something it isn’t.”
I almost laughed.
Our son had a fractured arm.
Her boyfriend was under arrest.
What exactly did she think this was?
The detective asked:
“Had Mr. Hayes displayed aggressive behavior around Noah previously?”
“No.”
Noah whispered:
“He broke my dinosaur.”
Lena closed her eyes.
I turned toward him.
“What dinosaur?”
“The big green one.”
A plastic T-Rex Derek bought him.
I remembered Noah crying two weeks earlier because it had “fallen.”
Lena told me he stepped on it accidentally.
“What happened?”
“Travis threw it at the wall.”
Lena interrupted.
“That was an accident.”
The detective looked at her.
“You just said he’d never behaved aggressively.”
She stopped.
Then:
“I meant toward Noah.”
Noah stared at his blanket.
“He punched the door.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“When Mommy was crying.”
Lena started crying now.
“Michael, please.”
I looked at her.
“You left him alone with a man who punches doors?”
“He never touched Noah before.”
Not:
I didn’t know.
Not anymore.
He never touched Noah before.
That distinction mattered.
The detective wrote something down.
Then he asked Lena to come with him.
She looked at Noah.
“Baby, Mommy loves you.”
Noah didn’t answer.
After she left, he whispered:
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Am I going back with Mom?”
I sat beside him.
“Not tonight.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I don’t know yet.”
His eyes filled.
“Can I stay with you?”
“Yes.”
That answer required lawyers, court orders and paperwork.
But I gave it anyway.
Because whatever happened next, my son needed one certainty.
“You’re coming with me.”
He finally relaxed.
Then asked:
“Can Uncle Derek come too?”
I looked at my brother.
Derek smiled.
“Try getting rid of me.”
For the first time all afternoon, Noah smiled.
May you like
Then my attorney called.
And told me we needed an emergency custody order before Lena changed her story.
