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Halifax, June 14
6:00 p.m.
Audra and Daniel were sitting at Daphne’s bedside when Tabitha Landes and her mother, Joanna, showed up at the door. Tabitha held a colorful bouquet of flowers in her arms—daisies, sunflowers, and yellow chrysanthemums. In the center of them sat a stuffed bumblebee wearing a nurse’s hat and white uniform with the words Bee Well on the front.
Tabitha, eyes wide, stood frozen in the doorway. She stared at Daphne as if overwhelmed.
Joanna touched her shoulder. “Go on. It’s all right.”
With halting steps, Tabitha crossed the room to set the bouquet on the window ledge.
Daniel got up from his chair and went over to greet her.
“Hi, Tabitha. Nice to see you.”
She gave him a sheepish nod.
“Thanks for coming,” Audra said, giving her arm a gentle squeeze. “It’ll mean a lot to her.”
The flesh around Tabitha’s chin quivered. She couldn’t keep her eyes off Daphne.
“Can she hear me?” she asked.
“They don’t know for sure. We talk to her. Read to her.”
“What do I say?”
“Just talk to her, honey. Like you used to.”
Slowly, Tabitha approached the bed, took a seat in the chair. After a moment of looking at all the machines, she rested her fingers on Daphne’s wrist.
“Hi, Daphne,” she said in a tight voice. “It’s Tabby. I hope you can hear me.”
Audra watched for a reaction in Daphne, a facial twitch, a curl of a finger, even a faster beep on the cardiac monitor. But nothing. With a heavy heart, she wondered if her daughter was just gone.
She had hoped that when Daphne had gripped her hand, it hadn’t been involuntary but a sign. A sign that said, I’m here damn it. I’m trying to come back.
Joanna inquired, “Has her condition improved any?”
Audra brought her index finger up to her puckered lips. “She might hear you. We don’t talk about that stuff around her.”
Joanna raised her eyebrows, and her mouth formed a small “o.”
“Sorry,” she said quietly.
Audra patted her on the back. “Hey, no problem. Thanks for bringing Tabitha over. We really appreciate it.”
Joanna spoke with a note of desolation. “This must be hard. So hard for you. I can’t even imagine.”
“More than you know,” she admitted.
“How late do you stay?”
“All night. I sleep here. Dan and I rotate. He comes in the morning, stays all day. I go home, but I can’t rest there. I end up coming back. I rest better here.”
Joanna frowned. “You look tired.”
“Dan tells me the same thing.”
“You need to look after yourself. You’re not helping her if you get sick too.”
“I know.”
Joanna looked over at Tabitha. She was curled forward, talking to Daphne in soft tones.
“Stay as long as you want,” Audra said. “We’ll wait outside.”
“No. Stay.”
“We can’t. Only two people are allowed in at a time. But please, don’t let that rush you.”
Audra walked outside the doorway with Daniel.
“What’s up?” he said. “You barely said two words since you got here.”
Audra shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Uh, I know you, babe. Something’s up.”
Quiet, Audra fixed her eyes on him.
Daniel winced. “You went after that girl, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I did.”
“Jesus. Why? What happened?”
“Nothing,” Audra said. “Nothing happened.”
“C’mon. Don’t give me that. You didn’t do something to get yourself in trouble, did you?”
Audra closed her eyes, opened them again. She couldn’t shake that disgusted feeling.
“I followed her home after school,” she said. “I knew it was wrong. But I didn’t care. I was going to confront her. And her parents if they were home. Let them all have it. Or just her. It didn’t matter. I just wanted to rip into someone. To get this off my chest.”
She gritted her teeth, deciding not to say more.
Daniel pried, “And?”
Audra let out a breath. “I was outside in the hallway when I heard yelling inside their apartment, the sound of someone being slapped. I took out my badge and knocked on the door. The father answered, drunk. Could barely stand up. I knew I’d seen him before but couldn’t place him. He knew me though. He remembered me.
“It wasn’t until his wife called him by name that everything came back. Greg Tanner. Drunk. Abuser. Complete piece of shit. When I first learned Margi Tanner’s name, I never even made the connection. I’d forgotten all about him.”
Daniel asked, “You met these people before through work?”
“Yeah. Nine years ago.” Audra paused, lowering her eyes. “Classic story of domestic violence. The husband drinks. Gets abusive. The wife never leaves him though. She thinks conditions will improve because he says they will. He’ll never hit her again. Never yell at her again. Never belittle her again.
“She doesn’t realize that’s the bait and switch these men use. He still drinks. Still gets drunk. Still beats her. Still yells at her. Still belittles her. But he loves her. He promises to never do it again. Just don’t leave him. Leave him all alone in the world.
“That cycle goes on for years. Then, one night, the husband almost kills her. The daughter calls 9-1-1. She’s six years old. She’s Margi Tanner.”
Daniel pressed his hands together and raised them to his lips. “So what’d you do?”
Tears stung Audra’s eyes. “I gave Margi my card. Told her to call me if her father ever laid a hand on her. I kept thinking about that little girl. Six years old. Six years of living in that environment.”
“You never mentioned Daphne?”
Audra turned. “I told her I was her mother. I think she knew at that moment why I had gone there. That she dodged a bullet. I could see it in her face.”
Daniel wrapped his arms around her from behind and buried his face in the side of her neck.
“I’m proud of you,” he said. “You did the right thing.”
The tears fell down Audra’s face. “Did I?”
“Yeah. You did, babe. You did.”
“Then why is it killing me inside?”
“Because of Daphne. Because of what that girl did to her. I know you know that underneath your tough exterior is a heart of gold.”
Audra found it suddenly hard to get words out. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against Daniel’s shoulder, wishing their world would just right itself again.
Tabitha and her mother stayed until 7:15. Audra thanked them for visiting, told them to come back again, then she and Daniel sat at Daphne’s bedside.
They held her hand again, told her who they were. Daniel began reading The Healer’s Apprentice, a book he’d picked up for her at Chapters. Audra sat there listening, staring at her daughter’s relaxed face. She wondered if she should bring in Daphne’s iPod, play some of her favorite tunes to her through earphones. Would it help her? Would it even reach her?
Audra looked over at Daniel, watching him read. For the first time, she realized how haggard he appeared. His face hung with a noticeable slackness. His eyes drooped, and bags had begun to form under them. Audra wondered just how much sleep he’d actually managed over at their house, alone at night.
When she’d gone home earlier to shower, she noticed the bodily impression in the comforter on Daphne’s bed, the rumpled pillows. It made Audra sad because she knew Daniel had lain there.
At nine o’clock, Daniel closed the book. He got off the chair and kissed Daphne on the cheek.
“I’m going home now, kiddo. I’ll be back in the morning. Okay?”
Then it happened again.
Daphne curled her fingers around her mother’s hand. Audra perked up, made a “psst,” to get Daniel’s attention.
A hopeful smile broke across his face. Hands still locked together with her daughter, Audra leaned in close to Daphne.
“Daphne,” she said. “Do you know who I am, honey? Can you hear me?”
She waited. Seconds passed. Then Daphne squeezed a little harder, let go.
Encouraged, Audra asked, “Can you squeeze my hand again?”
And Daphne did, not once, but twice.
Audra could feel her heart racing, her body beginning to shake. That was a reaction, she told herself. A sign. Different than last night.
“Can you do it again, honey?”
Another squeeze, lighter than the others, but there. Moments later, Daphne’s head twitched on the pillow. Her eyelids fluttered.
“Go get the nurses,” Audra told Daniel.
He hurried out of the room.
Audra bit her lip, weeping, as she watched Daphne’s eyes slowly begin to open.
