Dr. Sterling's question remained in the room long after he stopped speaking. Daniel stood near the wall, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides, while Elaine stared at the floor. Neither of them seemed willing to look at the other. That frightened me more than another argument would have.
A nurse returned with a folder and placed it beside Dr. Sterling. He opened it carefully, reading each page before speaking. “The pharmacy confirmed two prescriptions,” he said. “One belongs to the baby. The other belongs to Elaine. Both were filled within the same week.”
I looked at Elaine. “And the second bottle?”
She didn't answer.
Dr. Sterling continued. “The pharmacist also remembers an unusual request. Someone called asking whether the infant's prescription could be replaced with a different formulation because the baby supposedly couldn't tolerate the original.”
Daniel looked up.
“I didn't make that call.”
Elaine's eyes flickered toward him.
I saw it.
So did Dr. Sterling.
“Who did?” I asked.
Elaine finally spoke. “I don't remember.”
“You don't remember calling the pharmacy?”
“I make many calls.”
Dr. Sterling closed the folder. “The pharmacist recorded the caller's name.”
Daniel's shoulders stiffened.
“What name?” he asked.
Dr. Sterling looked at him.
“Yours.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Daniel shook his head immediately. “That's impossible.”
“The call was made from a number registered to your phone.”
“I didn't call.”
“You may have forgotten.”
“I didn't.”
Elaine said nothing.
I watched my husband carefully.
There had been countless moments when he had insisted I was remembering things incorrectly. Conversations I was sure had happened. Nights when I had woken because the baby cried. Times when I had asked why a bottle was somewhere it shouldn't be.
He always had an explanation.
Now there was a record.
A timestamp.
A phone number.
Something outside our house that could not be dismissed as my anxiety.
Dr. Sterling showed me the call time.
It was the afternoon before the first night Lily had described.
Daniel had been at work.
Or at least, that was what he had told me.
I looked at him.
“You weren't at work?”
“I was.”
“The call was made from your phone.”
“I must have called during lunch.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“I was asking about the prescription.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you would have worried.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
“You keep using that as an excuse.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You were deciding what I was allowed to know.”
Daniel looked away.
Dr. Sterling asked, “What did the pharmacy tell you?”
Daniel rubbed his palms together.
“They said the prescription was fine.”
“Did they recommend a different medication?”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell your mother the baby's medicine should be changed?”
Daniel looked at Elaine.
She remained silent.
That silence answered part of the question.
I turned toward her.
“You knew.”
She finally raised her head.
“I knew Daniel was worried.”
“About what?”
“You.”
I almost laughed.
“Not the baby?”
“You were exhausted. You weren't coping.”
“So you decided to sedate him?”
“We needed him to sleep.”
“He needed his prescribed medicine.”
Elaine's voice became defensive.
“You weren't giving it properly.”
I stared at her.
“How would you know?”
“Because I watched.”
The words slipped out.
Daniel looked at her sharply.
I felt something cold settle inside me.
She had been watching.
Not helping.
Watching.
Dr. Sterling asked, “What did you observe?”
Elaine hesitated.
“His mother was inconsistent.”
“With what?”
“Everything.”
The nurse wrote something down.
I looked at my son.
He was sleeping now, but his breathing was being monitored continuously. His face looked calmer than it had that morning.
I wanted to touch his cheek.
I did.
It was cooler.
For the first time all day, I allowed myself a breath.
Then Lily tugged gently at my sleeve.
“Mom.”
I turned.
“What?”
She looked toward Elaine.
“The second bottle wasn't Grandma's.”
Elaine went rigid.
Daniel stared at Lily.
“What do you mean?”
Lily swallowed.
“Grandma said Daddy brought it.”
I looked at Daniel.
He didn't move.
“Daddy brought the bottle?” I asked.
Lily nodded.
“From his car.”
Daniel's face changed.
“That isn't true.”
“You had it in the little bag.”
“What bag?”
“The black one.”
I remembered it.
Daniel kept a small black insulated bag in the trunk.
He had told me it was for lunches.
Sometimes he brought it inside.
Sometimes he didn't.
I had never opened it.
Dr. Sterling asked Lily whether she had seen the bag herself.
She nodded.
“Where?”
“On the kitchen chair.”
“When?”
“The night Grandma changed bottles.”
Daniel stepped backward.
I felt my stomach drop.
“Why would you have medication in your car?” I asked.
“I didn't.”
Lily said, “You did.”
Daniel's voice hardened.
“Lily, you need to stop.”
She stepped closer to me.
Dr. Sterling intervened.
“Don't intimidate her.”
“I am not intimidating her.”
“You've repeatedly told her to stop speaking.”
Daniel looked at him, then at me.
“I don't know what she thinks she saw.”
Lily whispered, “I saw Daddy put the bottle in Grandma's room.”
Elaine closed her eyes.
Daniel turned toward her.
“Mom.”
She didn't respond.
He walked to the window.
His back was to us.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then he said, “I made a mistake.”
My heart sank.
“What kind of mistake?”
He turned around.
“I thought the baby needed something to help him sleep.”
“You knew it wasn't prescribed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew it wasn't his medicine.”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Because my mother convinced me you were going to hurt yourself from exhaustion.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“She said you weren't sleeping. That you were barely eating. That you were becoming obsessed with the baby.”
“So you drugged him because you were worried about me?”
“I thought if he slept, you would sleep.”
“And when I woke him for his medicine?”
“You were supposed to stop.”
My voice became quiet.
“Stop giving him the medicine he needed?”
Daniel lowered his head.
“I thought we could manage it.”
Dr. Sterling's expression hardened.
“You substituted an unprescribed medication for a prescribed one without medical advice.”
“I know.”
“And you continued after the baby became difficult to wake?”
Daniel didn't answer.
I felt Lily's fingers tighten around mine.
Dr. Sterling asked, “Why didn't you seek medical attention then?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because my mother said the symptoms would pass.”
Elaine suddenly stood.
“Don't put this on me.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You told me it was safe.”
“I said he would sleep.”
“You knew what was in it.”
“I knew what the medication was.”
“You knew it was mine.”
“Yes.”
“And you told me it wouldn't hurt him.”
Elaine's face hardened.
“I never told you to replace every dose.”
I stared at them.
The truth was emerging in pieces.
Not one secret.
Several.
Each person had kept a different part.
And my son had paid for all of them.
Dr. Sterling asked the nurse to contact the appropriate authorities and document the medication history.
Daniel looked alarmed.
“You're calling the police?”
“This involves a child receiving medication that wasn't prescribed to him.”
Elaine shook her head.
“This family does not need police.”
I looked at her.
“You stopped being concerned about the family when you made my daughter keep a secret.”
She looked away.
Lily leaned against me.
I kissed her hair.
Then Dr. Sterling spoke.
“There is one more thing.”
He opened the pharmacy record again.
“The second bottle was filled two days before Elaine arrived.”
I looked at Daniel.
He stared at the floor.
“Who picked it up?” I asked.
Dr. Sterling looked at the record.
“Daniel.”
My husband closed his eyes.
And suddenly the question wasn't whether Elaine had replaced the medicine.
It was why Daniel had bought the second bottle in the first place.
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: The Reason Daniel Bought the Second Bottle Was Worse Than the Lie, Because It Revealed What Had Been Planned Before the Baby Ever Became Sick
The Number on the Thermometer Was Only the Beginning of What My Daughter Had Been Afraid to Tell Me
Part 5 of 8
