“Oh, please.”
I looked directly at her.
“You pulled my gown before you poured it.”
Her face reddened.
“I barely touched you.”
Daniel’s eyes shifted to her.
Richard closed his eyes for half a second.
Vanessa had just corrected my description instead of denying the act.
It was the kind of mistake people made when they were more concerned with minimizing conduct than recognizing they had admitted it.
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
She looked from Daniel to Richard, then to the coffee stain across my gown.
“Mrs.
Huntsley, are you all right?”
Richard answered before I could.
“She’s fine.”
The nurse did not look at him.
She looked at me.
“No,” I said.
“I need you to document what happened.”
Richard’s head snapped toward me.
“Maya.”
“And I want hospital security notified.”
Celeste whispered, “This is becoming absurd.”
The nurse stepped into the room.
“What happened?”
I told her.
I described Vanessa entering with the coffee, what she said, how she pulled my gown and poured it over me.
I repeated Richard’s exact response when he walked in.
I did not embellish a word.
I did not need to.
The truth was ugly enough.
The nurse’s face became unreadable in the professional way medical workers learn when something serious happens in front of them.
She asked whether I wanted Vanessa removed.
“Yes.”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“You can’t throw me out.
These are my brothers.”
“They are my patients,” the nurse replied, “and their mother has asked you to leave.”
Richard stepped between them.
“Nobody is going anywhere.”
Daniel spoke from behind him.
“That would be unwise.”
Richard spun around.
“This is my family.”
Daniel nodded toward me.
“Then you should probably stop treating it like one of your acquisitions.”
Two members of hospital security arrived minutes later.
Richard immediately transformed.
His shoulders relaxed.
His voice softened.
He explained that emotions were high after a difficult delivery and that his daughter had accidentally spilled coffee.
Vanessa began nodding beside him.
Then the nurse said, “Mrs.
Huntsley reports that the coffee was poured intentionally.”
“And I heard part of the argument before I entered,” another nurse said from the hallway.
Richard’s charm faltered.
