I felt sick to my stomach. I had to grip the edge of the plastic waiting room chair to keep from falling over.
I remembered a Saturday back in September. Mark had taken Lily to the park while I was working a double shift.
When they came back, Lily was quiet and clinging to her corduroy bear. Mark told me she had fallen off the monkey bars.
I believed him. I actually bought her ice cream because she was crying, and I told her she was a brave girl.
I had trusted him with my daughter’s life. I had left her in that house, in that room, with that scuffed pink castle nightlight, thinking she was safe.
Mark was arrested at his job. The police told me he didn’t even fight them.
He just put his hands behind his back and walked out to the cruiser while his coworkers watched.
But the nightmare wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
Two days after the arrest, Mark’s sister, Janice, showed up at my house. She didn’t knock softly. She banged on the front door until the glass rattled.
I watched her through the kitchen window. She was holding a tin of homemade peanut butter cookies. She looked so normal, like she was just dropping by for a chat.
I didn’t open the door. I stood in the dark kitchen, holding Lily close to my chest. Janice stood on the porch for ten minutes, shouting through the screen.
“Ellen! Open the door! This is a huge misunderstanding! Mark would never hurt that girl! You’re ruining his life over some silly story!”
She eventually left the cookies on the porch swing and drove away, spraying gravel from her tires.
During the trial, Mark’s lawyer tried to paint me as an unfit, neglectful mother. They argued that because I worked late hours at CVS, I couldn’t possibly know what went on in my own home. They tried to suggest that Lily had fallen off the playground equipment and that I was just trying to pin it on Mark to get a divorce settlement.
But they didn’t expect the evidence we had.
My lawyer, Mr. Vance, was a quiet man from legal aid who didn’t let anything slip past him. He presented the medical records, the x-rays of the healing rib fractures, and the testimony from the school counselor.
But the final blow came when they played the recording of Lily’s interview with the forensic specialist.
