The Good Father

“Yes.”

She frowned. Glanced over at him for the first time since they’d set out, but couldn’t make out his expression in the darkening evening. She’d already told him there was no documentation of Jeff’s abuse.

“Why?”

Jeff had admitted that the fights were his fault. They were just one step away from him admitting to the escalating physical violence that was accompanying those fights.

Before it was too late and he did something that would require outside attention. Medical, as well as legal.

“I just wondered about her overall...stability.”

“It’s not great, based on everything that’s going on, but Chloe’s not the one we need to worry about. She’s in a position to get help. It’s Jeff who scares me. It’s like, over the years, he’s stretched himself so tightly that now, when something pulls on him, he breaks. And then as soon as it’s over, he goes back to his old self again. And hates himself for breaking.”

“This is based on what Chloe’s told you.”

“Yes.” And the bruises she’d seen the day after the last fight when she’d taken her sister-in-law’s phone call and hightailed it to Palm Desert to get her and Cody out of there.

“You’ve never witnessed this...change in him.”

“No.”

Ella wished she had. She might know better how to help her brother if she could see him in action.

They walked in silence for a minute or two.

“You didn’t answer my question regarding her medical care.”

“Why? Did Jeff say something about her being unstable?”

“Just that she suffered some depression after Cody was born.”

“Postpartum. Yeah, she did. She took medication for about six weeks and has been fine ever since. Why? What does that have to do with anything? Is Jeff putting this on Chloe? Saying she’s depressed?”

“He’s looking for explanations,” Brett said.

“And you? Do you believe him? Is this why you wanted to see Chloe? To judge for yourself if she’s emotionally stable? In one dinner?”

“I’m not taking sides here, El. I just want a full picture so that I can be of assistance. Come up with a clear plan.”

Of course. She’d forgotten who she was talking to. The modern Brett, not the emotionally vulnerable man she’d fallen head over heels in love with the day she’d met him. The robot, not the man.

“Chloe gets regular medical care. I know this because she’d had an appointment the week before she came here to get her birth-control prescription renewed. On top of that, I’m an RN. I live with her. I’d notice if there was anything amiss.”

“It’s getting late. We’d better turn around.”

They’d come about half a mile, and darkness had fallen. The sidewalk, however, was lighter than it had been due to the old-fashioned lamp poles that lined it. They turned on automatically at seven o’clock every night, and they’d just come on, bathing them in a kind of boardwalk glow.

Ella didn’t argue, though. She and Chloe had a movie to watch. And another day off tomorrow to fill with fun things.

“Our goal, then, is to see Jeff and Chloe in a happy marriage again.”

She wanted to shake him up. To see if he was shakable. But she avoided the temptation. Jeff respected Brett. He’d listen to him.

He was the only person she believed could reach her brother, help him see the truth before it was too late.

Because Chloe was going to go back.

Ella didn’t kid herself on that one. She was married to Jeff for better or worse. In sickness and in health. She adored the man.