I do not remember how I found the strength, but I twisted free of Beverly’s grip and scrambled to my feet, ignoring the ache along my scalp as I pulled off my light jacket and began swinging it in wide arcs to scatter the insects.
“Marlowe, look at me,” I called, forcing my voice to steady. “Come to Mommy. Right now.”
She stumbled toward me, tears streaking her cheeks, her breath hitching in frightened gulps, and when she reached my legs I lifted her into my arms and wrapped her tightly against my chest, continuing to wave the jacket to clear a path back toward the house.
Her body was trembling so intensely that I could feel each shudder through my ribs, and although I could not see any severe marks on her skin, the fear in her eyes was unmistakable, as if the world itself had betrayed her.
Tessa approached us with irritation replacing her earlier laughter.
“You just ruined the video,” she complained, lowering her phone at last. “People love this kind of stuff.”
I stared at her, trying to reconcile the woman in front of me with the word aunt, and felt a cold anger settle into my bones.
“What were you thinking?” I asked quietly, because shouting would have required more energy than I possessed. “She’s four years old.”
Tessa rolled her eyes as though I were being dramatic.
“It was a test,” she replied. “She needs to learn to be brave. It would’ve blown up online.”
Beverly stepped between us again, her arms crossed.
“Harper, you’re overreacting,” she said. “No one got seriously hurt. You always turn everything into a spectacle.”
Marlowe pressed her face into my neck and whispered, “Mommy, it was scary.”
Those three words were enough to slice through every attempt at minimization, and I turned toward Colton one final time, searching for even a flicker of protective instinct.
“Did you see what happened?” I asked him.
He exhaled heavily, as though I were inconveniencing him.
“Tessa pushes boundaries,” he admitted, “but it’s done. Let it go.”
I realized then that he was not confused about what had happened; he was simply unwilling to confront his family, because maintaining his place among them mattered more than acknowledging the harm in front of him.
