Esther and Mercy

Part 14

Kate is getting very suspicious. She knows she didn't break Esther's arm, but John doesn't believe her. He even made her take the couch last night. At the school, Daniels bag comes unzipped as he gets out of the car, making his books go all over the place. "Daniel. Your books. What happened? Let me see your bag." Kate examines the bag

"Mom!" The car starts moving. Maxis is still in the back. "Max! No! Help! Max!" The car stops after it reaches the end of the incline. Kate flings open the back door and scoops her daughter into her arms. "Max! Max! Are you okay? I'm here. Mommy's here.You're okay, honey. Come on. I got you. Yeah. Oh, baby, it's okay." The poor girl is crying in relief. She thought she was gonna die.

"I'm so sorry. I remember I put it in park and I set the brake." Kate explains to Dr. Browning. John had asked the therapist to visit them at home. "Max didn't indicate that anyone did anything." The psychiatrist thinks her accusation is absurd. Why would either of those sweet girls put their sister in danger like that? "Well, Max is covering for one of them. "Or maybe both of them? And I don't think it's the first time."

"It also wouldn't be the first time you blamed Esther or Mercy for your own mistake. 

"You know what? I want them both out of this house." John is horrified at the idea.  "You're ready for somebody to come and take them?" 

"I am. I don't care. I will do whatever it takes to protect my children."

"The girls found this this morning." John puts a wine bottle on the coffee table. He's very disappointed. She'd been doing so well. Or so he thought. "The girls found it. You mean Mercy and Esther found it."

"Yes. Does it make any difference? Are they lying?" 

"You need help. We've reserved a place for you in a rehabilitation facility about 45 minutes from here." Dr Browning breaks the news as gently as she can. "I didn't drink it. I bought two bottles. I poured one of them down the sink."

"But not this one?" 

"No. John, I haven't had a drink in almost a year." 

"We wanna help you, but there's nothing we can do until you stop lying to yourself."

"I'm not lying. I wanted to drink it. You have no fucking idea how badly I wanted to drink it, but I didn't. I didn't drink it." 

"lf Max had gotten hurt... 

"What happened this morning has nothing to do with this."

"I find that hard to believe." 

"The only reason that I'm sober is because of Max and Daniel. I think about what would have happened had you not been there, and it makes me wanna kill myself. I would never do anything...... to let something like that ever happen again. I wouldn't." 

"That is so manipulative." John doesn't believe her at all. "I know I haven't given you reason to believe me, I know I haven't. I lied to you. I should have told you about this. I'll go to therapy, I'll go to fucking  A. A. if that's what you want...... but you have to believe me."

"I don't."

"You have to believe me. John, you have to trust me on this."

"I'll give you a week to go to rehab or I'm leaving and I'm taking the kids with me. I'll help you as much as I can, make it really easy. Mom's gonna come in the afternoon. All right? I'm willing to do this. I'm willing to try and figure this out. But it's up to you."

Mercy sees Daniel go into Max's room. She hides around the corner where she can eavesdrop without being caught. "Max. Max, are you okay? What did they do? Did they do something to make the car crash? If you saw what happened, you have to help me, so Mom and Dad can protect us." Max signs something. "Why not?" She pulls out a picture she drew. "Is that Sister Abigail? Max. What did Esther do in my tree house? Are the bad things still there? Everything's gonna be okay. I'll get the stuff from the tree house. Then they'll have to believe us." Not if Mercy has anything to say about it!