The resident stayed beside Paige's examination bed for a few moments after explaining why the injury concerned her.<\/p>\n
I kept watching the doctor's face.<\/p>\n
I wanted her to tell me there was a simple explanation.<\/p>\n
Something that could be treated quickly.<\/p>\n
Something that would allow me to take Paige home without having to think about the makeup or the bruise again.<\/p>\n
But the resident didn't offer that kind of reassurance.<\/p>\n
Instead, she looked carefully at Paige's left leg.<\/p>\n
Then she asked me another question.<\/p>\n
"Has anyone told you how this injury happened?"<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
"No. I didn't even know she was injured until I changed her."<\/p>\n
The doctor glanced at the nurse.<\/p>\n
I noticed that small movement.<\/p>\n
I couldn't tell what it meant.<\/p>\n
The nurse stepped closer to the bed and checked Paige's position.<\/p>\n
Paige was still crying, although her cries had become weaker between the louder bursts.<\/p>\n
That frightened me almost as much as the screaming.<\/p>\n
She looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
Her little face was flushed.<\/p>\n
Her eyelashes were wet.<\/p>\n
I wanted to pick her up and hold her against my shoulder.<\/p>\n
But I was afraid of touching her leg.<\/p>\n
"Can I hold her?"<\/p>\n
I asked quietly.<\/p>\n
The nurse looked at the resident.<\/p>\n
"We're going to help you keep her comfortable while we examine her," the doctor said.<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
There was something awful about standing next to a baby you loved and not knowing whether touching her would hurt.<\/p>\n
I had held Paige so many times before.<\/p>\n
I had never been frightened of my own hands.<\/p>\n
Now I was.<\/p>\n
The resident explained that Paige needed X-rays.<\/p>\n
She wanted to see whether there was damage beneath the swelling.<\/p>\n
I understood immediately what she meant.<\/p>\n
A broken bone.<\/p>\n
I hadn't wanted to say those words to myself.<\/p>\n
But they had been somewhere in my thoughts since I saw that Paige barely moved her left leg.<\/p>\n
"Do you think it's broken?"<\/p>\n
The resident answered carefully.<\/p>\n
"That's one of the things we need to check."<\/p>\n
I looked at Paige.<\/p>\n
Her left leg was resting almost completely still.<\/p>\n
The right one moved whenever she became upset.<\/p>\n
I thought about that difference again.<\/p>\n
I had noticed it on the changing table.<\/p>\n
At the time, I hadn't known what it meant.<\/p>\n
Now a doctor was ordering pictures of the bones inside her leg.<\/p>\n
The nurse began arranging what was needed.<\/p>\n
I stood to one side while she worked.<\/p>\n
I wanted to be useful.<\/p>\n
But there was very little I could do.<\/p>\n
I asked whether Paige would need medicine for the pain.<\/p>\n
The nurse assured me that the medical team was addressing her discomfort.<\/p>\n
That was the first thing anyone had said that gave me even a little relief.<\/p>\n
Not because I believed Paige was going to be fine immediately.<\/p>\n
But because someone finally understood that her crying wasn't ordinary fussiness.<\/p>\n
It wasn't teething.<\/p>\n
It wasn't a baby being difficult.<\/p>\n
She was hurting.<\/p>\n
And the people around her were treating that pain seriously.<\/p>\n
The resident asked whether I was Paige's mother.<\/p>\n
"No. I'm her aunt."<\/p>\n
"What's your sister's name?"<\/p>\n
"Kate."<\/p>\n
"And Paige's father?"<\/p>\n
"Ryan."<\/p>\n
She wrote the names down.<\/p>\n
I watched the movement of her pen.<\/p>\n
Then she asked how long Paige had been with me.<\/p>\n
I told her Kate had dropped her off around nine that morning.<\/p>\n
I explained that Paige hadn't begun crying hard until about twenty minutes after they left.<\/p>\n
The resident asked whether I had witnessed any fall.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did anything strike her leg while she was with you?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Was there any accident?"<\/p>\n
"Nothing. She was with me the entire time."<\/p>\n
I could hear the strain in my voice.<\/p>\n
I was afraid my answers sounded defensive.<\/p>\n
But I didn't know how else to explain it.<\/p>\n
I hadn't seen anything happen.<\/p>\n
I had only discovered what was already there.<\/p>\n
The doctor didn't accuse me of anything.<\/p>\n
She simply kept asking.<\/p>\n
"Who brought Paige to your house?"<\/p>\n
"Kate brought her inside."<\/p>\n
"Was Ryan there?"<\/p>\n
"Yes. He was in the car."<\/p>\n
"Did he come inside?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
The doctor made another note.<\/p>\n
I remembered Ryan sitting in the car while Kate carried Paige and the diaper bag to my door.<\/p>\n
It hadn't seemed important.<\/p>\n
He was going shopping with his wife.<\/p>\n
There was nothing unusual about him staying outside for a few minutes.<\/p>\n
But the doctor wanted to know.<\/p>\n
And suddenly I understood that even ordinary details might matter.<\/p>\n
The resident asked whether Kate had mentioned an injury.<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
"She said Paige was teething."<\/p>\n
"Anything else?"<\/p>\n
"She said Paige had been restless overnight."<\/p>\n
I paused.<\/p>\n
"She also told me to use my judgment if Paige got difficult to settle."<\/p>\n
The doctor looked up.<\/p>\n
"What did you understand that to mean?"<\/p>\n
I thought about it.<\/p>\n
"That I could decide what she needed. A bottle, some comfort, whatever helped."<\/p>\n
I swallowed.<\/p>\n
"I didn't think she meant anything serious."<\/p>\n
The doctor wrote that down too.<\/p>\n
For a moment, neither of us spoke.<\/p>\n
Then I asked the question that had been bothering me since I entered the hospital.<\/p>\n
"Should I call Kate?"<\/p>\n
The resident looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Have you spoken to her since you found the injury?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
I felt uncomfortable admitting that.<\/p>\n
I had been so focused on getting Paige examined that I hadn't wanted to lose time.<\/p>\n
I had taken the diaper bag and my phone and left.<\/p>\n
I hadn't stood in my kitchen trying to decide what my sister would say.<\/p>\n
I hadn't waited for permission.<\/p>\n
Now I wondered whether I should have contacted her sooner.<\/p>\n
"I came straight here," I explained.<\/p>\n
"I thought Paige needed a doctor immediately."<\/p>\n
The resident nodded.<\/p>\n
"Seeking medical care was important."<\/p>\n
Those words settled something inside me.<\/p>\n
I had been second-guessing nearly every part of the morning.<\/p>\n
The bottle.<\/p>\n
The walking.<\/p>\n
The way I shifted my hand.<\/p>\n
The baby wipe.<\/p>\n
At least I knew I had been right about bringing her in.<\/p>\n
The nurse returned to explain how Paige would be taken for imaging.<\/p>\n
I listened carefully.<\/p>\n
I asked whether she would be moved much.<\/p>\n
I asked whether someone would support her leg.<\/p>\n
I asked whether I could stay nearby.<\/p>\n
The nurse answered each question patiently.<\/p>\n
I could tell she had probably dealt with frightened family members before.<\/p>\n
But she didn't make me feel foolish.<\/p>\n
She treated my questions as reasonable.<\/p>\n
I appreciated that more than I could say.<\/p>\n
Before they moved Paige, the resident returned to the makeup.<\/p>\n
"Can you describe exactly where you saw it?"<\/p>\n
I pointed toward the left thigh without touching it.<\/p>\n
"Over the swollen part."<\/p>\n
"Did you see anyone apply it?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Do you know whether your sister uses that kind of cosmetic?"<\/p>\n
I hesitated.<\/p>\n
Kate owned makeup.<\/p>\n
Most adults I knew did.<\/p>\n
But that didn't tell me who had put anything on Paige.<\/p>\n
"I know Kate wears makeup," I said.<\/p>\n
"But I don't know whether that was hers."<\/p>\n
The doctor nodded.<\/p>\n
I was relieved she hadn't asked me to guess.<\/p>\n
She wanted facts.<\/p>\n
I could provide facts.<\/p>\n
Anything beyond that felt dangerous.<\/p>\n
I didn't want to say something about my sister that I couldn't prove.<\/p>\n
I didn't want to protect anyone by hiding what I had seen either.<\/p>\n
Those two feelings were beginning to pull against each other.<\/p>\n
I loved Kate.<\/p>\n
She was my sister.<\/p>\n
I had trusted her when she told me Paige was teething.<\/p>\n
But I loved Paige too.<\/p>\n
And Paige was the one lying on a hospital bed with a swollen leg.<\/p>\n
The nurse prepared to take her for X-rays.<\/p>\n
I moved beside the bed.<\/p>\n
"Hey, sweetheart," I whispered.<\/p>\n
Paige turned her face slightly toward my voice.<\/p>\n
She didn't smile.<\/p>\n
She didn't reach for me the way she sometimes did.<\/p>\n
She only made a tired little sound.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
"I'm right here."<\/p>\n
I said it again because I couldn't think of anything else.<\/p>\n
"I'm right here, baby."<\/p>\n
The nurse adjusted the blanket around Paige.<\/p>\n
I watched every movement.<\/p>\n
The green sleeper was still with her belongings.<\/p>\n
I remembered opening it at my house.<\/p>\n
I remembered how carefully I had moved the fabric around her legs.<\/p>\n
It seemed strange that a piece of baby clothing could hold so much meaning.<\/p>\n
That morning, it had been an ordinary green sleeper.<\/p>\n
Now I couldn't look at it without remembering the first moment I noticed something was wrong.<\/p>\n
The imaging process felt longer than I expected.<\/p>\n
I tried not to show how anxious I was.<\/p>\n
I knew the staff needed to do their work.<\/p>\n
I also knew Paige couldn't understand why unfamiliar people were touching her.<\/p>\n
I stayed close whenever I was permitted.<\/p>\n
When she cried, I spoke softly.<\/p>\n
When she settled briefly, I stopped talking and let the quiet remain.<\/p>\n
I didn't want to overwhelm her.<\/p>\n
I only wanted her to recognize my voice.<\/p>\n
At one point, I looked toward the door and thought about Kate again.<\/p>\n
She was probably still expecting to return to my house after shopping.<\/p>\n
She probably thought Paige was there.<\/p>\n
I had no idea whether she had checked her phone.<\/p>\n
I had no idea whether she was wondering how the baby was doing.<\/p>\n
I wondered whether she would be angry that I'd brought Paige to the hospital without telling her first.<\/p>\n
Then I looked at Paige's face.<\/p>\n
Whatever my sister thought, that decision was already made.<\/p>\n
And I would make it again.<\/p>\n
After the X-rays were taken, Paige was brought back to the examination area.<\/p>\n
The staff kept her leg supported.<\/p>\n
I stood beside her while we waited.<\/p>\n
There was a chair near the bed.<\/p>\n
I sat down for a moment.<\/p>\n
My hands were trembling.<\/p>\n
I looked at them.<\/p>\n
They were the same hands that had held Paige that morning.<\/p>\n
The same hands that had warmed the bottle.<\/p>\n
The same hands that had opened her sleeper.<\/p>\n
The same hands that had wiped away a small patch of concealer.<\/p>\n
I pressed them together.<\/p>\n
I wished I could make them stop shaking.<\/p>\n
The nurse came back to check on Paige.<\/p>\n
I asked whether the X-rays were ready.<\/p>\n
She said the doctor would review the results.<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
There was nothing else to do.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later, the resident returned.<\/p>\n
Her expression was serious.<\/p>\n
She pulled a chair closer.<\/p>\n
I knew before she spoke that this wasn't going to be a conversation about sore gums or diaper irritation.<\/p>\n
"We've identified an injury to the bone in Paige's left leg."<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I didn't understand the sentence.<\/p>\n
Then I heard myself ask,<\/p>\n
"A fracture?"<\/p>\n
The doctor nodded.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
I looked toward Paige.<\/p>\n
My niece was six months old.<\/p>\n
She couldn't crawl around the house getting into trouble like an older child.<\/p>\n
She couldn't stand up and fall.<\/p>\n
She couldn't even explain what hurt.<\/p>\n
Yet there was a fracture in her little leg.<\/p>\n
I felt my eyes fill.<\/p>\n
"How?"<\/p>\n
The word came out before I could stop it.<\/p>\n
The doctor didn't pretend she knew.<\/p>\n
"That's something we need to understand."<\/p>\n
I wiped my face quickly.<\/p>\n
I didn't want my fear to interfere with what she was saying.<\/p>\n
She explained that the team would need to look carefully at the circumstances.<\/p>\n
They would also need to determine whether there were any other injuries.<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Other injuries?"<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
"With a baby this young, we need to be thorough."<\/p>\n
I thought about the bruise under the concealer.<\/p>\n
I thought that had been the whole problem.<\/p>\n
Then the X-ray had shown a fracture.<\/p>\n
Now the doctor was telling me they needed to check for more.<\/p>\n
I glanced down at the diaper bag beside my chair.<\/p>\n
I had carried it into the hospital without opening it.<\/p>\n
Kate had handed it to me that morning.<\/p>\n
At the time, I had believed it contained nothing more than diapers, bottles, clothes, and the ordinary things Paige might need.<\/p>\n
I looked back at the doctor.<\/p>\n
"Please check everything you need to."<\/p>\n
My voice sounded small.<\/p>\n
But I meant every word.<\/p>\n
I wanted Paige treated.<\/p>\n
I wanted her safe.<\/p>\n
And I wanted to understand how a little girl who couldn't speak had ended up with an injury nobody had told me about.<\/p>\n
The doctor explained that additional medical staff would be involved.<\/p>\n
She said someone might need to ask me more questions.<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
I wasn't worried about repeating myself.<\/p>\n
I would tell the same story as many times as necessary.<\/p>\n
I knew what had happened while Paige was with me.<\/p>\n
I knew what I had seen.<\/p>\n
I knew what I hadn't seen.<\/p>\n
And I was beginning to understand that both mattered.<\/p>\n
The resident stood.<\/p>\n
Before she left, I asked one more question.<\/p>\n
"Is Paige going to be okay?"<\/p>\n
The doctor looked at her.<\/p>\n
"We're going to take good care of her, and we'll explain what we learn as we go."<\/p>\n
It wasn't the simple promise I wanted.<\/p>\n
But it was an answer I could trust.<\/p>\n
I moved my chair closer to Paige's bed.<\/p>\n
Her breathing had become quieter.<\/p>\n
She looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
I rested my hand near hers without moving her leg.<\/p>\n
Her tiny fingers curled around one of mine.<\/p>\n
I stayed there.<\/p>\n
For the first time since Kate had dropped her off, Paige wasn't screaming.<\/p>\n
The silence should have felt comforting.<\/p>\n
Instead, it gave me room to think.<\/p>\n
About the fracture.<\/p>\n
About the makeup.<\/p>\n
About the questions.<\/p>\n
And about the fact that somewhere outside that hospital, Kate and Ryan still hadn't heard what the doctors had found.<\/p>\n
I knew I couldn't leave them uninformed forever.<\/p>\n
But I also knew that the next conversation would be very different from the one I'd expected to have when they returned from shopping.<\/p>\n
The resident stayed beside Paige's examination bed for a few moments after explaining why the injury concerned her. I kept watching the doctor's face. I wanted her to tell me … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37709,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37689\/revisions\/37709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}