Chapter 5 - THE AFTERMATH IN THE ER
The sterile white lights of the Alexandria Memorial emergency room hummed overhead like an angry swarm of bees.
I sat on the examination table with my left foot elevated, wrapped in thick white gauze from toes to ankle. The local anesthetic the ER doctor had administered was beginning to wear off, leaving a dull, throbbing ache that radiated deep into the bone.
The door swung open, and my father walked in, looking twenty years older than he had that morning. His shoulders were bowed, his tie loosened, and his hands trembled slightly as he clutched a paper cup of cold water.
“How’s the foot?” he asked softly, setting the cup down on the rolling tray.
“The doctor said the tacks missed the main tendon by about two millimeters,” I replied, my voice flat and emotionless. “A few stitches, a tetanus shot, and two weeks off my feet. I’ll live.”
My father swallowed hard, staring down at the linoleum floor. “Sutton is... she’s completely beside herself. Your mother is at the hotel with her now. Declan has already packed his bags and left for his parents’ house in McLean. The caterers are demanding payment for the full reception, and the venue is threatening to sue for breach of contract.”
I didn't say anything. I just looked at him.
“Marin,” he began, his voice cracking with desperate pleading. “I know what she did was... it was horrific. There’s no excuse for it. But she’s your sister.”
“Don’t say it, Dad,” I warned, my voice dropping into a quiet, dangerous register.
“She made a terrible mistake,” he continued, ignoring my warning out of pure habit. “She’s young, she’s stressed about the wedding... if we all pull together, maybe we can help her salvage some dignity. You know how gossip spreads in this town. If you press charges—”
“Press charges?” I interrupted, letting out a dry, humorless laugh. “Dad, she assaulted me with a weaponized shoe on a live wedding carpet in front of two hundred witnesses, including three prominent corporate attorneys and a local magistrate. She didn't make a mistake. She committed a felony.”
My father flinched as if I had struck him across the face. “She’s family, Marin! Family doesn't put family in prison!”
“Family doesn't drive nails into their sister’s foot either,” I snapped, finally letting the cold fury I had bottled up for thirty-four years break through the surface. “For my entire life, you and Mom taught me one absolute rule: Be the bigger person. Whenever Sutton threw a tantrum, whenever she broke my things, whenever she shoved me into a ditch when I was nineteen, you told me to swallow it, smile, and let her win.”
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Tears of sheer exhaustion and lingering pain pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them away.
“Well, I’m done being the bigger person, Dad,” I said, looking him dead in the eye. “The bigger person bleeding on a white carpet has finally realized that the game was rigged from the start. Tell Sutton to hire a very good criminal defense attorney. Because I’m not dropping a single charge.”
