Chapter 7 - Not Alone on Duty Anymore
Ava did not return to the estate for three weeks.
She stayed with Nathaniel and Oliver in a quiet furnished house near the hospital, where no hallway echoed and no door was too heavy for a child to open.
At night, she slept on a mattress beside Oliver’s crib.
Nathaniel tried to move her gently.
“You can have your own room, sweetheart.”
She shook her head.
“What if he cries?”
“I’ll hear him.”
“What if you don’t?”
The question had no easy answer.
So Nathaniel placed a baby monitor beside his own bed and another beside hers.
Then he said, “If he cries, we both hear him. You are his sister. I am his father. You are not alone on duty anymore.”
Ava stared at him.
“Duty?”
“That’s what grown-ups call responsibilities that are too big for children.”
She thought about that.
“Do I still love him if I sleep?”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
She slept for four hours that night.
It was the longest she had slept in weeks.
Recovery was not neat.
Ava flinched at black robes.
At brass door handles.
At the sound of belts being pulled through loops.
Nathaniel removed every belt from his closet and replaced them with suspenders for six months because some symbols are not worth defending.
People told him that was excessive.
He told them they were welcome to leave.
Oliver grew stronger.
Louder.
Fatter in the cheeks.
Ava slowly stopped jumping every time he cried.
Instead of panic, she began asking, “Do you want me to sing or do you have him?”
Nathaniel always answered carefully.
“I have him. You can sing if you want.”
Choice.
Not duty.
The first time Ava went to school again, she asked if Oliver could come.
Nathaniel said no gently.
She cried in the car.
Not because she loved school less.
Because being away from her brother felt like breaking a promise.
The therapist helped her draw a circle.
Inside the circle, Ava wrote:
Things I can do.
Sing to Oliver.
Tell Dad if I’m scared.
Hug Bunny.
Ask Mrs. Bell for snacks.
Outside the circle, the therapist wrote:
Things adults must do.
Feed the baby.
Keep the house safe.
Call doctors.
May you like
Stop dangerous people.
Ava took the paper home and taped it beside her bed.
