Chapter 14 - ETHAN’S SECOND ROOM
Ethan did not come home with me after discharge.
I went to a small apartment Dad owned near the hospital.
Two bedrooms.
Not his mansion.
Not his estate.
My choice.
Elena remained in NICU nine days.
Ethan rented an apartment in the same neighborhood.
Not with Dorothy.
Not at our marital home.
Why?
Because I could not sleep in the same house yet.
He accepted.
Our first couples session happened while Elena was still hospitalized.
Dr. Nora Bennett asked him:
“When did you know something was wrong?”
“At the corridor.”
“Before Massimo opened the door?”
“I heard pounding.”
“Did you investigate?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked at me.
“I thought Mom had put Isabella in the room to calm down.”
I stared.
“You thought she locked me?”
“No.”
“But you thought she had put me somewhere I did not want to be?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why not come?”
“Because the ceremony was about to start.”
Silence.
The sentence sounded even worse without explanation.
He continued.
“I thought it was five minutes. Maybe less.”
Dr. Bennett asked:
“If your wife was distressed for five minutes, what did the wedding gain by your waiting?”
Ethan covered his face.
Nothing.
May you like
That became a word he learned to tolerate.
Nothing.
