Chapter 1 - the slap everyone heard)
Three golden balloons were tied to the mailbox when Kallie pulled into her parents' driveway.
Paisley saw them through the car window.
"Balloons, Mommy."
"I see them."
"Gold."
"That's right."
Paisley had recently become obsessed with colors.
Everything had to be identified.
Blue cup.
Pink shoes.
Green tree.
Red car.
At twenty-six months old, she spoke in short bursts and repeated words whenever she was excited.
Kallie unbuckled her from the car seat.
"Ready for cousin Hallie's birthday?"
"Cake?"
Kallie laughed.
"Yes. There will definitely be cake."
She carried her daughter toward the house without any idea that less than two hours later she would leave through the same door feeling like she had lost half her family.
Inside, the Reed house was loud.
Nearly twenty relatives filled the living room and kitchen.
Children ran between adults.
Someone had music playing near the dining room.
Kallie's mother hurried over wearing a pale blue blouse and the expression she always wore when hosting something important.
"You're late."
"By six minutes."
"I told everyone three."
"It's three-oh-six, Mom."
Diane rolled her eyes and took the gift bag from Kallie's hand.
"Where's Paisley's bow?"
Kallie looked at her daughter.
"In her hair."
"No, the gold one I gave you."
"She pulled it out in the car."
Diane sighed.
"You could have put it back."
Paisley pressed her face against Kallie's shoulder.
Kallie rubbed her back.
"She doesn't like it."
"Children don't always get to decide everything."
There was nothing unusual about the exchange.
That was what would bother Kallie later.
Her mother had always made little comments.
Small enough to ignore.
Frequent enough to leave a mark.
Kallie had spent thirty-one years learning how to step around them.
She took Paisley into the living room.
Seth was beside the television holding a soda.
At thirty-four, he was still treated like the center of every Reed family gathering.
He had been the athlete.
The loud one.
The funny one.
The son their father introduced first.
Kallie had learned young that family peace often meant allowing Seth to win conversations nobody else realized were competitions.
"There's the princess," Seth said.
Paisley looked at him and hid behind Kallie's leg.
Seth laughed.
"Still shy?"
"She's two."
"At two, Hallie was talking to everybody."
Hallie was Seth's five-year-old daughter.
She was also the birthday girl.
Kallie looked toward the kitchen where Hallie was laughing with cousins.
"Kids are different."
Seth took a drink.
"You always say that whenever Paisley does something weird."
Kallie stared at him.
"She's not weird."
"I didn't mean weird weird."
"Then don't say it."
His smile changed slightly.
There it was.
The familiar tension.
Then their aunt Linda appeared with a tray of food and the moment passed.
For the next hour, everything was ordinary.
Paisley ate strawberries.
She followed Hallie around the living room.
She sat on the carpet with two other toddlers and stacked plastic cups.
Kallie talked with cousins she had not seen since Christmas.
Her father spent most of the time discussing property taxes with two uncles.
Diane repeatedly adjusted decorations.
Then someone called everyone toward the dining room for cake.
That was when Paisley noticed the ribbons.
They hung from one of the balloon arrangements near the edge of the living room.
Long metallic strips catching the afternoon light.
Paisley walked toward them.
"Pretty."
Kallie was four steps away.
She saw her daughter reach up.
She also saw Seth turn.
"Don't touch that."
Paisley looked at him.
Her hand remained raised.
"Pretty."
"I said don't touch it."
Paisley pulled one ribbon lightly.
The balloon bobbed.
Nothing broke.
Nothing fell.
She giggled.
Then Seth walked over.
Kallie started forward.
"Seth, she's fine."
He reached Paisley first.
His hand came down across the side of her face.
The sound snapped through the room.
Not a tap.
Not a playful swat.
A slap.
Paisley's head turned.
For one impossible second, she made no sound.
Her eyes widened.
Then her face collapsed.
She screamed.
Kallie was beside her immediately.
"What did you do?"
She lifted Paisley into her arms.
Her daughter's cheek was already turning red.
Seth stepped back.
"I told her not to touch it."
"You hit her."
"She wasn't listening."
"She's two."
"Exactly. That's when kids learn."
Paisley buried her face against Kallie's neck.
Kallie could feel her shaking.
She turned toward her mother.
"Mom?"
Diane did not look at Paisley's cheek.
She looked at Kallie.
"Don't start."
Kallie stared at her.
"What?"
"Don't turn this into something bigger than it was."
"He slapped her."
"Seth shouldn't have done that," Diane said quickly. "But you're making everybody uncomfortable."
Kallie looked around.
People were watching.
Aunt Linda.
Uncle Mark.
Her cousins Jennifer and Paige.
Her father's brother.
Three teenagers near the hallway.
Children by the cake table.
Nearly twenty people.
Nobody moved.
Kallie looked at Seth.
He opened his soda.
"Your daughter needed a good slap to learn some manners."
The words sounded unreal.
Kallie tightened her arms around Paisley.
Her father entered from the kitchen.
"What happened?"
Diane answered first.
"Paisley was pulling the decorations after Seth told her to stop."
Richard looked at Seth.
Then at Kallie.
"Well, he shouldn't have hit her, but children need boundaries."
Kallie's voice dropped.
"Are you serious?"
"Don't raise your voice."
"My daughter was just hit."
"And she's fine."
"Her face is red."
Richard shrugged.
"Kids get hurt."
Something changed inside Kallie then.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
It was more like a door closing.
She stopped trying to convince them.
She stopped expecting anyone to suddenly behave like the people she had believed they were.
Kallie pulled Paisley's blanket from the chair.
She grabbed the diaper bag.
Diane followed her.
"You're leaving?"
"Yes."
"Over this?"
Kallie looked at her.
"Because of this."
"Hallie hasn't even opened presents."
"Tell her Aunt Kallie loves her."
"Kallie, don't punish Hallie because you're angry."
Kallie opened the front door.
"I'm not punishing anyone."
Seth called from behind them.
"Go cool down. You'll realize you're being ridiculous."
Kallie turned.
She looked directly at her brother.
"I will never leave my daughter alone with you again."
His smile disappeared.
"Grow up."
Kallie stepped outside.
Paisley whimpered against her shoulder.
The door closed.
Kallie reached her car.
Her hands were shaking so badly she had trouble fastening the car seat.
"Mommy."
"I'm here."
"Hurt."
Kallie swallowed.
"I know, baby."
Paisley touched her cheek.
"Sef bad?"
Kallie's eyes filled.
She kissed the top of her daughter's head.
"Seth did something bad. You didn't."
Paisley stared at her.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Kallie closed the car door.
She did not drive home.
Instead, she searched for the nearest pediatric emergency clinic.
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Twenty minutes later, a nurse took one look at Paisley's cheek and asked a question that changed the direction of everything.
"Who hit her?"
