School

The girls reveal the problem with the man, Marco. Laura takes care of the girls while Kevin is on a call.

 

School

 

 

 

Kimberly could not believe what her sister had to say. She trusted her sister and she had no reason to believe Stacy would tell a lie like this or to make up such a bizarre story. She knew her sister had a very vivid imagination at times and she had also suffered some pretty bad dreams since the night she had seen someone in their house as well. Kimberly didn’t realize the man in their house that night was Marco.

            “Kimberly”, Ms Campbell said, “What Stacy is telling us is the truth. We have no reason to think she would make up a story like this. She has nothing to gain from it and she was afraid of hurting you if she said anything at all. The man almost hurt your mother, and that is not her fault. It is not your fault and it isn’t Stacy’s fault.”

            “Marco always seemed pretty nice and he treats Mom really nice.”

            “But Kim,” Stacy protested, “this is true. I saw them and he was trying to do something to Mom. He gave her a gold bracelet this weekend at our gymnastics meet and he kissed her hand before I got on the bars. I saw all of it, Kim. I’ve tried to keep quiet about it, but now that he has sent flowers to us, I’m afraid. He’s going to try to hurt Mom, or Dad, or us.”

            “Why do you say that, Stacy?” Ms Campbell asked.

            “I just feel like he will. He did hurt Mom that night. I saw him do it. He grabbed her in her privates and he hurt her. I saw the marks he left. Mom still doesn’t know that I saw them on the couch and she doesn’t know that I was in their bed when she ran into her room.”

            “Kimberly,” Ms Campbell began, “can you believe your sister is telling the truth about this man?”

            “She has never been wrong about anyone in her life. She would not make this up to hurt anyone, but are you sure it was him in our house that night? I saw something or someone in the den that night, but I thought I was just sleepwalking again and having a strange dream. It’s a little freaky to find out now that it was for real.”

            “Positive. He was drunk and he hurt Mom. I think he tried to have sex with her, but she got away from him. And I know our Aunt Laura saw him give her that bracelet and she saw him kiss her too. We can call her when we get home if you want to. She wouldn’t lie to us.”

            “I wish I could offer something other than a place to talk and some ears to listen”, Ms Campbell said. “There are some really tough times ahead for your family, girls. I hate to say this, but once we let your father know about this, your parents may even get a divorce.”

            “You can’t tell him. That would violate patient confidentiality.”

            “Excuse me? Why would you say I can’t talk this over with your parents?”

            “Telling my Dad or my Mom would be a violation of patient confidentiality. Nurse Cook treated me as a patient and referred me to you. That keeps us under the patient confidentiality rules. You tell them without asking either of us and it could cost you your license. Dad always keeps that rule with his patients.”

            “I am afraid she is right, Ms Campbell. The new HIPPA regulations cover us in the school setting as well. I treated Stacy as a patient due to emotional distress and we are in here because I referred her to you. She has not been harmed by either parent or the man who sent the flowers, so we have no charges to file or any reason to call the parents in to talk about this unless it affects her school work.”

            “I see. Girls, maybe this would be a good time to tell your Dad the truth and hope for the best. This is not a good situation and it will not get better if you don’t talk to at least one parent about what you know.”

            “I’ll talk to them both. Kimberly and I will talk to them both and together we can fix this.”

            “Maybe you can. I honestly believe that if any young girl could fix this mess, it would be you.”

            “Will you call our Dad to come and get us now? I just want to go home.”

            Kimberly still wanted to believe that Stacy was making the whole story up, but she knew her sister too well. She had seen a man in their house that night and she had seen the new gold bracelet on Mom’s wrist and she wanted to believe that Dad had given it to her. That was the type of gift her Mom used to talk to her about before her dad had left Houston to work for less money. Kimberly had her own course of action in her head. The one person she knew she could count on now was Aunt Laura.

            “Wait”, Kimberly said. “Couldn’t we call Aunt Laura? Dad’s still at work and he could be really busy. I know Aunt Laura is off because she is staying with us tonight. She will be home or we can page her.”

            “Yeah, you’re right Kim. Maybe that would be better anyway. Dad will have enough to deal with once we get him and Mom together.”

            “Laura Wright?” Nurse Cook asked. 

            “That’s her. She is on our car rider list, right under Dad. Mom hardly ever picks us up.”

            “Okay girls”, Ms Campbell said. “We are here if you need someone to talk to, ever.”

            “Thanks, Ms Campbell”, Kimberly said.

            “I’ll take them up front and call their aunt” Nurse Cook volunteered.  

            The three sat in the office until Laura showed up to take the girls home from school. After some contemplation, the girls thought it best to give the flowers to the children’s unit at Laura’s hospital. They might as well be black roses to Stacy because of the person who sent them, but they could brighten the room of some other child. Laura was more than happy to handle that task with the girls in tow.