The Missing Months
Chapter 06 - The Missing Months
Rebecca insisted there was nothing more.
Clara did not believe her.
Neither did Ethan.
Over the next week, Ethan began reconstructing the three years after the crash.
He found canceled rehabilitation appointments.
Therapists who had been told Clara refused treatment.
A specialized mobility program in Chicago that had offered her a six-week evaluation—declined by Rebecca.
Ethan’s name appeared on the refusal form.
But he had never seen it.
His assistant searched archived emails and found that messages from the program had been automatically forwarded to an address controlled by Rebecca.
The discovery did not feel dramatic.
It felt sickeningly ordinary.
One decision.
Then another.
Then another.
A life narrowed by paperwork.
Clara began rehabilitation with Dr. Shah’s team.
The first sessions were brutal.
Her muscles had weakened. Her joints were stiff. The smallest effort left her exhausted.
On the third day, Clara threw a therapy band across the room.
“I can’t do this.”
Mia, who had been allowed to remain at the house temporarily while child services reviewed her case, picked it up.
“You can stop for today,” Mia said.
Clara looked at her sharply.
“That’s not what everyone says.”
“My mom said rest is not quitting.”
Something about the sentence made Clara laugh through her tears.
The two girls became inseparable.
Mia read aloud during exercises. Clara helped Mia with school worksheets. They argued over movies and shared midnight cereal when Ethan thought they were sleeping.
For the first time since Laura’s death, the house sounded alive.
Then Ethan received a call from child services.
Someone had reported that Mia was unsafe in his home.
The caller claimed Ethan had brought a vulnerable child into a household filled with medical instability and emotional conflict.
The report was anonymous.
But when Ethan told Rebecca, she did not look surprised.
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She only said, “Maybe now the child can go where she belongs.”
And Ethan finally understood that Rebecca was afraid of Mia.
