"I slipped."
The father looked at her.
She pointed toward the floor.
"When I came out of the kitchen."
Her voice broke.
"I almost fell."
She touched her knee.
"I couldn't reach the stairs standing."
The father remembered the torn fabric.
The nanny continued.
"So I slid."
She looked at the child.
"If I was one second slower..."
She stopped.
Nobody needed the rest.
The mother shook her head.
"But you weren't."
The father stared at her.
"What?"
"You weren't slower."
The father's expression changed.
The mother immediately realized she had gone too far.
"That's not what I meant."
"Yes, it is."
"No."
"You are defending the plan because it happened to work."
"It wasn't a plan."
The older daughter spoke.
"Yes, it was."
Her mother turned.
"Enough."
The girl stepped behind her father.
He felt it.
That movement.
His daughter physically using him as a barrier from her mother.
Something inside him broke.
He looked at his wife.
"You need to leave the room."
She stared.
"This is my house."
"Go upstairs."
"No."
"Then I'll take the children somewhere else."
Her face changed.
"You can't take my children."
The father closed his eyes.
He did not want this conversation in front of them.
Not another second.
He turned toward the nanny.
"Can you take Emma into the den?"
The nanny hesitated.
She looked at the mother.
The father noticed.
"You're safe."
The nanny looked at him.
"Take her."
The little girl resisted when he began transferring her.
"Daddy."
"I'm coming."
The nanny held out her arms.
The child went willingly.
She immediately wrapped herself around the nanny.
That image hurt him.
Not because his daughter trusted the nanny.
Because she had every reason to.
The nanny had been the person running toward her.
The father looked at the older daughter.
"Go with them."
The girl nodded.
Her mother said:
"Lily."
The girl did not look at her.
The three disappeared into the den.
The father waited until the door closed.
Then turned.
His wife started speaking immediately.
"You need to hear me."
"I've been hearing you."
"No."
She stepped closer.
"You don't understand what this house has been like."
"Then tell me without involving the children."
"I tried."
"When?"
"Every day."
"You said you were lonely."
"I am."
"I suggested therapy."
"You suggested outsourcing our marriage to a stranger."
"I suggested help."
"I wanted you."
The father looked exhausted.
"I was here."
"Physically."
He stared at her.
She continued.
"You're always on your phone."
"So you pushed our daughter toward a staircase?"
She covered her face.