I stepped into the hallway and called Curtis.
He answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?”
“At the hospital.”
“I know that. What have you told them?”
I gripped the phone.
“They found a large mass near Sadie’s ovary. They’re considering surgery.”
There was a pause.
“Well, don’t let them rush you into anything.”
“Her doctor says this is urgent.”
“Doctors always say that.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Why did you take her to a clinic and then refuse to follow the doctor’s recommendation?”
Silence.
“Who told you that?”
“Sadie did.”
“She’s a child. She doesn’t understand what happened.”
“Then explain it to me.”
He exhaled sharply.
“Paula, we need to talk when I get there.”
“Why was our insurance canceled?”
Another pause.
“What?”
“The hospital says the policy was terminated because the premium wasn’t paid.”
“That’s an administrative mistake.”
“Then why did Sadie hear you talking about insurance money?”
His voice hardened.
“Don’t interrogate me over the phone.”
I looked through the window into Sadie’s room.
My daughter was lying in a hospital bed with an IV in her arm.
“Your daughter is sick, Curtis.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He hung up.
I stood there for several seconds.
Then I called the insurance company.
The representative confirmed that the policy had been canceled because the monthly premiums had stopped arriving.
But something else appeared in the account history.
A payment had been made from our family account, then reversed.
The representative couldn’t explain why.
I asked for the cancellation notice and payment records.
She agreed to send them.
Then I called my sister, Megan.
She had always helped me understand financial paperwork because she worked in banking.
When I told her what was happening, she went quiet.
“Paula, do you still have access to your joint bank account?”
“Yes.”
“Look at the transactions from the last three months.”
I opened the banking app.
Megan asked me to read out several entries.
Then she said:
“Paula, I think you need to download every statement before Curtis realizes you’re looking.”
“Why?”
“Because these payments don’t look like ordinary household expenses.”
Part 6: The Account
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