He Taught Other Children Water Safety While Ours Was Dying

1: 1

Irvin Gilbert promised to take Nina Abbott to the water park, but right up until Nina drowned, he still hadn't shown up, because he was with his childhood friend Ellie Henson.

When I reached out to grab Nina, I lost my footing and fell, and the fall sent me into early labor.

Before I passed out, the last thing in my ears was the panicked screaming of the other visitors.

On the operating table, hand shaking, I signed the emergency surgery consent forms for myself and for Nina.

That was when Irvin finally texted me:

Ran into Ellie on the way, handling a quick emergency, I'll be there soon.

Again. The same thing, again.

North and south, opposite ends of the city, and to him it was all "on the way."

I opened his social feed. Pinned at the top was a drowning-prevention promo video:

There's Still Time.

In the photo, Irvin was crouched down, patiently and gently walking each child through water-safety tips.

Beside him stood Ellie, holding a stack of brochures, her profile soft and sweet, her whole face lit with a smile.

Numbly, I tapped the like button.

Then I sent him the hospital's location.

He replied in a second: Got it.

I sent one more: Come here. As soon as you get here, we're going to the county clerk's office to file for divorce.

Irvin's call came through.

"Babe, what is it now? All these calls. Didn't I already say I'd come as soon as I finished up?"

I found it almost funny, but I couldn't laugh.

"Irvin, you promised you'd come soon. You didn't come."

"This so-called urgent work of yours, was it handing out brochures with Ellie?"

He didn't catch the weakness in my voice. He just explained, the same as always.

"Didn't I already tell you about it? I was helping out, it was on the way. Do you really have to blow this up, be this petty? And now you're using divorce as a threat?"

On the way? The talk was on the South Side. The water park was on the North Side.

And he was telling me it was on the way?

"If you two are done playing, just take Nina home first and wait for me."

Nina can't go home anymore.

Scalding tears struck the cold phone screen.

Every time I closed my eyes I saw Nina pinned at the bottom of the pool, trying again and again to push herself up,

losing the water's lift each time and going back down, until she choked and couldn't breathe.

"She can't come home."

Two seconds of silence on his end, then a note of irritation crept into his voice.

"Fine, I promised Nina I'd take her to the water park if she came in first, but something came up, didn't it! You're an adult. Can't you be a little more reasonable?"

Reasonable?

Through my mind flashed Nina's face as they wheeled her into surgery, pale and stiff, no life left in it,

and the flesh over my heart split open inch by inch, the pain so sharp I couldn't breathe.

"It's too late."

"Too late for what?" He still thought I was throwing a tantrum, his tone more impatient now. "I told you I'd come by later. Do you have to sit there muttering this cryptic, passive-aggressive stuff?"

I gathered every last bit of strength I had and forced out, choking:

"Nina, she's already"

Before I could finish, Ellie's soft, sweet call came through from his end.

"Irvin, come help me, I'm one brochure short over here."

"Coming!"

Irvin didn't notice anything wrong with me. He just lowered his voice and brushed me off.

"Babe, tell Nina Daddy will bring her a present when he's done, and we'll do bead art together."

The cold dial tone hummed from the other end.

Bead art?

Nina had always wanted the three of us to do bead art together, because all her friends did it with their parents.

But every time she asked, Irvin put it off. Every single time.

Six years. Irvin had so many "laters."

On our wedding day, Ellie's dog had a sudden seizure, and he tossed out "I'll be right back."

He left a hall full of family and friends, left me standing there in my wedding dress, and went to help her save the dog.

My parents got mocked for it by relatives for years.

On my birthday, I found out I was pregnant.

My heart full of joy, gripping the test results, I couldn't wait to tell him this gift from heaven.

But Ellie's dog was giving birth, so he told me "later," and didn't come home all night.

Everything about us, in Irvin's eyes, ranked below Ellie's dog.

My phone buzzed again. Irvin had forwarded me a short video.

The very one, Drowning-Prevention Film: There's Still Time.

Hurry and like, comment, and share for Ellie.

A bitter laugh escaped me.

The short video had been filmed on location at the exact water park where our whole world had just fallen apart.

I thought of Nina that morning, clutching her first-place certificate, skipping over to Irvin.

"Daddy, I got first place! You have to keep your promise and take me to the water park!"

Irvin ruffled her hair, doting.

"Good girl, Nina. Daddy still has work to do. You go with Mommy first."

In that instant, the starlight that had flared in Nina's eyes dimmed almost all the way out.

Maybe he caught the disappointment in her face, because Irvin added:

"Daddy will fly over the second he's done."

The light came rushing back into my innocent girl's eyes. She nodded hard and carefully reminded him:

"Daddy, you have to come fast! Everyone in my class has both their mom and dad playing with them."

Thinking of it, I fought down the surging pain in my chest, and the tears slid free anyway.

I drew a deep breath, pulled my thoughts back, and didn't dare remember any further.

I downloaded a divorce agreement online, filled it out carefully, and sent it to Irvin.

This time, he didn't reply with Got it.

He replied: Wait till I'm done and I'll call. We'll talk it through.

I picked up my phone and hired a lawyer to file for divorce.

I had just finished when the call I got wasn't from Irvin, but from my mother-in-law.

2: 2

"Ivy Pruitt, what exactly are you playing at? Pregnant in this heat and you still couldn't sit still, dragging yourself off to the water park to make trouble! Fine, throw your own life away, but you had to go and ruin Irvin's work too!"

"I wasn't throwing anything away! Irvin promised Nina he'd take her. He didn't show."

I leaned against the cold headboard of the hospital bed, aching everywhere.

"So he didn't go! You still called him a hundred times to make him!"

"What Irvin calls work was handing out flyers with Ellie Henson!"

Her voice dropped, sliding into that coaxing tone.

"How many times have I told you, Ellie is different. This whole family has to treat her well. You're his wife, you can't go around getting jealous over nothing."

The same speech, again.

From the day I married in, I'd heard it: she's different, you have to give way to her.

So Ellie only had to murmur that she felt dizzy, and Irvin would drop our anniversary and drive across the city overnight to bring her medicine.

A table of food reheated three or four times, and my mother-in-law still said I was making a fuss over some pointless sense of occasion.

I ran a fever of a hundred and two, burning up all over, and little Nina begged Irvin to help,

and Irvin said, "Just give your mom some hot water, she'll be fine."

And my mother-in-law still made excuses for him:

"Irvin isn't a doctor. You think you'd get better just because he came? Take a cab to the hospital yourself! It's not like you don't have arms and legs."

On the other end of the line, she kept listing everything I'd done wrong.

I couldn't hold back the sharp pain in my chest any longer, and my voice rose:

"Mom, these are things you should be saying to them!"

The words landed, and the flood of accusations on the other end stopped.

In an instant, not a sound.

I didn't wait for the second wave. I hung up.

My chest still hadn't settled when the hospital-room door was kicked open hard, and the IV bag over my head swung violently.

Irvin strode in and threw a stuffed toy onto my bed.

It was the lowest-tier prize from Ellie's event, the one you could redeem after collecting ten likes.

"Redeemed it for Nina."

Yesterday the collar he gave Ellie's dog was gold.

I opened my mouth to speak, and Irvin came down on me with a torrent of blame:

"Ivy Pruitt! What did you say to Mom? You upset her so badly she fainted! You're going home to apologize properly."

"There's no need for that."

I moved to pull out Nina's death certificate.

He yanked the hospital blanket off me.

"Caused all this and now you're playing sick, is that it."

Ellie saw her moment and stepped half a pace closer:

"Irvin, it's all my fault, all of it. It's because I asked you for help today. I got in the way of your family, I made your wife angry."

Then she lifted her hands to cover her face, her shoulders shaking hard, tears spilling down:

"If I'd known it would come to this, I should have gone with Mom and Dad in the earthquake back then. I shouldn't have clung to life and become a burden to you, shouldn't have made your wife unhappy, shouldn't have thrown this family into turmoil"

I pulled my lips into a smile, pale and bitter:

"You're right, it's because of you that this family fell apart. You managed it."

She paused for a second, then dropped her head and began sobbing softly, all wounded.

Irvin's eyes cut to me, sharp, then turned to soothe Ellie:

"Don't worry. I promised your mother I'd look after you, and I'll see it through to the end."

He turned back to me, his eyes cold as ice:

"Ivy Pruitt, don't push your luck just because you're pregnant!"

Irvin reached up and gently wiped Ellie's tears away, the motion soft, doting.

Ellie lowered her eyes to me on the bed, and there wasn't a trace of hurt in them, only a challenge.

I leaned back against the bed, staring at the two of them with hollow eyes, not the least bit angry.

I only hated myself for swallowing it all, for staying with a man as clueless as Irvin.

Nina was gone. The unborn child was gone too.

Maybe my silence was too strange, or maybe Irvin had finally noticed something wrong in my face.

3: 3

He gently eased Ellie back, still dabbing at her eyes.

His brows stayed furrowed, but his tone softened a little.

"Ivy, why did you come to the hospital all of a sudden? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

I pulled out the two surgical forms and had just held them out when his next words froze my hand in the air.

"The wristband app just sent an emergency alert. Mom's heart rate dropped and she fainted. She nearly didn't make it."

The wristband?

My head rang. I stared at him, unable to look away.

The smart safety wristband Irvin's lab had developed in-house, with real-time location tracking, drowning alerts, heart-rate monitoring, one-touch emergency alerts through the linked phone app.

I had begged him more than once to get one for Nina.

He always put me off. "The prototype isn't stable. I can't just hand it out."

I turned to look at Ellie. There was one on her wrist.

My throat trembled violently, my finger shaking as I pointed straight at Ellie's wrist.

"Why wasn't Nina given a wristband?!"

The air went dead still.

Ellie followed my gaze and spoke up timidly.

"Ivy, please don't be angry at Irvin."

"He gave me the wristband that was meant for Nina. He said she's young, they won't let her wear it at school anyway, so it would just sit at home going to waste."

"But I'm different. Irvin said I live alone, my heart is weak, I have to wear it every moment so he can stop worrying."

The words drove into my heart like a knife, twisting again and again.

My Nina could have had a chance to live.

For Ellie's sake.

For the lonely, pitiful first love he was always talking about, Irvin had given up on Nina.

He had taken away, with his own hands, his own daughter's chance to stay alive.

While he stood across the city preaching about drowning prevention, teaching strangers how to keep their children safe, his own child was suffocating!

A tide of hatred and despair swept over me all at once, crushing every ounce of pain and weakness in my body.

I don't know where the strength came from. I threw up my hand and slapped Irvin across the face with everything I had.

The crack of it froze everyone in place.

Ellie inspected the cheek that had snapped to the side, her eyes twisting as if she were the one who'd been struck.

"Ivy! If you want to hit someone, hit me! Why would you hit Irvin?"

"You think you can get away with this?" My eyes were bloodshot.

Irvin's pupils shrank. Without a second thought he yanked Ellie behind him, his back rigid, staring at me like I was a lunatic.

"Ivy, have you lost your mind?!"

"It's just one wristband. I'll get you another one. What gives you the right to raise your hand? What did Ellie ever do to you?!"

"Just one?" My palm was numb, my eyes red. "How many times did I ask you for it? It was always 'I forgot' or 'later.' And now you tell me you'll just get me another one?"

The force of it tore at my wound. I didn't feel the pain at all as warm liquid ran out of me in a steady stream.

"It's too late!" My whole body shook, my voice thick with tears.

Ellie shrank back, frightened by the sight of me, and tugged at Irvin's sleeve with a show of pleading.

"Irvin, don't be harsh with Ivy. It's my fault, all of it's my fault. I shouldn't have worn Nina's wristband, I upset her, don't blame her"

"Stop speaking for her!" Irvin's fury only rose, his eyes cutting into me, cold. "She's being unreasonable, throwing a tantrum just because she's pregnant."

A tantrum?

I stepped back and sank onto the hospital bed behind me, all my strength gone.

"Irvin, listen carefully. I have never been more clear-headed than I am right now."

"We're getting divorced."

4: 4

"You want a divorce over something this small?"

Irvin's face froze, then filled with irritation.

I held on to a single breath, my chest heaving, every word tearing at my throat.

"Small? When Nina was drowning, the word she cried was Daddy! Her one hope was that you'd come save her! If you'd been there, she never would have gone under!"

"The moment she went in, if your wristband had sounded the alarm, she could have been saved in time!"

"You! You said Nina didn't need it, and you turned around and gave the wristband to Ellie!"

"You were on the South Side teaching other people's kids about drowning, showing strangers how to keep their children alive, while your own daughter was drowning to death!"

"The baby in my belly is gone too! The child I protected so carefully for twenty-eight weeks went with Nina!"

"Irvin! You killed both your own children!"

I screamed the last words with every scrap of breath I had left. The wound seared, blood surged out again, and the world went dark in waves.

Irvin's whole body jerked to a stop, his pupils contracting, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes.

His lips parted to say something, but Ellie cut in first:

"How can you curse Nina like that? I just saw her playing in the hospital's childcare area. Are you... maybe you're remembering it wrong?"

Remembering it wrong?

How I wished I were remembering it wrong.

But I signed the surgical consent form with my own hand, and I confirmed the child's death notice with my own hand too.

Irvin clearly preferred to believe Ellie.

That thin trace of panic and hesitation in his eyes was swept clean away by her words.

"Enough, Ivy! It's just a wristband. Do you have to joke about a child's life? You're getting more and more impossible!"

He believed Ellie.

He would only ever believe Ellie.

My broken screaming, my hysteria, reached his ears as nothing but the emotional collapse and crazy talk of a pregnant woman.

I was tired.

The string in my chest, pulled tight for eight years, finally snapped.

"Think whatever you want."

"Sign it."

"If you don't sign, I'll file with the court and get a forced ruling."

At that, the tension in his face eased slightly.

He looked down at me, at my face white as paper, at my cracked, bloodless lips, and something like reluctance crept quietly into his eyes.

But before that reluctance could take shape, the wristband app's alarm blared out.

Not mine. Ellie's.

Her heart rate had spiked and triggered the alert. Every trace of feeling vanished from Irvin's face.

He scooped her up and rushed out of the ward without hesitation.

"Don't be scared. I'll get you to the ER."

He didn't look back at me once.

I watched him hurry away, and the tide in my eyes broke all over again.

If only my Nina could have been found a little sooner. How much better that would have been.

...

Inside the ER.

Irvin heard the doctor say, "It's just her emotions causing the heart-rate spike, nothing serious. She'll be fine with a little rest."

The dread that had been hanging over him crashed down and settled. He let out a long breath.

His eyes went to the wristband on Ellie's wrist, a hint of satisfaction in them:

"This wristband we developed really is sensitive enough. The accuracy holds up."

The words had barely left him when my raw, tearing screams rang back in his ears, and his heart skipped a beat.

"I really should get one for Nina. And arrange one for Ivy too. Late-term pregnancy carries a lot of risk."

He picked up his phone and told his assistant to prepare two of them.

He'd go home and apologize to Nina. He hadn't kept his promise to take her to the water park today.

Just as he finished and looked up, Irvin saw a nurse wheeling a small body toward the morgue.

"Such a shame. This drowned kid just came in from the water park. One minute sooner and she might have made it."

"Tell me about it. By the time the lifeguard got there, she was already gone."

"And the mother was pregnant. She slipped trying to save the child and hemorrhaged. In the end she lost both of them..."

His heart stopped for an instant, a knife of pain driving through it.

Ellie had just woken. Her fingers brushed the back of his hand:

"There's no way it's that much of a coincidence. It can't be Nina."

Irvin nodded stiffly, forcing himself not to let his mind run.

Then, without warning, the alarm at the nurses' station went off.

"Inpatient needs emergency staff, that new mother who just hemorrhaged, her name's... Ivy. Let's get up there, now."

The instant the two syllables of "Ivy" landed in his ears.

A ringing filled his head.

Irvin went rigid and cold all over, his pupils shaking violently.