Chapter 2 - The Smile Ava Practiced
Madison’s first instinct was to clean.
David noticed immediately.
While he carried Ava into the living room, Madison started stripping decorations from the kitchen.
“Leave it,” he said.
She kept moving.
“Madison.”
“I’m taking down balloons.”
“Leave everything exactly where it is.”
She turned.
“You’re acting like I committed a crime.”
“I don’t know what happened yet.”
“That’s the problem. You saw one clip and now you’re treating me like some monster.”
Carol entered through the unlocked front door before David could answer.
At sixty-seven, David’s mother rarely raised her voice.
She did not need to.
She saw Ava in his arms and went directly to her.
“Birthday girl.”
Ava looked at her grandmother.
Carol opened both arms.
Ava transferred herself into them immediately.
Madison noticed.
The small rejection hurt more than anything David had said.
“Ava,” she began.
Carol looked at her.
“Not now.”
“You don’t get to come into my house and—”
“It’s David’s house too.”
“And Ava’s,” David added.
Madison laughed sharply.
“Interesting that everybody remembered that today.”
The doorbell rang.
Ms. Alvarez stood outside.
David let her in.
She looked uncomfortable entering what was clearly a family confrontation.
“I’m sorry to arrive without calling.”
“You watched it?” David asked.
She nodded.
“So did another teacher from school. She sent it to me because she recognized Ava.”
Madison crossed her arms.
“It was taken out of context.”
Ms. Alvarez looked at her.
“I didn’t come to debate the video.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To make sure Ava is with a safe adult until the investigator arrives.”
Madison’s face flushed.
“I am a safe adult.”
Nobody answered.
That silence broke something.
“You all watched fifteen seconds,” she said. “Fifteen seconds out of three years of me raising her.”
Carol’s expression changed.
“You are not the only person who raised her.”
“No? Because I remember the fevers. The nightmares. The first day of preschool. I remember taking time off when David couldn’t.”
David flinched because that was true.
Madison looked toward Ava.
“I pack her lunches. I braid her hair. I sit beside her when she’s sick. But one stupid livestream keeps running and suddenly none of that matters?”
Ava lowered her eyes.
Ms. Alvarez saw it.
She moved closer but did not touch her.
“Ava, would you like to sit with your grandmother in the den?”
Ava looked at David first.
He nodded.
“You can go.”
Carol took her away.
Only then did Ms. Alvarez speak.
“There are things Ava has said at school.”
David turned.
“What things?”
Madison went still.
Ms. Alvarez hesitated.
“Nothing that, by itself, made me think she was unsafe. But after today, they sound different.”
David felt cold.
“Tell me.”
“A few weeks ago, we had free drawing time. I asked Ava why she didn’t want to color a picture she’d made.”
“And?” Madison asked.
“She said the colors weren’t ‘good for the page.’”
Madison looked away.
Ms. Alvarez continued.
“Another time, a student asked why Ava smiles with her mouth closed in class pictures. Ava said she has a camera smile and a regular smile.”
David stared.
“What does that mean?”
“I asked her.”
Ms. Alvarez swallowed.
“She said Madison taught her the camera smile because the regular one makes her nose look funny.”
Madison immediately answered.
“That was a joke.”
“To a six-year-old?” David asked.
“She laughed.”
“Did she?”
Madison looked at him.
“Yes.”
David realized he did not know.
Not really.
The doorbell rang again.
Tessa Morgan introduced herself calmly.
She did not arrive with police.
She did not threaten to remove anyone.
She asked who had legal custody.
David explained that Ava’s biological mother, Rebecca Brooks, had died when Ava was two. David had sole legal custody. Madison was Ava’s stepmother and had no separate guardianship order.
Tessa asked to speak with David alone.
Then Madison.
Then Ava, with arrangements appropriate for her age.
Madison objected.
“She’s six.”
“That’s why the interview will be simple.”
“She’ll say whatever people suggest.”
Tessa’s tone remained neutral.
“Then it’s important nobody suggests anything.”
Madison understood the implication.
She stopped speaking.
David sat with Tessa at the dining table.
The birthday cake remained untouched behind them.
“How much filming does Ava do?” Tessa asked.
“Maybe a few hours a week.”
“Are you sure?”
David hesitated.
“No.”
“Do you attend?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you review footage?”
“Not usually.”
“Who manages the accounts?”
“Madison.”
“Who manages the money?”
“Madison handles the business side.”
“Do you receive income from it?”
“The family does.”
Tessa looked up.
“What does that mean?”
David rubbed his palms together.
“Mortgage. Bills. Savings. Madison’s company pays herself.”
“And Ava?”
“She has an account.”
“Who controls it?”
David stopped.
“I think Madison.”
“You think?”
Shame crawled up his neck.
“I should know.”
“Yes,” Tessa said gently. “You should.”
It hurt more because she did not sound accusatory.
When Ava’s turn came, Tessa sat on the den floor.
Ava remained beside Carol.
Tessa asked about school, favorite toys, food, bedtime and videos.
Nothing dramatic.
Then she asked, “What happens when you don’t want the camera?”
Ava picked at a thread on her dress.
“Madison says we already promised.”
“Promised who?”
“The people.”
“What people?”
“In the phone.”
Tessa nodded.
“What happens if you still don’t want to?”
Ava thought.
“Sometimes we wait.”
“That sounds okay.”
Ava nodded.
“Sometimes Madison gets quiet.”
“What does quiet mean?”
“She doesn’t talk to me.”
“For how long?”
“Until I fix it.”
Carol’s eyes filled.
Tessa remained steady.
“How do you fix it?”
Ava looked surprised that an adult did not already know.
“I do the video.”
In the hallway, David heard every word.
Madison did too.
For once, she had no answer.
Tessa asked one final question.
“Is there anywhere in the house you don’t like going?”
Ava nodded.
“The white room.”
David frowned.
Their home had no room called that.
“What white room?” Tessa asked.
Ava whispered:
May you like
“The room where Madison keeps my other faces.”
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