She was curled up on her bed, knees to her chest, breathing in short little pulls. Her face looked gray.
“Lily?” I rushed to her. “What’s wrong?”
She looked at me with glassy eyes. “Mom. I can’t keep hiding this from you anymore.”
Every nerve in my body went tight. “Hiding what?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Mark and I…” She looked away. “Tomorrow… I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”
“No. Tell me now.”
She shook her head weakly.
I sat with her for almost an hour, rubbing her back while she drifted in and out of sleep, terrified and angry.
Every worst-case scenario I could think of was running through my head. I hated myself for every moment I had second-guessed my own instincts.
“Tomorrow… I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”
At first light, I made the decision for both of us.
“Get your jacket,” I told her. “We’re going to see a doctor.”
I didn’t tell Mike.
At the hospital, they took Lily back for blood work, vitals, and questions.
I sat in the waiting area, twisting a tissue to shreds while every moment of the last month replayed in my head. Her saying she felt weird. Mike telling me not to overreact. The closed-door talks.
It was all pointing to something I wasn’t sure I had the strength to face.
Every moment of the last month replayed in my head.
When the doctor finally came in, his expression was careful.
He sat down across from us. Lily was beside me, trembling. “Mrs. R., we need to talk. The test results showed some… unexpected findings.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mom, this is what I wanted to tell you last night…” Lily said. “Please… don’t be mad at me.”
The doctor handed me a folder with Lily’s test results.
The moment I saw the first words on the paper, I clapped my hand over my mouth in shock.
“The test results showed some… unexpected findings.”
“Severe dehydration?” I read aloud. “A significant electrolyte imbalance?”
The doctor glanced at Lily, then back at me. “We also found evidence that she’s been taking a strong supplement that’s generally marketed for weight control.”
For a second, I honestly didn’t understand the sentence.
“What supplements?” I asked.
Lily looked at her hands. “It’s just a herbal thing. He said they were safe.”
“He? Lily, where did you get them?”
“It’s just a herbal thing. He said they were safe.”
She hung her head. “Mike gave them to me.”
I stared at her. “What?”
“He knew I wanted to get back into shape for the season, and he said they’d help me.”
I looked at the doctor. He gave one slow nod.
“These products can be dangerous,” he said. “Especially combined with intense training. That’s likely what caused the dizziness and dehydration.”
I turned back to Lily. “How long?”
“He said they’d help me.”
“A few weeks. He said I shouldn’t tell you; that you’d overreact because you didn’t understand how important competition season is.”
Something inside me hardened right then.
When we got home, Mike was waiting for us.
“Where have you two been?” Mike said as we came in.
“The hospital,” I replied. “Why have you been giving Lily supplements behind my back?”
His eyes widened, then he shrugged. “To help her. She wanted to feel lighter on the ice—”
“Those pills have been making her sick,” I snapped.
“Why have you been giving Lily supplements behind my back?”
“They’re herbal. It’s not a big deal.” He turned to Lily. “I was helping you…”
Lily looked up at him, and I saw something in her face I hadn’t seen before when she looked at Mike — betrayal.
“I kept feeling worse,” she said quietly. “I told you, and you didn’t listen. You just said I needed to adjust. You were wrong.”
He opened his mouth, but I stepped forward before he could speak.
“You told her to hide something that was making her sick. You do not get to make decisions for her anymore.”
“I told you, and you didn’t listen.”
His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. She needs to take a step back from training to recover. She might not even be able to compete this year.”
“You’re overreacting—”
“I’m saving her health.”
Lily started crying then.
Mike looked at her, and for the first time, he didn’t have a quick answer.
“I’m saving her health.”
“I just wanted you to be your best,” he muttered.
“And look where it got us,” I replied. “Pack a bag.”
His jaw dropped. “Are you serious? You want me to leave? Over supplements?”
I looked at him. “Over the fact that you pushed our daughter into taking something dangerous, watched her get sicker, told her to hide it from me, and then kept insisting I was imagining things.”
He dragged a hand down his face. “You’re acting like I poisoned her.”
“No,” I said. “I’m acting like you stopped being someone I can trust.”
“You want me to leave? Over supplements?”
He left an hour later with a duffel bag and a face full of disbelief, like he still thought all of us would calm down and apologize for misunderstanding him.