"I almost stopped because people were saying I was making Sandra look bad."
"Why didn't you?"
Maya looked at the floor.
"Because she hit you."
Kesha adjusted the sleeping baby.
"That's a good reason."
"I also laughed once. Before that. When people were complaining about Zoe."
Kesha said nothing. Maya's face reddened.
"I want to be honest."
"Then keep being honest."
Maya nodded and walked away. Kesha remained aboard until Sergeant Cole completed her initial statement. She described the sequence carefully. The boarding pass question.
The warm water. The crying. The instruction to sit. Her compliance.
Sandra's language. The bottle falling. Her attempt to reach it. The flight attendant moving toward her.
Her protective hand. The slap. Williams's arrival. The refusal to review video.
The removal order. Kesha did not speculate about Sandra's motive when Cole asked.
"I can tell you what she said and what she did. I can't tell you what was inside her head."
Cole wrote that sentence down. A paramedic examined Kesha before she left the aircraft. There was redness and mild swelling but no serious injury. Zoe was checked as well.
Healthy. Tired. Hungry again.
Kesha fed her in a private operations room while Marcus called every seven minutes despite being told not to. On the third call, she answered.
"We're fine."
"I want to hear her."
Kesha turned the phone toward Zoe, who was sucking noisily from the bottle. Marcus exhaled.
"Okay."
"You sound terrible."
"I am trying very hard to behave like a responsible chief executive instead of a husband who wants to drive to Nashville and personally carry his family out of an airport."
Despite everything, Kesha laughed. It hurt her cheek. She stopped. Marcus heard it.
"Does it hurt?"
"Yes."
His silence returned.
"Marcus."
"I'm here."
"Do not make this about me being your wife."
"Kesha—"
"Listen."
He did.
"If the company tells the world this is unacceptable because Sandra hit the CEO's wife, then we learned nothing."
Marcus rubbed a hand over his face on the video screen. Behind him, the Skylink boardroom had emptied except for David Park and chief operating officer Lydia Crane.