PART 2 Kenzie started crying before anyone said another word. \u201cI only had three drinks,\u201d she sobbed. \u201cI didn\u2019t see the car. I thought it was empty. I panicked.\u201d My mother tried to pull her back inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t say anything else, Kenzie. Not another word without a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer stepped between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMa\u2019am, you just told me under questioning that your older daughter was driving. You said you saw her leave. Was that true?\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother opened her mouth.<\/p>\n
Then she closed it.<\/p>\n
They arrested Kenzie on the porch. The same porch where I\u2019d been in handcuffs ten minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
The airbag DNA matched her. Her phone was found under the driver\u2019s seat. Her fingerprints were on the rearview mirror. She\u2019d adjusted it, because she\u2019s eight inches shorter than me.<\/p>\n
The girl in the back seat of the parked car was named Nyla. She was a high school junior. Her mother was a nurse\u2019s aide finishing a double shift at the hospital two blocks away. Nyla had fallen asleep in the car waiting for her.<\/p>\n
She had a broken pelvis, a lacerated spleen, and a brain bleed.<\/p>\n
She was in a coma for six days.<\/p>\n
I went to the hospital every afternoon that week with Arlo in his car seat. I didn\u2019t go in. I just sat in the waiting room, because I didn\u2019t know what else to do.<\/p>\n
On the seventh day, Nyla\u2019s mother came out and found me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the sister,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
I nodded. I couldn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n
She sat down next to me. She looked at Arlo for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police told me what your mother wanted you to do,\u201d she said. \u201cThat you could have just signed and gone home to your baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
She took my hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cNyla woke up this morning,\u201d she said. \u201cShe asked for pancakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenzie was charged with aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm and leaving the scene of an accident. She pleaded guilty. Four years in prison. Her nursing license application was permanently denied.<\/p>\n
My mother was charged with obstruction of justice and filing a false police report. She took a plea. Probation and community service. She lost her job at the school district.<\/p>\n
She called me once, from her lawyer\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou destroyed this family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Mom,\u201d I said. \u201cKenzie hit a seventeen-year-old girl. You tried to put it on me. I just told the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t spoken to her since.<\/p>\n
My husband came home from his training two days after the crash. He moved Arlo and me back into our own house that night.<\/p>\n
Nyla spent four months in rehab. She had to learn to walk again.<\/p>\n
Last June, she walked across the stage at her high school graduation without a cane.<\/p>\n
I was in the bleachers with Arlo on my lap. Her mother had saved us seats.<\/p>\n
When they called Nyla\u2019s name, Arlo clapped his chubby hands together.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n
But I did.<\/p>\n
THE END.<\/p>\n
\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500<\/p>\n
Family loyalty should never mean taking the blame for someone else\u2019s choices. The truth protects more people than a lie ever will.<\/p>\n
What would you have done if your mother asked you to take the blame? Tell us in the replies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PART 2 Kenzie started crying before anyone said another word. \u201cI only had three drinks,\u201d she sobbed. \u201cI didn\u2019t see the car. I thought it … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-inspiration","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20655,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20654\/revisions\/20655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailystoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}