I didn't watch the video immediately.
Mason was still wrapped around me, and every time I shifted my arm, he tightened his grip.
I carried him away from the fallen chairs.
There was a quieter spot near the garden fence, but I didn't want to take him anywhere he couldn't see the way out.
So I stayed close to the patio doors.
The phone was in my free hand.
Its screen had gone dark, but I could still feel the device vibrating against my palm.
Diane came toward me.
"Give that back."
I looked at her.
She had said it sharply, almost automatically.
Then she seemed to realize how it sounded.
"That's my personal phone, Daniel."
I glanced at the recording screen.
"It was recording Mason."
"That doesn't mean you can take it."
I had heard enough from her for one day.
I wasn't going to argue over who owned a phone while my son was still shaking in my arms.
I kept the device in my hand.
"Then explain what you were recording."
Diane looked toward Vanessa.
Vanessa looked away.
Neither answered.
I had spent years trying to keep peace between people who treated every disagreement as a contest. I knew the signs of an argument that was about to turn into a discussion of everything except the original problem.
I wasn't going to let that happen.
I looked at Mason.
"Do you want to sit somewhere with me?"
He shook his head against my shoulder.
"Okay. We can stay here."
I rubbed his back slowly.
His breathing was beginning to settle, but his fingers remained locked into my shirt.
I had never seen him hold on to me that way.
Diane stood a few feet away.
"You're frightening him by carrying on like this."
I looked up.
For a second, I couldn't believe she had said it.
Then I remembered the phone.
She had been filming while Mason cried.
She had watched him try to remove the collar.
Now she was telling me that I was frightening him.
I felt something inside me go very still.
"I didn't put that around his neck."
Diane's lips pressed together.
Vanessa stepped forward.
"It was a joke."
I looked at her.
"A joke?"
She folded her arms, but the movement lacked the confidence she had shown earlier.
"He was being dramatic about it."
Mason lifted his head at the sound of her voice.
The instant he saw her, he pressed his face into my shoulder again.
I felt his whole body tighten.
That answered a question Vanessa hadn't wanted me to ask.
"Don't come any closer."
She stopped.
"I wasn't going to do anything."
"Then stay where you are."
A few guests were beginning to move again.
Someone picked up a fallen chair.
Another person crouched to collect the framed photographs scattered around the shelf.
The engagement decorations still hung above the tables, looking strangely cheerful beside the overturned furniture.
Nobody seemed sure whether the celebration was over.
I didn't care about the party.
I didn't care about the flowers or the food or the photographs that had fallen.
I cared about the little boy in my arms.
Diane held out her hand.
"Daniel, please."
Her voice had changed.
It was quieter now, almost reasonable.
"Give me my phone, and we can all discuss this properly."
I looked at the device again.
The recording had been running before I arrived. I had seen that much on the screen.
If she had been filming a harmless game, she would have explained it.
If Vanessa had only been joking, she could have told me what the joke was supposed to be.
Instead, they were both asking me to stop looking.
I wasn't ready to do that.
"I'm going to watch it."
Diane's hand dropped.
"You don't need to."
"Why not?"
She glanced at the people nearby.
"Because this is a private family matter."
I almost said that Mason's fear had been very public.
I stopped myself.
There was no point trading accusations while he listened.
I lowered my voice.
"Then you shouldn't have recorded it in front of everyone."
Diane stared at me.
For a moment, I thought she might reach for the phone.
Instead, she took a step back.
Vanessa turned toward the patio doors.
I watched her go.
She didn't look at Mason.
She didn't ask if he was hurt.
She simply walked away from the scene she had helped create.
I felt Mason's hand move against my shoulder.
"Dad?"
"Yes, buddy?"
"Are you mad at me?"
The question went through me so quickly that I couldn't answer at first.
I pulled him back enough to see his face.
"No. Not at you."
He studied me as if he needed to decide whether I meant it.
I wished I could have given him a better answer.
I wished I could have told him that nothing like this would ever happen again.
But I couldn't promise that no adult would ever let him down.
I could only tell him what I would do now.
"You haven't done anything wrong."
His eyes filled again.
He nodded once and put his head back against my shoulder.
I held him there.
Looking back, that was the moment I understood how badly this had affected him. He wasn't just frightened of the collar or the people in the garden.
He was worried that he had somehow caused the trouble.
A six-year-old shouldn't have to wonder whether his father's anger is his fault.
I had to remind myself to breathe.
The phone remained in my hand.
I moved a little farther from the guests and sat on a low stone bench near the doors. Mason stayed on my lap, with his arms around my neck.
I placed Diane's phone beside me.
For several seconds, I did nothing.
I wanted to know what the recording showed.
I also wanted to make sure I was calm enough to watch it without frightening Mason further.
The two women had already given me enough reason to distrust their explanations.
I didn't need to make the same mistake by letting my anger decide what the video meant before I saw it.
I turned the screen toward myself.
The recording was still open.
A progress bar showed that there was footage before the moment I had witnessed.
I moved the video back to the beginning.
The image shook slightly.
Then it steadied.
I could see the garden fence, the decorated tables, and part of the display shelf.
Mason was in the frame.
Vanessa was beside him.
Diane's voice came from behind the camera.
I turned the volume down a little so the sound wouldn't startle my son.
Then I pressed play.
The first few seconds showed the garden before I had arrived.
People moved around the tables.
Someone passed behind the camera.
Vanessa was standing close to Mason, who seemed to be looking at something in her hands.
I couldn't yet see the collar clearly.
But I could see that Mason was already uncomfortable.
He kept shifting his feet.
He looked toward the doors more than once.
I stopped the video.
I needed to be sure I had seen that correctly.
Then I played it again.
The same movement.
The same glance toward the doors.
My stomach tightened.
Mason noticed my face.
"What is it?"
"Nothing you need to worry about right now."
He looked at the phone.
"Is that me?"
"Yes."
He went quiet.
I paused the recording and set the phone down.
I wasn't going to make him watch himself being frightened.
I wasn't going to ask him to explain anything while he was still trying to recover.
The video could wait a few minutes.
I lifted my eyes toward the garden.
Diane stood near one of the tables, speaking to a guest. Her face was composed again, but she kept looking in my direction.
Vanessa was farther away.
She had joined a small group near the display shelf, though she wasn't speaking much.
Both women knew I had the recording.
Both knew I had seen only the beginning.
And both were waiting to find out what I would do next.
I looked down at Mason.
He had finally loosened his grip on my shirt.
His hand rested against my chest, still curled into the fabric.
I covered it with mine.
"We're going to take a little break from everyone."
He nodded.
I stood carefully, keeping him in my arms.
My travel bag was still on the stone patio, exactly where I had dropped it.
I picked it up by the handle.
Then I looked once more at the phone.
I had arrived expecting to spend the day with family.
I was leaving the garden with my son in my arms and evidence that someone had recorded what happened to him.
I didn't know yet what the video would show.
But I knew I wasn't going to hand it back and pretend the afternoon had been a misunderstanding.
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: I Replayed the Beginning Until I Could No Longer Pretend the Collar Was an Innocent Joke or My Son Had Misunderstood
I Thought My Son Was Safe at a Family Celebration Until I Saw What They Had Fastened Around His Neck
Part 2 of 12
