Part 6
“It sounds like you thought power would become clean once you held it.”
He looked at her.
“That is probably what I thought.”
Rose released the breast and made a small complaining sound. Clara shifted her to the other side.
Adrian watched each movement.
“I learned to swaddle her,” he said.
“I saw.”
“She hates having her left arm pinned.”
“She did that in the hospital.”
“She likes the dryer.”
“The dryer?”
“The sound. I sit with her in the laundry room when she won’t sleep.”
Clara pictured Adrian in his tuxedo trousers at two in the morning, holding their baby beside a machine full of towels.
A reluctant smile touched her mouth.
He saw it and almost smiled back.
The moment frightened both of them.
Clara looked down.
“I am not coming home tonight.”
“I know.”
“I am taking Rose.”
Adrian’s posture changed.
She continued before he could answer.
“The guardianship is based on a false witness form. My attorney filed an emergency motion this afternoon. There is no valid order preventing me from leaving with her.”
“You came here knowing that?”
“I came here hoping you would hand her to me.”
“And if I hadn’t?”
“I was not going to pull her from your arms.”
He looked toward the door. “You planned to expose my mother in front of everyone.”
“I planned to ask for my daughter. Your mother arranged the audience.”
“Where will you go?”
“To the apartment.”
“Is there a crib?”
“Yes.”
“A monitor?”
“Yes.”
“What formula are you using when you supplement?”
“The same one the hospital recommended.”
“Her pediatrician is twenty minutes from here.”
“And twelve from my apartment.”
“Who will stay with you?”
“I can take care of her.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Clara’s eyes hardened. “My sister will stay tonight. A postpartum nurse begins tomorrow morning. My therapist knows she is coming home. My attorney has the plan.”
“You arranged all of that without me.”
“I had to prepare for the possibility that you would keep her.”
Adrian leaned back as though she had pushed him.
“I did keep her.”
“Yes.”
“I believed—”
“I know what you believed.”
“Do you?”
She looked at him.
“I believed you had looked at our daughter and felt nothing,” he said. “I believed you chose to disappear because being a Vale had finally become as unbearable as you always said it was. I believed the messages because they sounded like you when you were angry. I believed my mother because she was there while I was feeding Rose at three in the morning and you weren’t.”
“I was asking to be there.”
“I know that now.”
“You could have come to the clinic.”
“They said you refused visits.”
“You could have come anyway.”
“I stood outside once.”
Clara stared at him.
“When?”
“The second Sunday.”
“No one told me.”
“I sat in the parking lot for an hour. I called three times. Your mother said forcing contact might set back your treatment.”
“My mother?”
Adrian’s eyes widened.
He took out his phone, searched, and held up the call log.
The contact read Maggie Hart.
Clara’s mother had died two years earlier.
Adrian looked from the screen to Clara.
“I thought it was your sister using her phone.”
“My sister canceled that number after the funeral.”
The call had come from a spoofed number saved under an old contact name. Someone had known enough about Adrian’s phone to choose it.
Evelyn knew the unlock code. Leah knew his calendar. The Vale family’s security team managed device backups.
Clara felt cold despite Rose’s warmth.
“What did the caller say?”
“A woman said she was with your family. She said you were ashamed and needed time. I assumed it was Anna.”
“My sister would have identified herself.”
“I know.”
“No. You know now.”
Adrian lowered the phone.
Rose finished feeding and fell asleep against Clara’s chest.
Adrian watched her for a long time.
“What happens to me?” he asked.
Clara looked at him.
“If you take her tonight.”
“You remain her father.”
“That is not what I mean.”
“I don’t know what happens to us.”
He nodded, though his face tightened.
“Can I hold her before you go?”
Clara’s arms closed slightly around the baby.
Adrian saw.
He looked away.
The fear embarrassed her. It also told the truth.
“Sit beside me,” she said.
He moved to the other end of the sofa.
Clara placed Rose between them while keeping one hand beneath the child’s head. Adrian slid an arm under the gray blanket. Their wrists touched.
Neither released.
Rose slept through the transfer.
Adrian held her against his chest and began rocking almost imperceptibly.
“She has a small birthmark behind her left ear,” he said.
“I know.”
“Her cord fell off four days ago.”
“I saw the picture.”
“She sneezes three times in a row.”
“I know.”
“She smiles in her sleep, but the pediatrician says it is probably reflex.”
“I know.”
He looked at Clara.
“I wanted to tell you those things.”
“You could have.”
“I thought every message made you hate me more.”
“I wasn’t receiving them.”
“I know.”
They had repeated that phrase until it had almost lost meaning.
Rose’s fingers opened against Adrian’s shirt.
Clara touched them.
“I am taking her,” she said again.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Then he nodded.
When they returned to the ballroom, Evelyn stood at the far end speaking urgently into her phone. Martin had removed his tuxedo jacket. Leah sat near the ceremony table with both hands around a glass of water.
Evelyn ended the call.
“Clara cannot remove the baby from this property.”
Adrian’s expression changed. “Why?”
“The guardianship remains in effect until a court invalidates it.”
“It was forged.”
“That is an allegation.”
“Martin admitted he did not witness the signature.”
“The clinic witness certification remains valid.”
Leah stood. “There was no clinic witness.”
“You are not qualified to interpret legal documents.”
May you like
“Neither are you,” Martin said. “I am. It is invalid.”
Evelyn looked at her brother-in-law with open contempt. “You exposed yourself to professional discipline tonight. Consider whether you want to compound the damage.”
