Chương 3
Eleanor almost laughed.
Almost.
She looked toward the house.
“You still blame yourself.”
Frank picked up a blade of grass and rolled it between his fingers.
“That obvious?”
“To me.”
He looked older in that moment.
Not weaker.
Just tired.
“I should have noticed things sooner.”
Eleanor knew what he meant.
Frank had always been good at handling disasters after they arrived.
He was not always good at seeing the small cracks before the wall collapsed.
“You cannot save everyone from their own choices.”
“I know.”
“But you still try.”
“Yes.”
The honesty made her shake her head.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been told.”
Mia looked between them.
“Are you in trouble?”
Frank smiled.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Daddy looked mad.”
“He was.”
“Are you scared?”
Frank looked at her.
The question caught him off guard.
Adults rarely asked the right questions.
Children did it accidentally.
“Sometimes.”
Mia touched his hand.
“Grandpas get scared?”
“Especially grandpas.”
She considered this.
“Why?”
“Because grandpas know how much things can hurt.”
A small silence settled over them.
The kind that did not need to be filled.
Near the driveway, a delivery truck stopped briefly before moving on.
A neighbor walked a dog along the sidewalk and glanced toward the property.
The world outside the family conflict continued without caring about it.
Frank’s phone vibrated again.
This time he looked.
There were three missed calls from an old friend.
He ignored them.
Eleanor noticed.
“Who was that?”
“Someone I don’t want to talk to.”
“That’s unusual.”
Frank put the phone away.
“People change.”
“People do.”
She studied his face.
“But you usually pretend they don’t.”
He did not argue.
That was another thing he had learned with age.
Sometimes the hardest truths were the ones that sounded ordinary.
Inside the house, Daniel heard Victoria’s phone ring.
She answered immediately.
“Yes.”
Her expression changed while she listened.
Daniel watched her carefully.
“What is it?”
She covered the microphone.
“It’s nothing.”
That answer made him more suspicious than any explanation would have.
Victoria walked toward the hallway.
Daniel followed.
“Who was that?”
“No one.”
“Victoria.”
She stopped.
The way he said her name made her turn around.
For the first time that afternoon, she looked uncertain.
“It was my attorney.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why would your attorney call you?”
“Because of the custody paperwork.”
The room became still.
“What custody paperwork?”
Victoria sighed.
“I didn’t want to discuss this today.”
“Discuss what?”
She looked toward the window.
“You need to be realistic.”
Daniel felt something cold move through his chest.
“Realistic about what?”
“Mia has been struggling.”
“She’s three.”
“And she needs stability.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
Victoria hesitated.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
“I’m saying maybe your father is not the only person who thinks something needs to change.”
Daniel took a step back.
The sentence sounded careful.
Too careful.
“You talked to a lawyer about my daughter?”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“I talked to someone because nobody else would.”
“Nobody else would?”
Daniel’s voice rose.
“Her mother is gone.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
Victoria’s face changed.
Not into sadness.
Into anger.
A controlled anger.
“That is exactly why someone has to think clearly.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Do not use her mother to make this easier for yourself.”
The accusation landed harder than he expected.
Victoria looked away.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then she picked up her phone again.
“I’m going upstairs.”
“Victoria.”
She stopped at the doorway.
“What?”
Daniel wanted to ask a hundred things.
When did this start?
Who else knew?
What had she told the attorney?
What had she told people about him?
But the only question that came out was the simplest.
“Do you actually think I’m a bad father?”
Victoria looked at him.
Her answer came slowly.
“I think you don’t know how to be one without your father telling you.”
Then she walked away.
Daniel remained alone in the study.
On the desk sat the photograph of him and Mia.
Beside it was a stack of unopened mail.
One envelope had been pushed halfway beneath the others.
He pulled it free.
The return address belonged to a family services office.
His name was printed across the front.
Daniel stared at it.
He did not remember receiving it.
He did not remember signing anything.
Outside, Frank lifted Mia into his arms and carried her toward the gate.
The child rested her head against his shoulder.
For a moment, he thought about leaving.
Taking her to Eleanor’s house.
Calling a lawyer.
Calling everyone.
Doing what he had always done when life became complicated.
Moving faster than everyone else.
But he stopped.
Because speed had never been his greatest problem.
His greatest problem was believing that every battle could be won by force.
Some battles required patience.
Some required proof.
Some required admitting that the person standing beside you was not the person you thought they were.
Frank looked back at the mansion.
Daniel was standing behind the glass.
Their eyes met.
Neither man moved.
Neither man looked away.
Then Daniel slowly opened the front door and stepped outside.
Daniel stepped onto the lawn and closed the door behind him.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
Mia lifted her head from Frank’s shoulder and looked between the two men.
Children could sense tension long before they understood its source.
She tightened her arms around his neck.
Daniel noticed.
The sight bothered him more than he expected.
Not because Mia loved her grandfather.
Because he realized she had needed someone else to feel safe.
“I need to talk to you,” Daniel said.
Frank looked at him.
“About what?”
Daniel glanced at Mia.
“Not here.”
Frank looked down at the child.
“Eleanor, can you take her inside for a minute?”
Mia immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Frank looked at her.
“Just a minute.”
She held onto him tighter.
“I don’t want them to be mad.”
May you like
The sentence was quiet.
Almost too quiet.
