Chương 9
Mrs. Lin lowered her head.
“You watched me blame myself.”
“I know.”
“You let me.”
“I know.”
Grace pressed her lips together.
Nathan’s voice came quietly.
“What did you tell Lily?”
Grace looked at him.
“The age-appropriate version.”
“Which was?”
“That her father lived far away and didn’t know how to be part of our family.”
Nathan absorbed the sentence like a blow.
Grace regretted it and resented that she regretted it.
Mrs. Lin wiped both palms on her apron.
“There is something else.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“Of course there is.”
Nathan sat again.
Mrs. Lin looked toward the hallway.
“She came back once.”
Grace’s eyes opened.
“When?”
“After Lily was born.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“How long after?”
“Six weeks.”
Grace felt the blood drain from her face.
“What did she want?”
Mrs. Lin looked at her daughter.
“She wanted to know if you had contacted Nathan.”
Grace stared.
“And what did you tell her?”
“That you had not.”
Nathan’s voice turned very quiet.
“Did she ask about Lily?”
Mrs. Lin hesitated.
“Yes.”
Grace’s hand went to the table for support.
“What did she ask?”
“She wanted to know if the baby was healthy.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“Anything else?”
Mrs. Lin swallowed.
“She asked whether Lily looked like you.”
Grace frowned.
“That’s strange.”
Nathan’s face had gone rigid.
“No.”
Grace looked at him.
“What?”
He stood.
“That’s not strange.”
The house seemed to go silent around him.
Grace waited.
Nathan stared at the old number on the table.
“She was checking whether anyone would look at Lily and see me.”
Grace stared at Nathan.
For a moment, the idea seemed too deliberate to fit inside the woman she had known as controlled, polished, and occasionally condescending.
Then the hockey stick returned to her mind.
Not the impact.
The second swing.
Victoria had raised it again after Grace was already on the floor.
Mrs. Lin lowered herself into the chair.
“I did not think of that.”
Nathan picked up the yellowed paper with the old phone number and studied it again.
“She was checking whether there was a risk.”
Grace’s voice hardened.
“What risk?”
He looked at her.
“That someone in my family would see Lily.”
Grace felt anger rise immediately.
“So this is about your family name now?”
“No.”
“It took you less than a day.”
“That isn’t what I’m saying.”
“It sounds exactly like what you’re saying.”
Nathan put the paper down.
“I’m saying Victoria would have been calculating exposure.”
“To you.”
“To anyone who knew me.”
Grace folded her left arm across her body.
“What difference does that make?”
“A lot.”
Nathan’s voice stayed quiet.
“If she thought the only way I would learn about Lily was through you, she only had to keep you away from me.”
Grace looked toward the living room.
Lily was humming along with the cartoon.
Nathan continued.
“But if Lily looked enough like me that someone else could notice, then Victoria couldn’t control it as easily.”
Mrs. Lin’s face tightened.
“She asked whether Grace planned to take the baby anywhere Nathan’s family might be.”
Grace turned toward her.
“You never told me that.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
Her mother closed her mouth.
Nathan looked at Mrs. Lin.
“What exactly did you answer?”
“That Grace wanted nothing from your family.”
His brow furrowed.
“And Victoria?”
“She seemed relieved.”
Grace let out a breath.
“Wonderful.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I’m not defending her.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You’re looking at me like I’m part of this.”
“You are part of it.”
He flinched.
Grace immediately hated the satisfaction that gave her.
Nathan leaned both hands against the back of the chair.
“I didn’t know.”
“And I didn’t know she was intercepting anything.”
“I know.”
Grace gave him a tired, humorless look.
“Apparently that phrase runs in families today.”
Mrs. Lin stood abruptly and went to the sink.
She turned on the faucet although there was nothing in the basin.
Water ran for several seconds.
Grace watched her mother grip the edge of the counter.
“I was afraid,” Mrs. Lin said.
No one answered.
She shut off the water.
“When Victoria came the second time, I told her not to come back.”
Nathan’s gaze sharpened.
“What did she do?”
“She smiled.”
Grace knew that smile.
“What kind of smile?”
Her mother looked over.
“The kind that makes you wish someone would yell instead.”
Nathan looked down.
Grace sat again because standing was making her dizzy.
“Did she leave after that?”
“Yes.”
“No argument?”
“No.”
Mrs. Lin hesitated.
“She said I had misunderstood her intentions.”
Nathan exhaled through his nose.
“That also sounds like her.”
Grace looked at him.
“How long have you been with her?”
Nathan’s eyes met hers.
“Three years.”
The answer hurt in a place Grace had no right to claim.
She looked away.
Mrs. Lin returned to the table.
“Married?”
“No.”
“Engaged?”
Nathan hesitated.
Grace noticed.
“You’re engaged.”
“No.”
“Then why did you pause?”
He sat again.
“Because Victoria expected it.”
Grace laughed quietly.
“That sounds healthy.”
Nathan looked irritated.
“It was complicated.”
“So was pregnancy.”
The words landed harder than she intended.
Nathan went still.
Grace pressed the ice pack against her shoulder again.
Neither of them apologized.
Mrs. Lin looked between them.
“What happened today?”
Grace’s fingers tightened around the towel.
“I don’t want to do this with Lily in the next room.”
Her mother lowered her voice.
“What did Victoria want?”
Grace glanced at Nathan.
He noticed.
“She asked you there because of Lily.”
Grace looked back at her mother.
“She found out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“What did she say when you arrived?”
Grace tried to reconstruct the afternoon without letting the fear take over.
“She was calm.”
“About what?”
“She said she needed to discuss something private.”
Nathan’s mouth tightened.
“That could mean anything with her.”
“She asked whether Lily was Nathan’s.”
Mrs. Lin inhaled sharply.
Nathan said nothing.
Grace continued.
May you like
“I told her it was none of her business.”
“And then?”
