Chương 4
“You’ve missed payments.”
“What payments?”
I asked it before either of them could continue.
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“Day care.”
Daniel answered at the same time.
“Rent.”
They looked at each other.
I felt an ugly, unexpected flicker of irritation toward Claire.
Not because I believed Daniel.
Because part of me still wanted her to be simple.
The other woman.
The liar.
The person I could hate without effort.
Instead she was sitting in a wrinkled blue dress at my wedding with one strap twisted and mascara on her cheek, and she looked more frightened than dangerous.
“Why would you seek primary custody now?” I asked Daniel.
He glanced at my parents, then at me.
“For Lily.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She needs stability.”
“She has stability.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“You don’t get to decide that because I got laid off.”
“You’re three months behind on rent.”
“I have a new job.”
“Until October.”
Daniel exhaled.
“This is exactly what I didn’t want.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“To put all of this on you.”
I almost laughed.
“You were going to marry me without telling me you were filing for custody of your daughter.”
His eyes met mine.
“I wanted us to be married first.”
There it was.
A sentence so quietly monstrous that it took a second to understand.
“Why?”
He looked away.
Claire answered.
“Because he thinks being married will help him.”
The room became absolutely still.
Even Susan looked at Daniel then.
I felt cold move through me from my shoulders downward.
“Help him how?”
Daniel shook his head.
“It’s not like that.”
Claire stepped closer.
“He told his attorney he was about to establish a stable two-parent home.”
My father said something I couldn’t make out.
Rachel whispered, “You son of a bitch.”
Daniel’s face darkened.
“That’s not why I’m marrying Emily.”
Claire didn’t back down.
“But you were planning to use the marriage in the custody case.”
“No.”
“You told me yourself.”
“I said it could matter.”
“You said a judge would see stability.”
“I was talking about reality.”
I stepped between them.
“Stop.”
They did.
I looked at Daniel.
“Did your lawyer know that I didn’t know Lily existed?”
His face answered.
I asked again anyway.
“Did your lawyer know?”
“No.”
The word was almost inaudible.
My mother covered her mouth.
I suddenly thought of the marriage license waiting in the coordinator’s folder.
My signature not yet on it.
A piece of paper that, ten minutes earlier, had seemed like a formality.
Now it felt like the only thing in the building protecting me.
“How long have you been planning to file?” I asked.
Daniel hesitated.
“Two months.”
Two months.
During those two months, we had chosen catering.
Paid the photographer.
Finalized seating.
Met with the officiant.
Opened a joint savings account for a house.
I had put thirty-two thousand dollars from the sale of my condo into that account.
My breath caught.
Daniel saw it happen.
His expression changed immediately.
“Emily, the money is fine.”
I hadn’t said a word.
Rachel turned toward me.
“What money?”
I stared at Daniel.
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Because I know you.”
“No.”
I felt something inside me become very calm.
“No, you know what you’re afraid I’ll check.”
He took a step toward me.
“Emily.”
I reached for my phone.
“Don’t.”
His voice came too quickly.
Rachel heard it too.
She moved beside me.
“Check the account.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You’re being irrational.”
That word did more for me than reassurance could have.
My hands stopped shaking.
I unlocked my phone.
Daniel came closer.
My father stepped between us.
“Back up.”
“Frank, stay out of it.”
“You’re lucky that’s all I’m doing.”
I opened the banking app.
The password field blurred once before I blinked it clear.
The account balance loaded.
For a moment, I thought I had opened the wrong account.
Thirty-two thousand dollars had become eighteen thousand four hundred and twelve.
I stared at the number.
Then I looked up at Daniel.
“What did you do?”
Daniel’s eyes dropped to my phone.
“It isn’t gone.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I moved some of it.”
“Where?”
He looked past me toward the chapel doors as if an answer might be waiting in the hallway.
Rachel stepped closer to my shoulder.
“Daniel.”
He rubbed his mouth.
“To cover legal expenses.”
For one second, I thought I had misunderstood him.
“You took fourteen thousand dollars from our house account to pay a lawyer to help you take custody of the daughter you never told me existed?”
“It wasn’t all legal fees.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
He sounded exhausted now, which infuriated me.
He was tired.
He was inconvenienced.
He was standing at his own wedding after draining nearly half the money I had contributed, and somehow his shoulders carried the posture of a man being unfairly cornered.
“How much went to the lawyer?”
“Eight.”
“Eight thousand?”
“Yes.”
“And the rest?”
He hesitated.
Claire’s face changed.
“What rest?”
Daniel shot her a look.
“That’s none of your business.”
“It became my business when you filed against me.”
Susan stood so quickly her chair scraped against the floor.
“Daniel, what did you do?”
He looked at his mother.
“I handled it.”
“That’s not an answer.”
For the first time, Susan sounded less protective than frightened.
I glanced at her.
“You didn’t know about the money.”
“No.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“Mom.”
“What did you spend it on?”
“I said I handled it.”
My father stepped forward.
“You stole from my daughter.”
“It was a joint account.”
The correction came instantly.
Precise.
Prepared.
My father laughed without humor.
“Good to know you checked the wording.”
I stared at the balance again.
The account was technically joint.
I had added Daniel after selling my condo because we were supposed to start looking for a house after the wedding.
May you like
He had contributed some money too, though far less than I had.
At the time, that difference had embarrassed him enough that I stopped discussing percentages.
