Chương 5
“Between you and Claire.”
I stared at him.
He looked immediately sorry, but the sentence had already landed.
Beth whispered, “Graham.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“That came out wrong.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I think that’s the first thing tonight that came out exactly right.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“You thought telling me would turn this into some competition between me and your dead wife.”
“I thought you’d feel threatened.”
“I am threatened.”
“By Nora?”
“By you.”
He went still.
I stepped closer.
“You lied to me every Saturday you took Millie there.”
“I didn’t lie every time.”
“Did you tell me where you were?”
“No.”
“Then what did you tell me?”
He said nothing.
I answered for him.
“Daddy-Daughter Adventure.”
His eyes closed.
“There it is.”
I looked toward the ballroom door.
“I packed snacks for some of those trips.”
“I know.”
“I put sunscreen in her backpack.”
“I know.”
“I once gave you twenty dollars because you said you might stop for frozen yogurt.”
“I know.”
“Did you take her to Nora’s that day?”
He didn’t answer.
I nodded.
“Right.”
Beth stepped forward.
“Rachel, he handled this horribly.”
Graham looked at her.
“Thank you.”
“I’m not helping you.”
“I noticed.”
“But there’s something else you need to know.”
Graham’s entire body stiffened.
I turned to Beth.
“What else?”
She looked at her brother.
“You have to tell her.”
“Not here.”
“You said that eight months ago.”
“Beth.”
“You said you’d tell her after the holidays.”
Graham’s face sharpened.
“Stop.”
“Then after the venue deposit.”
“Stop.”
“Then after Millie finished school.”
“Beth.”
“And then you said after the wedding.”
The air left my lungs.
I looked at Graham.
“After the wedding.”
He said nothing.
“You were going to marry me first.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“After I married you.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was almost obscene.
“Why?”
He stared at the new ring on his hand.
“Because I was afraid you’d leave.”
I laughed softly.
“That’s not love, Graham.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do.”
“You trapped me inside a decision before giving me the information I needed to make it.”
He looked stricken.
I stepped back.
For the first time all evening, I did not care whether anyone came through the door.
I did not care whether the cake sat untouched or the band played to an empty dance floor.
“What is the rest of it?”
I asked.
Graham’s face lost what little color remained.
Beth said nothing.
I looked between them.
“There’s still something else.”
Graham nodded once.
“Nora didn’t just want to meet Millie.”
My hands became cold.
“What did she want?”
He swallowed.
“She wants to petition for visitation.”
I stared at him.
“On what grounds?”
“That’s complicated.”
“Try me.”
“She says Claire intended for her to have a permanent place in Millie’s life.”
“An email doesn’t make her a parent.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you scared?”
Graham looked toward Beth.
Beth’s jaw tightened.
I saw the answer before either of them spoke.
Not the details.
Just the shape of it.
There was something more than emails.
Something old.
Something Graham had believed buried until Nora returned.
“What did Claire do?” I asked.
Graham’s voice was barely audible when he answered.
“She signed something before Millie was born.”
“What did she sign?”
Graham looked toward the courtyard door as if the answer might be waiting on the other side.
“A letter.”
I waited.
“A notarized letter.”
“What did it say?”
“That if she died during childbirth, she wanted Nora to have a continuing relationship with Millie.”
“That’s not the same thing as custody.”
“No.”
“Then why are you acting like she has something stronger?”
He pressed his lips together.
Beth answered again.
“Because Claire also named Nora as Millie’s intended guardian in an earlier draft of her estate documents.”
I looked at Graham.
“Earlier draft.”
“It was never finalized.”
“So it isn’t legally controlling.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I’ve spoken to a lawyer.”
The sentence hit me in a different place.
“You spoke to a lawyer.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A month ago.”
A month ago.
A month ago I had been sitting at our kitchen table addressing wedding invitations while Graham complained that his hand cramped after seventeen envelopes.
A month ago he had kissed the side of my head and asked whether we had enough stamps.
A month ago he had already consulted an attorney about another woman’s possible claim to his daughter and had come home to me as if our biggest problem was postage.
“What did the lawyer say?”
“That Nora probably doesn’t have a strong legal claim.”
“Probably.”
“Rachel.”
“No, I’m fascinated by your vocabulary tonight.”
He winced.
“The lawyer said a court would look at Millie’s best interests and the actual history of the relationship.”
“Which history?”
“That Nora hasn’t been in her life for most of it.”
“But now she has.”
“Yes.”
“Because you created one.”
Graham said nothing.
That silence answered more than words could have.
I turned away and walked several steps toward the low brick wall at the edge of the courtyard.
Cars moved along the road beyond the venue.
Headlights appeared between the trees and vanished.
Somebody out there was going to a grocery store.
Somebody was fighting about dinner.
Somebody was driving home from work.
I had the insane thought that I would trade places with any of them.
Behind me, Beth said, “He didn’t understand how fast it was becoming serious.”
Graham snapped, “I understood.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I did.”
“Then why did you keep taking Millie there after Nora started talking about school pickups?”
I turned around.
“School pickups?”
Graham glared at his sister.
Beth’s face hardened.
“She needs to know.”
“Apparently I need to know everything except on the day I married him.”
Neither of them responded.
I looked at Graham.
“What school pickups?”
“Nora offered to help.”
“With what?”
“With Millie.”
May you like
“That is not an answer.”
“She said if I ever got stuck at work, she could pick her up.”
