Chương 4
“I didn’t know what was true.”
“So you called my ex-girlfriend.”
“I called a woman in a photograph with your father holding a newborn baby.”
“You had no right.”
Claire flinched.
Not because he was loud.
Because part of her believed him.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I was trying to verify it before I blew up your life.”
“You blew it up anyway.”
“I did not forge your signature.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“No, you just looked at me like I arranged the adoption.”
Daniel turned away.
He gripped the edge of the sink.
The refrigerator hummed.
Somewhere upstairs, a floorboard creaked.
Claire waited.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter.
“Did she keep him?”
Claire swallowed.
“No.”
Daniel’s shoulders dropped.
“He was adopted.”
“By who?”
“I don’t know their names.”
“You talked to Rebecca and didn’t ask?”
“I asked. She wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a stranger calling out of nowhere asking about the child she gave up seventeen years ago.”
He turned.
“Seventeen.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at the photograph again.
“I have a seventeen-year-old son.”
Claire did not answer.
He hit the countertop with the flat of his hand.
Not hard enough to hurt himself.
Hard enough to make the papers jump.
Upstairs, Lily stirred.
Both of them froze.
Daniel closed his eyes.
When no footsteps came, he lowered his voice.
“My mother told me the pregnancy ended.”
Claire nodded.
“Rebecca says your mother told her you wanted the adoption and refused to see her.”
Daniel looked sick.
“She wrote me.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Rebecca kept copies.”
Claire pulled out three more pages.
Not legal documents this time.
Letters.
Photocopies of handwritten pages, folded long enough that the creases were visible even in reproduction.
Daniel did not touch them.
“She mailed those to my dorm?”
“Two to your dorm. One to your parents’ house.”
“And?”
“She never got an answer.”
Daniel stared at the first page.
“I didn’t get them.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know.”
“No,” Claire said. “I don’t. She doesn’t either.”
He picked up one letter.
His eyes moved over the first lines.
Then he put it down.
“I can’t.”
Claire nodded.
That seemed to make him angrier.
“Stop being so calm.”
“I’m not calm.”
“You look calm.”
“I have been holding myself together since I found our daughter attached to a patio chair.”
Daniel’s mouth closed.
Claire could feel her own control slipping now.
“I have spent seventeen days wondering whether to hand you a piece of paper that says your mother stole a child from your life. I have talked to a woman who spent seventeen years believing you abandoned her. I have been lying to you every morning because I wanted to be certain. And today your mother put a chain through our daughter’s shoe because Lily wanted to open a birthday present. I am not calm. I am functioning.”
Daniel looked down.
A tear hit the paper.
He wiped it away immediately, almost angrily.
“Why today?”
Claire knew what he meant.
“Why did Margaret do that to Lily?”
“Yes.”
Claire folded her hands so he would not see them tremble.
“Because she knew I had the envelope.”
“How?”
“I asked her about Rebecca three days ago.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You confronted her?”
“I asked one question.”
“What question?”
“I showed her the photo of your father holding the baby and asked who it was.”
“What did she say?”
“That your father had chaired a hospital foundation and held lots of babies.”
Despite everything, Daniel gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“That sounds like her.”
“I told her Rebecca remembered him.”
The laugh disappeared.
“And?”
“She told me to stop digging through things that didn’t belong to me.”
Daniel sat again.
“Then what?”
“She came to our house yesterday.”
“What?”
“You were at work.”
“Claire.”
“I know.”
“What did she want?”
“The documents.”
“How did she know you had them?”
“I made a mistake.”
He waited.
“I told her Rebecca sent copies.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Why would you tell her that?”
“I wanted to see whether she’d deny knowing Rebecca.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It made sense yesterday.”
“No, it didn’t.”
“You’re right.”
That stopped him.
Claire looked at the floor.
“I thought if she believed I had proof, she might finally tell me the truth before I told you. Instead she asked what it would take for me to leave you.”
Daniel’s hand lowered.
“What?”
“She said I had never understood what it meant to marry into this family.”
“What did you say?”
“That I wasn’t leaving.”
“And she threatened you?”
“Not directly.”
“Claire.”
“She said family courts were full of people who thought marriage protected them until it didn’t.”
Daniel stood again.
This time slower.
“She threatened custody.”
“She implied she could make our lives difficult.”
“And you still brought Lily to that house today?”
The question hit the exact place Claire had been trying not to look at.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it was her birthday.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Because forty people were coming. Because I thought Margaret cared too much about appearances to do anything in front of witnesses. Because I thought canceling would tell her I was afraid. Pick one.”
“You gambled with Lily.”
Claire’s face went hot.
“I know.”
Daniel immediately looked as if he wished he could pull the words back.
But Claire did not let him.
“No. Say it.”
“I’m not doing this.”
“You’re right.”
“Claire.”
“I knew your mother had threatened me and I brought our daughter anyway because I wanted to prove she couldn’t control me. That was arrogant and stupid.”
Daniel looked away.
For several seconds neither spoke.
The silence felt more honest than forgiveness would have.
Finally he said, “I should have seen her.”
“Seen what?”
“All of it.”
“That’s not useful.”
“It’s true.”
“It can be true and still not be useful.”
He sat down again.
That was where the first night ended.
May you like
Not with a plan.
Not with a confrontation.
