Chương 4
Guests moved quietly at the far end of the corridor, shepherded toward elevators by hotel staff. Nobody approached.
Laura stood near the elevators with her tablet, directing staff with small movements of her hands. She met Daniel’s eyes once. Her expression held no curiosity.
Only acknowledgment.
Madison stepped forward.
“Is Ethan okay?”
Daniel stopped ten feet from her.
“He thinks he ruined our wedding.”
Pain crossed her face.
“I need to talk to him.”
“No.”
“Daniel, please. I need him to understand.”
“He understands enough.”
“He’s six.”
“Exactly.”
She looked at Evelyn.
“Mom, can you give us a minute?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Daniel nodded.
She walked away.
Madison looked at him.
For several seconds neither spoke.
The corridor hummed softly with air-conditioning.
A hotel employee rolled a cart past the intersection, saw them, and quickly looked at the carpet.
Madison rubbed her thumb across her wedding ring.
Technically, Daniel thought, it was not yet a wedding ring.
The ceremony had stopped before vows.
He hated himself for noticing.
“Richard contacted me four months ago,” she said.
Daniel’s eyes returned to her face.
“How?”
“Email.”
“You answered him.”
“Not at first.”
“But eventually.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said he wanted to apologize.”
Daniel nearly smiled.
“Of course he did.”
“I didn’t believe him immediately.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Please don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn everything I say into something stupid.”
“You’ve saved me some work.”
She recoiled.
Daniel regretted it instantly.
He also meant it.
Both things sat beside each other without resolving.
Madison looked down.
“He knew about the wedding.”
“How?”
“He found the announcement your aunt posted.”
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
Aunt Sandra and Facebook. Of course.
“He said he wouldn’t come. He said he only wanted me to give you a letter.”
“Did he send it?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I read it.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“You read a letter addressed to me.”
“It wasn’t sealed.”
“That improves it.”
“Daniel.”
“Did you give it to me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t read it.”
He stared at her.
She knew immediately what she had said.
Her face changed.
“That came out wrong.”
“No. I think it came out exactly right.”
“I meant—”
“You decided what I would read.”
“I was trying to understand whether he was sincere.”
“You decided whether his apology was sincere.”
“Yes, but—”
“You decided whether I needed it.”
“I thought—”
“You decided whether he could come near my son.”
Her voice broke.
“I never planned for Ethan to meet him.”
“But he did.”
“I know.”
“You put a child inside a secret and then told him to keep it.”
“I panicked.”
“That part I believe.”
Madison wiped at one cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel looked at her dress.
A tiny thread had caught near one wrist. She kept pulling at it with her thumbnail.
He had watched those hands knead pizza dough on Friday nights. He had watched them hold Ethan’s hair back when stomach flu turned the bathroom into a war zone. He had watched them press against Daniel’s chest in bed while she slept.
He had planned to put a ring on one of those fingers forty minutes ago.
“What happened last night?”
Madison took a breath.
“I met Richard in the lounge downstairs.”
“You met him before he came to your room.”
“Yes.”
“How many times have you met him?”
“Three.”
Daniel’s expression must have changed because she rushed on.
“Two coffees and last night. That’s all.”
“Where?”
“The first was in Arlington.”
He felt something inside him drop.
“That was the Saturday you told me you were helping your mother pick furniture.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn, twenty feet away, went still.
Daniel noticed.
“So your mother lied too.”
“No. She didn’t know where I was that day.”
“But she knew later.”
“Yes.”
“The second meeting?”
“Alexandria.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Daniel counted backward without meaning to.
“The night you said your book club ran late.”
Madison closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward the elevators.
Laura was gone now.
Good.
He did not want witnesses.
“You invented an entire normal life to hide this.”
“I was trying to find a way to tell you.”
“For four months?”
“Yes.”
“Three meetings?”
“Yes.”
“A hotel room?”
She looked at him.
“He came to my room because the lounge was crowded and he was upset.”
“Upset.”
“He wanted to leave.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
“Because I stopped him.”
Daniel nodded.
“Of course.”
“I thought if he left, he wouldn’t come back.”
“Maybe that was the point.”
“I know you think that.”
“No, Madison. You know I think that because I told you.”
Her breath caught.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“When you asked about my father last year, I told you he wasn’t part of my life. When you asked whether I wanted him at the wedding, I said no. When you asked if Ethan should know he had another grandfather, I said not while Richard was a stranger to me. You cried because you thought I was shutting you out. I spent three hours explaining it.”
“I remember.”
“Apparently not.”
“I remember every word.”
“Then this is worse.”
She looked as if he had slapped her.
He hated that too.
“I thought you were making the decision from pain,” she whispered.
Daniel stared.
“So?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“No. Finish it.”
“I thought if you saw him now, as he is now, you might feel differently.”
“You thought my pain made me incompetent to choose.”
“No.”
“That is exactly what you’re saying.”
“I thought you deserved a choice that wasn’t based on who he was twenty years ago.”
“I had a choice.”
Madison stopped.
Daniel felt his throat tighten.
“I chose not to see him.”
The silence afterward was not dramatic.
It was worse.
Madison looked down at her hands.
“I know.”
“No. You know now because it cost you something.”
She breathed in.
“Maybe.”
The answer surprised him.
He had expected another apology.
May you like
Madison looked up.
“Maybe that’s true.”
