Chương 4
Rachel looked at the microwave clock.
“You’re going to work?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Neither do I.”
He set the alarm anyway.
At five forty the next morning Evan woke before it rang.
Lily had climbed into their bed sometime after midnight.
She slept sideways between them with one foot against Rachel’s ribs and her hand hooked into the collar of Evan’s T-shirt.
The mark on her cheek had faded.
Evan watched her breathe for a while.
Then he slipped carefully from beneath her hand and went downstairs.
The adoption papers were stacked neatly on the island inside a gallon freezer bag.
Rachel’s work.
A note beside them read: DON’T THROW AWAY ENVELOPE.
Under that she had added: YES, I KNOW YOU KNOW.
Evan made coffee and stood barefoot in the kitchen while it brewed.
His mother’s mug was still on the counter.
He put it in the dishwasher.
Then he took it back out.
He did not know why.
He washed it by hand, dried it, and placed it in the cabinet.
At work, his project manager asked why he looked like he had slept in a truck.
“Family thing.”
“Bad?”
“Pretty bad.”
The project manager nodded.
Nobody asked more.
Evan spent two hours discussing drainage slopes, concrete cure times, and a delivery that had been routed to the wrong side of town. He was grateful for every boring minute.
At ten twelve Melissa called.
Aaron Cole had retained an attorney.
The hearing was not canceled, she said, but it almost certainly would not proceed as scheduled.
Evan walked away from the job trailer until he reached the chain-link fence.
“What does he want?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“He signed.”
“I know.”
“He signed because he hasn’t seen her in five years.”
“I know.”
“He signed because he said this was best for her.”
“I know that too.”
“So what changed?”
Melissa hesitated.
“His attorney says Aaron received information raising concerns about whether the adoption was being presented honestly to Lily and whether he understood what you intended after finalization.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m waiting for specifics.”
Evan stared at a backhoe idling fifty yards away.
“Who gave him the information?”
“They did not say.”
He closed his eyes.
“They didn’t have to.”
When he got home that afternoon, Rachel was sitting at the dining table with her laptop open.
Lily was still at school.
Rachel turned the screen toward him.
A message from Tom.
I need to tell you something before this gets worse.
Beneath it was a photograph.
A postal receipt.
The date was six weeks earlier.
The destination zip code matched the town in Ohio where Aaron lived.
Evan knew because he had mailed him adoption paperwork there.
Rachel looked at him.
“Your dad sent that?”
“Apparently.”
“Did he say what was mailed?”
“No.”
“What are you going to do?”
Evan pulled out a chair.
“Call him.”
Rachel’s mouth tightened.
“You said somewhere else.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean call him. Don’t bring him here.”
“I’m not.”
Tom answered on the first ring.
“Evan.”
“What did she send?”
Tom exhaled.
“I don’t know everything that was in it.”
“What was in the envelope?”
“A letter.”
“From Mom?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
“I didn’t read all of it.”
“Dad.”
“I read enough.”
Evan looked across the table at Rachel.
She had her hands pressed together beneath her chin.
“What did it say?”
Tom’s voice lowered.
“That you were making a mistake. That Aaron should know before it was too late.”
Evan closed his eyes.
“Too late for who?”
“I asked her that.”
“And?”
“She said for everybody.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
“Why did you let her mail it?”
The silence on the phone changed.
Evan sat back.
“Dad.”
“I told her not to.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No.”
“You drove her to the post office?”
“No.”
“Then how do you have the receipt?”
“I found it in her coat.”
“Six weeks ago?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
Tom’s voice roughened. “I was trying to get her to tell you herself.”
Evan laughed once.
“You were trying to get the person who secretly contacted my daughter’s biological father to voluntarily confess?”
“When you say it like that—”
“How else should I say it?”
Rachel reached for his wrist.
He pulled away without meaning to.
Her hand stayed on the table.
Tom said, “There’s more.”
Evan did not want more.
He waited.
“She found him online before that.”
“How long?”
“Maybe two months.”
“Before the letter?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say to him?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don’t.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Tom cleared his throat.
“She told him you and Rachel were planning to make sure he never had contact with Lily again.”
Rachel whispered, “What?”
Evan put the phone on speaker.
Tom continued.
“She told him you were changing Lily’s last name.”
“We are.”
“I know.”
“That’s in the petition.”
“I know.”
“And he consented.”
“I know, Evan.”
“She told him that like we were hiding it?”
“I think so.”
Rachel leaned toward the phone.
“Tom, did Diane tell Aaron that Lily thinks he’s dead?”
A pause.
Evan’s skin went cold.
“Did she?”
“I heard her say something like that on the phone.”
Rachel stood.
“She knows that isn’t true.”
“Yes.”
“She knows Lily has his picture.”
“Yes.”
“She knows we’ve answered every question Lily has ever asked.”
“I know.”
“Then why would she say it?”
Tom said nothing.
Rachel walked away from the table.
Evan looked at his father’s name on the phone screen.
“Why?”
Tom breathed out slowly.
“Because she wanted him angry.”
There was no defense in his voice now.
Only shame.
“Did you know she contacted him before she mailed the letter?”
“I suspected.”
“And you did nothing.”
“I argued with her.”
“You did nothing.”
“I should have called you.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“When?”
“What?”
May you like
“When did you know?”
Tom hesitated.
