Chương 3
Nathan suspected they had been decorative for several weeks.
A staff member brought water.
Mia took the glass with both hands.
“Thank you.”
The woman smiled at her.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
Nathan noticed Mia did not drink until the woman left.
He waited.
Then Mia took three long swallows.
Nathan sat back slightly.
The note was still in his hand.
He had not unfolded it fully.
“Can I look at this?”
Mia nodded.
“My mom said it belongs to me.”
“Then it belongs to you. I’ll give it back.”
She watched him open it.
The paper had been folded into quarters.
The handwriting was Daniel’s.
Nathan knew before reading a word.
Lauren—
I’m going to stop pretending this isn’t happening just because everyone is angry.
I know you don’t trust me. You probably shouldn’t yet.
But I believe you.
And I believe the baby is mine.
I told my mother this morning. It went badly.
I’m going to tell Nate myself when he gets back from school. He’s twenty-one and thinks he knows everything, so maybe for once that’ll be useful.
Don’t sign anything until we talk.
D.
Nathan read it twice.
His brother had written the letter eight years ago.
Nathan had been twenty-one then, finishing his final semester at Columbia and sleeping four hours a night because he was convinced missing one investment seminar would destroy his future.
Daniel had died that spring.
A single-car crash outside New Haven at 2:13 in the morning.
The police report said speed.
The toxicology report said alcohol and a prescription sedative Daniel had not been prescribed.
Eleanor had said Daniel had relapsed.
Nathan had believed her because Daniel had relapsed before.
He stared at the line.
I’m going to tell Nate myself when he gets back from school.
He never had.
Nathan folded the letter along its old creases.
“When did your mom give you this?”
“Today.”
“Before you came here?”
Mia nodded.
“She said if I got lost I should find you.”
Nathan looked up.
“She expected you might get lost?”
Mia shook her head.
“I wasn’t supposed to come inside.”
That answer created several more questions.
Nathan kept his voice even.
“Why did you?”
Mia looked toward the closed door.
“My mom was talking to your mom downstairs. Then the tall man told us we had to go.”
“Simon?”
“I don’t know.”
“Black suit? Bald?”
She thought about it.
“He had hair.”
“Okay. Not Simon.”
“He had one of those things.”
She touched her ear.
Security.
“What happened?”
“My mom told me to wait by the kitchen door because she had to get her bag. Then your mom came back.”
Nathan said nothing.
“She asked what I had.”
“The letter?”
Mia nodded.
“She wanted it?”
Another nod.
“I said no.”
“What did she say?”
Mia stared at her shoes.
The left sneaker had a blue pen mark near the toe.
“She said my mom had already made enough trouble.”
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
“And then?”
“She said I should stay out of sight until someone came for me.”
“Did she tell you to go under the table?”
“No.”
That mattered.
“Why did you?”
“People were coming.”
She looked embarrassed.
“I thought I’d get in trouble.”
Nathan rubbed a thumb against the paper.
“And the part about disappearing?”
Mia’s face changed.
“She said, ‘This was supposed to disappear years ago.’”
Nathan went very still.
“What did you think she meant?”
Mia shrugged with one shoulder.
“Me.”
There it was.
Not exactly the words she had whispered beneath the buffet.
Something worse in a different way.
A child had heard an adult discussing a secret and reasonably concluded the secret was her.
Nathan was about to ask another question when the door opened.
Lauren Harper entered first.
She was thirty-one, perhaps thirty-two, and wore black banquet trousers, a white service shirt, and shoes built for standing long hours. Her dark-blonde hair had escaped from a tight bun. There was a red mark around her wrist from what looked like an elastic band she had removed.
She saw Mia.
Everything else in her face vanished.
“Mia.”
The girl ran.
Lauren dropped to her knees and caught her hard enough that the water in Mia’s glass spilled onto the carpet.
Nathan stood.
Lauren held her daughter by the shoulders and looked her over.
“Are you okay?”
Mia nodded.
“I told you to stay by the door.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did for a while.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
Then she pulled Mia against her.
“Oh, God.”
Nathan looked away.
It felt private.
Eleanor entered behind Simon.
She had changed nothing about her appearance, but she seemed to occupy less space than she had downstairs.
Lauren saw her over Mia’s shoulder.
Her arms tightened.
Eleanor said, “I’m glad the child is unharmed.”
Lauren stood slowly.
“The child has a name.”
“I know her name.”
“That’s right. You do.”
Nathan watched his mother.
Eleanor’s face held.
Barely.
Simon stayed near the door.
Nathan said, “Give us the room.”
Simon looked between him and Eleanor.
“Mr. Cole—”
“If anyone in here needs security, I’ll call you.”
Simon nodded.
He left.
Lauren took Mia’s hand.
“We’re going.”
Nathan stepped aside immediately.
He did not block the door.
“Okay.”
Lauren seemed surprised.
He held the letter out to Mia.
“You said it was yours.”
Mia took it.
Lauren looked at him.
Some of the fight went out of her expression.
Only some.
Nathan said, “Before you go, I’d like five minutes. But you don’t owe me five minutes, and I’m not going to keep you here.”
Eleanor said, “Nathan, that’s enough.”
He ignored her.
Lauren stared at him for several seconds.
“You really didn’t know.”
It was not a question.
Nathan shook his head.
Lauren looked at Eleanor.
A bitter little smile touched her mouth.
“Wow.”
“Lauren,” Eleanor said.
“No. Don’t.”
Lauren glanced at Mia.
Whatever she had planned to say disappeared.
May you like
She bent down.
“Baby, there’s a vending area outside this room. Would you sit with Mr. Wells for a minute if I can see you through the glass?”
