Chương 11
“What happens if Dad says he’ll be home and isn’t?” Oliver asked.
Dr. Feld looked at Adrian.
“I call before the time I said,” he replied. “I explain why. If it keeps happening, we change the plan instead of pretending.”
“What if you don’t call?”
Adrian thought about contracts, consequences, systems.
“Then you can tell Dr. Feld.”
Oliver frowned. “That doesn’t make you come home.”
“No.”
The admission mattered more than a better promise.
Afterward, Adrian bought four hot chocolates. Sophie said hers was too sweet. Henry spilled his in the car. Oliver drank half and left the rest in the cup holder until it formed a skin.
At a red light, Adrian noticed all three children watching him through the rearview mirror.
“What?” he asked.
“You usually have someone drive,” Sophie said.
“I can drive.”
“You missed the turn.”
He had.
Oliver laughed before he could stop himself.
Adrian drove three extra miles rather than make a dangerous correction. The children argued about whether he was lost. For several minutes, the worst problem in their lives was his refusal to admit that he was.
Nora continued working reduced hours under a written temporary agreement. She refused the title of nanny and insisted that Adrian hire a licensed childcare consultant to build a proper schedule. Mrs. Alvarez received overtime for the weeks she had covered duties outside her job. Adrian apologized to her in the laundry room because that was where he found her.
“I am sorry I made you responsible for things I never asked about,” he said.
She folded a towel. “You paid me.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“No.” She stacked the towel. “But payment is not nothing.”
He increased her salary.
She accepted without pretending money was vulgar.
Nora’s sister obtained insurance through her new job. Nora told Adrian only after he asked whether a delayed appointment had been resolved.
“You remembered,” she said.
“I wrote it down.”
“That counts.”
It was not forgiveness. It was a small revision.
The state investigation remained open. Dana interviewed school staff, Dr. Park, Nora, Mrs. Alvarez, and Celeste. Adrian received no daily updates. Waiting exposed how accustomed he was to buying speed.
Commonwealth Household Staffing offered to provide a replacement caregiver at no charge.
Adrian declined.
The agency president called personally. She spoke in a polished voice and referred to the event as an unfortunate breakdown in communication.
“There was a strap,” Adrian said.
“Which our employee states she never intended to use.”
“She returned to the children carrying it after confronting them.”
“We agree that was inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate is forgetting an allergy.”
The president paused. “What language would you prefer?”
“The language you use when no client is listening.”
She ended the call soon afterward.
A week later, Nora found Sophie beneath the velvet bench in the foyer.
She was not hiding. She had crawled under to retrieve a bracelet and remained there, looking at the underside of the seat.
Adrian sat on the floor several feet away.
“Do you want help getting out?”
“No.”
He waited.
After a while Sophie said, “She stood there.”
“I know.”
“You stood there too.”
“After.”
“If you came one minute later, would she hit us?”
Adrian looked at the console table. The strap had been transferred to Dana as evidence. A pale rectangle remained in the dust where the garment bag had rested.
“I don’t know.”
“Oliver says no because she only wanted us scared.”
“That was already wrong.”
Sophie traced one finger along the floor. “She was nice sometimes.”
“I believe you.”
“She braided my hair better than Nora.”
From the hall, Nora called, “I heard that.”
Sophie smiled under the bench.
Adrian lay flat and looked beneath it. Dust had gathered around one carved foot. A lost button and a silver candy wrapper rested against the wall.
“Do you miss her?” he asked.
Sophie’s smile vanished. “Am I allowed?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want her back.”
“You can miss someone and not want them back.”
She considered this.
“She knew how Mom did the Christmas ribbons.”
Adrian had taught Celeste using photographs because he could not remember the order himself.
“We can do them differently,” he said.
“That means Mom’s way disappears.”
“No. It means we might get them wrong.”
Sophie crawled out. Her hair was full of dust.
“Mom got things wrong,” Adrian added.
Sophie looked offended.
“She once put salt in the pancake batter instead of sugar.”
“When?”
“Before Henry was born. Oliver ate two because he wanted to be polite.”
From the music room, Oliver shouted, “I thought they were supposed to taste bad.”
Sophie laughed.
Adrian helped her stand. She did not hug him. She handed him the candy wrapper and told him to throw it away.
Celeste requested a meeting.
Not through her attorney. Through Dana.
She wanted to apologize to the children in a supervised setting. Dana said the children would not be required to attend and that an apology might help some children while burdening others. Dr. Feld advised Adrian to ask each child separately.
Henry said no before the question ended.
Sophie asked whether Celeste would cry.
“I don’t know,” Adrian said.
“I don’t want to make her cry.”
“You would not be responsible for that.”
Sophie said she needed to think.
Oliver wanted to go.
“Why?” Adrian asked.
“To ask her what she was going to do.”
“You don’t have to hear the answer.”
“I already hear answers.”
Adrian understood. Oliver’s imagination supplied one each night.
The meeting took place in Dr. Feld’s office. Sophie decided to attend but sat near the door. Henry stayed home with Nora.
May you like
Celeste arrived in a dark wool dress with her hair tied back. Without the estate, the emerald satin, or the authority of the household schedule, she seemed smaller. Adrian did not allow that observation to become pity.
Dana sat beside the wall. Dr. Feld established the rules. Celeste could speak briefly. She could not ask the children to forgive her. She could not dispute their memories. The children could leave at any time.
