Chương 7
Now the words sounded too small.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Elena did not answer.
“I know that doesn’t—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
She sounded tired.
“I can’t do the giant apology tonight.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were building toward it.”
He looked at the floor.
“I probably was.”
“I have to make dinner.”
“Okay.”
“Marisol will talk to your attorney tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Another silence.
Then Elena said, “Theo likes dinosaurs.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“What?”
“He likes dinosaurs. Mostly the ones with horns.”
Daniel sat down.
“Okay.”
“Grace hates bananas unless they’re in pancakes.”
He swallowed.
“Okay.”
“Mateo says he hates dogs, but he doesn’t. He’s scared of them.”
Daniel pressed his thumb into his palm.
“Elena.”
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.”
Her voice cracked.
“I spent four years trying not to need you to know anything.”
Daniel said nothing.
“I have to go.”
The call ended.
The first supervised visit lasted forty-three minutes.
Elena chose a children’s museum because it was public and because Marisol had suggested a neutral environment.
Daniel arrived eleven minutes early.
He brought nothing.
This was deliberate.
His first instinct had been to bring three gifts.
His attorney had asked why.
Daniel said because children liked presents.
His attorney asked whether he knew what these children liked.
Daniel had canceled the toy order.
Elena arrived with the children seven minutes late because Grace had refused to wear socks that felt “lumpy.”
Daniel learned this within thirty seconds.
Grace announced it.
Theo recognized Daniel.
“You’re the hotel man.”
“Yes.”
Mateo hid behind Elena’s coat.
Daniel crouched.
“Hi.”
Mateo did not answer.
Theo pointed at Daniel’s face.
“The red is gone.”
“It is.”
“Did you use ice?”
“Yes.”
“My mom uses peas.”
Elena stared at the ceiling.
Daniel said, “Peas work too.”
For the first ten minutes, the children mostly ignored him.
It was a relief and a wound.
Theo wanted to see a fossil.
Grace wanted the water table.
Mateo followed Grace because he did not trust Daniel enough to let Elena out of sight.
Daniel did not force conversation.
He carried jackets.
He waited outside the bathroom.
He learned that Theo narrated everything he built, Grace hummed when concentrating, and Mateo became furious when a wooden train came off its track.
Near the end, Theo asked Daniel why he had the same watch from the hotel.
Daniel looked at his wrist.
“Because it’s mine.”
“My grandpa has one watch.”
Daniel glanced at Elena.
Her father had died before the triplets were born. He knew that much from the legal background materials his attorney had told him not to overread.
“Do you have a grandpa?” Theo asked.
Daniel’s mouth went dry.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Elena’s body tightened.
Daniel answered carefully.
“Not here.”
Theo nodded and returned to the train.
After the visit, Elena buckled all three children into her car.
Daniel stood on the sidewalk.
“Thank you.”
She shut Mateo’s door.
“For what?”
“Letting me come.”
“The court would eventually expect us to work something out.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“I know.”
She looked exhausted.
Daniel put his hands in his coat pockets.
“My father wants to meet them.”
Elena laughed.
It was not a pleasant sound.
“No.”
“I told him no.”
“Good.”
“He keeps asking.”
“Then keep practicing.”
Daniel nodded.
Elena opened the driver’s door.
“Did you know he has the hotel footage?”
Daniel hesitated.
Her face changed.
“What?”
“The company has it.”
“Same thing.”
“No. I had outside counsel issue a preservation order.”
Elena stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because it’s evidence.”
“Against me.”
“Of what happened.”
“You sound like him.”
Daniel flinched.
She immediately regretted saying it but did not take it back.
He looked toward the children.
“My father asked the company’s general counsel whether the footage could be used if custody became contested.”
Elena gripped the car door.
“He what?”
“I told them I would not support any attempt to use it that way.”
“You don’t control him.”
“No.”
“That’s becoming clear.”
“I also resigned from the company’s litigation committee so nobody can say I’m directing evidence decisions for personal reasons.”
She stared at him.
“You resigned?”
“From a committee.”
“You expect applause?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He nodded.
Elena got into the car.
Before closing the door, she said, “Thank you for telling me.”
Daniel watched her drive away.
It was the first kindness she had offered him.
It made the rest of the afternoon worse.
Robert Carter did not disappear because Daniel wanted him to.
Men like Robert rarely disappeared.
They changed tactics.
Three days after the museum visit, Daniel received an email from his father asking for breakfast.
Daniel ignored it.
Two days later, Robert appeared at his office.
Daniel’s assistant stepped into the doorway behind him.
“I’m sorry. He—”
“It’s fine,” Daniel said.
Robert closed the door.
Daniel remained seated.
“You look tired.”
“You look uninvited.”
Robert took the chair opposite him.
“I spoke to Harold.”
“That sounds painful.”
“He intends to cooperate with the internal review.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Good.”
“He intends to characterize the letters to Elena as my personal instruction.”
“Were they?”
Robert’s mouth tightened.
“You know they were.”
“Then that sounds accurate.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What part?”
“Punishing me.”
“No.”
Robert crossed one ankle over his knee.
“You always hated that I made the decisions you couldn’t.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You stole four years of my children’s lives.”
“I prevented you from tying yourself to a woman who might have destroyed your future.”
“They’re my children.”
“We know that now.”
“She knew it then.”
Robert’s jaw worked once.
Daniel continued.
“And you knew there was a meaningful possibility.”
“Yes.”
“Enough that you offered her half a million dollars.”
“That was precisely why money was appropriate. To settle uncertainty.”
“She wasn’t a lawsuit.”
“Everyone becomes a lawsuit eventually when enough money is involved.”
Daniel looked at his father.
For the first time, he heard not strength in that sentence but fear.
May you like
Old fear.
Inherited fear.
