Chương 5
Rachel called.
Naomi answered on the second ring.
“Tell me you didn’t sign this.”
“I didn’t.”
“Good.”
“What is it?”
“It’s not a school authorization.”
Margaret had described the papers that way.
Naomi continued.
“It gives her broad temporary authority over education, non-emergency medical decisions, travel, and access to records. There’s language about residence too.”
Rachel leaned against the wall.
“For how long?”
“Twelve months unless revoked.”
“I could revoke it?”
“Probably, yes. That doesn’t mean I want you signing it.”
“Why would she need it?”
“That is the question I would ask her with me in the room.”
Rachel stared at the dark window.
“What does Daniel’s trust say?”
“Different issue.”
“Naomi.”
“I don’t have the full trust. I have the summary you sent me.”
“Margaret says she controls the house.”
“She may control the trust that owns part of it. That doesn’t mean she controls you.”
Rachel lowered her voice.
“She told Emily she might live with her.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Tonight. Maybe before.”
“Rachel, what happened?”
Rachel told her.
She did not soften the slap.
Naomi sighed when she got there.
“That’s bad.”
“I know.”
“How bad?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Could she use it against me?”
“Yes.”
Rachel shut her eyes.
“Okay.”
“I said yes, not that she wins something automatically.”
“I know.”
“Did the police arrest you?”
“No.”
“Citation?”
“No.”
“Written statement?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Rachel almost laughed again.
“It doesn’t feel good.”
“Truth is frequently inconvenient.”
“That should be on your business card.”
“I’ll mention it to marketing.”
Naomi was silent for a moment.
Then, softer, “How is Emily?”
Rachel looked through the glass in the compartment door.
Her daughter was awake.
Rachel could see it from the shape of her face in the darkness.
“She’s listening to me talk about her.”
Emily closed her eyes theatrically.
Naomi said, “Smart kid.”
“Too smart lately.”
“That’s usually what adults say when children notice things.”
Rachel leaned her forehead against the cold window.
“Margaret gave her Daniel’s watch and told her not to tell me.”
Another silence.
“That matters.”
“Legally?”
“I don’t know yet. Personally? Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because secrets between an adult and a child matter when the adult is also talking about changing where the child lives.”
Rachel looked at the floor.
“What do I do tomorrow?”
“Take your kids home.”
“And Margaret?”
“Do not meet with her alone.”
“She’ll say I’m overreacting.”
“I bill by the hour. You’re allowed to overreact professionally now.”
Rachel smiled despite herself.
“Naomi.”
“Yeah?”
“I hit her.”
“I heard you.”
“I’m not asking you as my lawyer.”
“Then don’t ask.”
Rachel watched the darkness outside.
“I wanted to do it.”
Naomi did not answer immediately.
“That’s different from being glad you did.”
“I’m not sure I’m not.”
“Then figure that out somewhere safe. Not with Margaret.”
The line ended ten minutes later.
Rachel returned to bed.
Emily opened one eye.
“Are we poor?”
Rachel stopped.
“What?”
“Grandma said you can’t afford lawyers.”
Rachel sat on the edge of the berth.
“We are not poor.”
“How much money do we have?”
“That is an extremely rude question.”
Emily looked alarmed.
Rachel smiled.
“I’m kidding.”
“Oh.”
“We have enough.”
“For a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“For the house?”
Rachel hesitated.
“We’re going to figure out the house.”
“That means no.”
“It means I am not discussing property law at two-thirty in the morning with a fourth grader.”
“I’m almost in fifth.”
“Go to sleep.”
Emily rolled over.
Thirty seconds later she said, “I knew that meant no.”
Rachel lay awake until dawn.
In Chicago, Margaret left the train first.
Rachel watched from inside the sleeper while a porter carried Margaret’s luggage onto the platform.
Burgundy handbag.
Cream suitcase.
Garment bag.
Nothing out of place.
Margaret never looked toward their window.
A black car waited at the curb.
Emily sat beside Rachel with Noah in her lap, not wearing the carrier.
“Is she mad?”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
“At you?”
“Yes.”
Emily considered this.
“Are you mad at her?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Rachel looked at her daughter.
“I don’t know.”
Emily nodded as if that seemed reasonable.
Their own ride home was a dented blue minivan driven by Rachel’s sister, Tessa, who pulled up in a loading zone wearing pajama pants under a trench coat.
The moment Rachel opened the sliding door, Tessa said, “I brought coffee and inappropriate amounts of anger.”
Emily climbed inside.
“Mom said anger can get you in trouble.”
Tessa looked at Rachel.
“Oh.”
Rachel shut the door.
“Drive.”
Tessa drove.
For the first ten minutes, nobody spoke.
Noah fell asleep in his car seat with his mouth open.
Emily watched warehouses pass.
Rachel held the coffee without drinking it.
Finally Tessa said, “I’m guessing this is not the part where I ask whether the train was fun.”
Emily said, “The cake was good.”
Tessa nodded.
“Okay.”
“It had raspberry in it.”
“Excellent.”
“Grandma kicked the plates.”
Tessa’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Rachel saw it.
Emily did too.
“She didn’t kick me,” Emily added quickly.
Tessa glanced at Rachel.
That sentence stayed in the car all the way home.
Daniel’s watch was exactly where Emily said it would be.
Rachel found it under colored pencils in the bottom drawer of her desk.
The leather strap was cracked near the buckle.
She sat on Emily’s rug holding it in both hands.
For eleven months she had imagined it lost somewhere stupid.
A hospital drawer.
A coat pocket.
The glove compartment of the car Daniel had been driving the afternoon the aneurysm ruptured.
She had imagined strangers touching it.
Throwing it away.
She had even called the tow yard twice.
Margaret had had it.
Then she had given it to Emily secretly.
Rachel pressed the watch against her palm.
It still smelled faintly like old leather.
Tessa stood in the doorway.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good. I was worried you’d started lying.”
Rachel looked up.
May you like
Tessa came in and sat cross-legged on the floor.
“She had it?”
