Chương 4
“Yes.”
“They are insured separately.”
“I don’t care.”
“I’ll call the conservator.”
He walked toward his office.
Behind him, Mrs. Vale said, “The twins have a pediatric appointment at ten.”
Daniel stopped.
He had accepted three meeting invitations for ten.
“Why isn’t it on my calendar?”
“It is.”
He opened his phone. There it was, listed beneath a call with Singapore and above lunch with the bank.
“Reschedule the calls.”
“Your assistant tried yesterday.”
Daniel looked back.
Mrs. Vale held his gaze. “Mrs. Mercer confirmed she will meet you at the doctor’s office.”
Helen.
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“Cancel her.”
“I cannot cancel your mother-in-law.”
“You can tell her the appointment changed.”
“Has it?”
“No.”
“Then I would be lying before breakfast.”
Mrs. Vale entered the nursery and began straightening the crooked watercolor.
Daniel stood alone in the hall.
At seven fifteen, he found Elise in the kitchen making coffee.
She had changed into dark jeans and a soft gray sweater. Her hair was still loosely pinned, though strands had fallen around her face. The yellow gloves lay on the counter beside a drying rack full of bottles.
She did not turn when he entered.
Daniel opened the refrigerator, stared inside without seeing anything, and closed it.
“You were right,” he said.
Elise poured coffee into a chipped ceramic mug that belonged to the staff kitchen.
“About what?”
“I shouldn’t have fired you.”
“That part was clear.”
“I shouldn’t have come into the room like that.”
She added milk.
“I frightened you,” he continued. “I made an accusation without understanding the situation. I brought Rebecca into it because I wanted to hurt you enough that you would leave immediately.”
Elise’s hand stopped above the sugar bowl.
Daniel had not intended to say that much. The admission left a metallic taste in his mouth.
She looked at him.
“Why?” she asked.
He leaned against the counter.
“Because for a few seconds I thought you had failed them.”
“And that made you want to punish me.”
“Yes.”
“Not protect them.”
He almost argued.
Instead, he looked toward the windows. Morning had turned the city gray. A delivery truck reversed far below, its warning beep faint through the glass.
“I thought those were the same thing,” he said.
Elise stirred her coffee. “They’re not.”
“I know that now.”
“No, you know it this morning.”
Daniel’s jaw shifted.
She took a sip and made a face. “This coffee is terrible.”
“It’s imported.”
“That doesn’t help it.”
He watched her add more milk.
“I’m having a new contract drafted,” he said. “Guaranteed notice period. Severance if I terminate without cause. Medical coverage. Whatever is standard.”
“What’s standard for people who work in apartments with indoor giraffes?”
“The benefits aren’t the point.”
“They are part of the point.”
“Then tell Mrs. Vale what you want.”
Elise set down the spoon. “I want you not to threaten my livelihood whenever you panic.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I can put language in the contract,” he said.
“You can also learn to leave a room before you say something you can’t take back.”
He disliked being instructed in his own kitchen. He disliked more that she was right.
“What else?”
“I don’t want to be used against Mrs. Mercer.”
His eyes narrowed. “Who told you about Helen?”
“Mrs. Vale said she might visit.”
“That’s not what you meant.”
Elise wrapped both hands around the mug. “Your mother-in-law called the nursery yesterday. She asked how often you hold the twins.”
Daniel went still.
“What did you say?”
“I told her she needed to ask you.”
“What else did she ask?”
“Whether you sleep here most nights. Whether the babies recognize your voice. Whether I had ever seen you intoxicated.”
Daniel’s fingers curled against the counter edge.
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I planned to tell you this morning.”
“You should have told me immediately.”
“Last night you fired me immediately.”
The kitchen went silent except for the hum of the refrigerator.
Daniel pushed away from the counter.
“What is she doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must have an opinion.”
“I have several. None of them are useful before coffee.”
He paced once toward the windows and back.
Helen had been making comments for weeks. The babies needed continuity. The apartment was too quiet. Daniel traveled too much. Connecticut had grass. Connecticut had family. Connecticut had apparently solved grief through landscaping.
Elise watched him.
“She loves them,” she said.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It might answer part of it.”
“You don’t know her.”
“No.”
“Then don’t defend her.”
“I’m not defending anyone. I’m telling you she sounded scared.”
Daniel laughed once without humor. “Helen doesn’t sound scared. She makes other people sound scared.”
Elise considered that.
“Maybe she’s talented.”
He almost smiled. The impulse annoyed him.
“The twins have a doctor’s appointment at ten,” he said. “You’ll come.”
“Of course.”
“Helen will be there.”
“I assumed.”
“I want you beside me.”
Elise’s posture changed.
“As their nanny,” Daniel added.
“Why did you need to say that?”
“Because you’re looking at me like I asked you to join a firing squad.”
“I don’t know what you’re asking yet.”
“I’m asking you to answer questions truthfully.”
“I always do.”
“About the twins.”
Her eyes held his. “And if someone asks about you?”
Daniel paused.
“Answer carefully.”
Elise picked up the sugar spoon again. “That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Then ask someone else.”
He stared at her.
She finished her coffee, rinsed the mug, and left the kitchen with the yellow gloves tucked beneath one arm.
At ten minutes before ten, Daniel arrived at the pediatric clinic wearing a charcoal suit and no tie. Elise followed with the double stroller, the diaper bag, two bottles, a folded blanket, three spare pacifiers, and the cream teddy bear, which Rosie had refused to release until they entered the elevator.
Helen Mercer was already in the waiting room.
May you like
She stood when she saw them.
Rebecca had inherited her mother’s height and her tendency to look directly at whatever everyone else wished to avoid. Helen was sixty-three, narrow-shouldered and elegantly dressed in a navy coat. Her silver-blond hair was pulled into a low knot. She did not hug Daniel.
