Chương 2
That helped.
Anger was easier than grief.
“My mom said you gave it to her.”
“I did no such thing.”
“She wrote down what you said.”
“Your mother wrote many things.”
Nora felt heat rise under her collar.
Julian said, “Dad.”
Charles stopped.
Thomas Mercer moved closer to the table.
He was broad through the shoulders, black suit perfectly fitted, gray beginning at his temples. Nora knew who he was because her mother had kept one of his old business cards in a kitchen drawer beneath takeout menus and expired coupons.
She had called the number two days earlier.
Thomas had answered on the fourth ring.
He had listened without interrupting.
Then he had told her not to come to Manhattan alone.
Nora had come anyway.
Thomas looked at the security officer.
“Close the doors.”
One of the attorneys started to object.
Thomas looked at him.
The objection disappeared.
“Phones on the table,” Thomas said.
The banker gave a short, incredulous laugh.
Thomas did not.
“This is a private family matter containing allegations concerning a minor. Anyone who feels unable to respect that can leave now and explain the circumstances to Mr. Vale’s counsel tomorrow.”
Julian said, “Do it.”
Phones appeared.
Nora noticed Adrian hesitate before placing his down.
Thomas noticed that too.
Nora wondered whether Thomas noticed everything or simply made people feel that he did.
Julian picked up the envelope.
He examined the sealed edge.
“When did she write this?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t read it?”
“It says your name.”
A faint expression crossed his face.
“You’re thirteen.”
“I can read.”
“I understand that.”
“You sounded surprised.”
“I’m surprised by several things.”
For the first time, Nora heard something behind his control that was not anger.
Fear, perhaps.
That unsettled her more.
She had expected Julian Vale to be arrogant.
It would have made the evening easier.
Her mother had described him only twice in all the years Nora had asked.
Once she had said, He was kinder than his family.
The other time, during the final week in the hospital, she had said, I was very young and kindness felt rarer than it was.
Nora had asked what that meant.
Claire had turned her face toward the window and said she was tired.
Julian slid one finger beneath the envelope flap.
The paper tore softly.
Adrian looked at the floor.
The letter inside was three pages long.
Julian unfolded it.
The first line made him sit down.
Nora could not see the words.
She watched his eyes instead.
Halfway down the first page, he stopped.
He read one section again.
Charles tried to speak.
Julian lifted a hand without looking up.
Charles went quiet.
By the second page, Julian’s expression had gone flat.
At the third, he looked toward Adrian once.
Adrian did not meet his eyes.
When Julian finished, he placed the pages carefully beside the envelope.
Nora wanted to ask what it said.
She refused to.
Julian looked at her.
“Your mother says you don’t know everything.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“She said the same thing.”
“She says she made decisions for you that you may hate.”
“That sounds like her.”
A corner of Thomas’s mouth moved, though Nora could not tell whether he was trying not to smile.
Julian glanced at the letter.
“She says the journal isn’t proof that I’m your father.”
“I know.”
“She wants a DNA test.”
“I know that too.”
“She says you’re not to stay with me until you decide whether you want to.”
Nora blinked.
That part she had not known.
Julian noticed.
“She also says you have a guardian.”
“My mom’s cousin.”
“Name?”
“Laura Bennett.”
“Where is she?”
“Queens.”
“Does she know you’re here?”
Nora looked at the table.
Julian exhaled through his nose.
Thomas said, “She knows Nora came to Manhattan.”
Nora looked at him.
Thomas added, “She does not know the exact building.”
“You called her?”
“I called after you hung up on me this afternoon.”
“I didn’t hang up.”
“You said, ‘I have to go,’ and terminated the call.”
“That’s hanging up politely.”
For the first time all evening, Julian looked almost human.
It vanished quickly.
He turned toward Adrian.
“Answer my question.”
Adrian finally lifted his eyes.
“This isn’t the place.”
Julian gave a quiet laugh.
It contained no humor.
“You said that already.”
Charles said, “There are legal complications.”
Nora looked at him.
“My mother is dead.”
Charles’s attention shifted to her.
She continued, “So if you’re trying to decide whether this is complicated, you can stop.”
Nobody answered.
Nora closed the journal.
She suddenly wanted to leave.
Not because she was frightened.
Because she had understood something.
They were going to turn her mother into a problem.
A liability.
A document.
A timeline.
They would discuss Claire Bennett as a woman who had contacted this office on that date and signed that paper and received this amount and failed to make that call.
Nora had watched hospitals do something similar.
Claire became the woman in 814.
The pancreatic case.
The forty-two-year-old female.
People became easier to manage once converted into categories.
Nora picked up the journal.
Julian said, “Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“We need to talk.”
“You need to talk.”
“Nora.”
She stopped because of the way he said her name.
Not like he owned it.
Like he was testing whether he had the right to use it.
He stood.
“I’m not asking you to trust me.”
“Good.”
“I’m asking you to let me arrange the test your mother requested.”
“I already agreed to one.”
“With whom?”
“Thomas gave me a clinic.”
Julian turned toward Thomas.
Thomas shrugged slightly.
“I made some calls after she contacted me.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You knew about this before tonight?”
“Four hours before tonight.”
“And you brought her here?”
“I told her not to come.”
Nora said, “He did.”
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“She was persuasive.”
“I took the subway.”
May you like
“Yes,” Thomas said. “That was the part I found persuasive.”
Nora nearly smiled.
