Chương 6
“I had signed that document yesterday. Dad had spent forty minutes telling me the house would never be mine, and then I walk in and there’s Noah sitting in Dad’s chair while everybody laughs about him being king of the house.”
“He’s seven.”
“I know.”
“It was a paper crown.”
“I know.”
“You attacked a child over a joke.”
“I know!”
Lauren’s voice broke across the patio.
She looked immediately toward the window.
Noah did not appear to have heard.
Lauren lowered her voice.
“I knew it while I was doing it.”
Emma stared at her.
That was worse than anger without thought.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I wanted you to hurt.”
Emma said nothing.
Lauren wiped beneath one eye.
“I wanted to say something to you. I wanted to embarrass you. Then he walked over with that photograph because he wanted me to sign the back of the frame.”
Emma remembered the gift.
At school, Noah’s class had done a project about family. Every relative at the birthday party was supposed to write a short message on the cardboard backing.
“What did he ask you?”
“He said, ‘Write something only you would say.’”
Emma closed her eyes.
Lauren’s voice became quieter.
“And I looked at that picture. Him in the middle. Mom and Dad behind him. You beside him. Me on the edge.”
“You were literally standing where the photographer put you.”
“I know.”
“You keep knowing things after you destroy them.”
Lauren nodded.
“Yes.”
Emma opened her eyes.
Lauren was no longer defending herself.
That did not produce satisfaction.
It left Emma with nowhere simple to put her anger.
“What you said will stay with him.”
“I know.”
“For years.”
“I know.”
“He’ll remember the sound.”
Lauren looked through the glass door.
“I know.”
Emma stepped closer.
“No. You don’t know that part. He remembers sounds. When Daniel and I fought, Noah could tell what room we were in by whether he heard the kitchen vent rattling behind us. He notices everything adults think children miss.”
Lauren looked down.
Emma’s throat tightened.
“Tomorrow he might act normal. Next week he might ask whether his teacher thinks he’s family. Six months from now he might hear somebody joke that he looks nothing like me and remember you.”
Lauren nodded once.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t give that to me.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then give it to him when you can do it without making him take care of you.”
Lauren looked up.
Emma opened the door.
Before she went inside, Lauren said, “There’s something else.”
Emma stopped.
“What?”
“Daniel called me.”
The anger vanished so quickly Emma felt cold.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Why?”
Lauren hesitated.
Emma turned fully.
“Why did my husband call you?”
“He wanted to know whether Mom and Dad were planning to help you buy him out of the house.”
Emma stared.
The house Emma and Daniel owned was a two-bedroom place across town, not this one. Emma had not lived there since April because Daniel’s drinking had returned and an argument had ended with Noah hiding inside a linen closet.
Daniel had moved into an apartment after Emma obtained temporary exclusive use of their house.
Then a plumbing leak damaged the kitchen, and while insurance argued over remediation costs, Emma and Noah had stayed with her parents.
“Why would he ask you?”
“Because you stopped answering him.”
“I answer messages about Noah.”
“He said you wouldn’t discuss money.”
“Through lawyers. We agreed.”
Lauren nodded.
“I told him that.”
“And?”
“He said Dad had changed his estate plan because of him.”
Emma looked toward Robert.
“Did you tell him about the trust?”
“No.”
“Lauren.”
“I didn’t.”
“Did you tell him anything?”
“I said Dad was furious about what happened.”
“What did he say?”
Lauren looked uncomfortable.
“He said everybody was pretending you were innocent.”
Emma went still.
“Of what?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He laughed.”
Emma hated Daniel’s laugh when he wanted someone to chase him for information.
It was the laugh he used during the last year of their marriage whenever she asked whether he had been drinking.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
Emma looked at her sister.
“Stop.”
Lauren nodded.
Inside, Noah shouted, “Grandpa, you broke it!”
Robert answered, “That accusation is unsupported by evidence.”
Noah shouted back, “The wheel is in your hand!”
Emma almost smiled.
Then Lauren said, “There was another reason I didn’t tell you.”
Emma waited.
“He asked me whether you had ever told Noah about Rebecca.”
The patio seemed to tilt.
“How does Daniel know Rebecca’s name?”
Lauren frowned.
“He adopted Noah with you.”
“No.”
“What?”
“He knew about Noah’s biological mother. He did not know her current identity beyond what was in the sealed adoption summary.”
Lauren’s face changed.
“He said Rebecca.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Exactly?”
“Yes.”
Emma’s heart began pounding.
“Did he say a last name?”
“No.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Lauren closed her eyes, searching.
“He said, ‘Has Emma told Noah about Rebecca yet?’ I asked who Rebecca was. He said, ‘Ask your sister.’”
Emma stared through the window without seeing anything.
The adoption had been semi-open for the first year.
Emma and Daniel had exchanged letters with Noah’s biological mother through the agency. No addresses. No direct contact. Rebecca had stopped sending letters shortly before Noah turned three.
Two years later, the agency closed.
Emma still had every envelope.
“What are you thinking?” Lauren asked.
“I don’t know.”
That was true.
For the first time all evening, she wished Daniel were merely being cruel.
Cruel was familiar.
Knowledge was harder.
Emma went inside.
Robert was examining the detached wheel from the monster truck.
“You overtorqued it,” Noah told him.
Robert frowned.
“Where did you learn that word?”
“YouTube.”
“Of course.”
Emma stood in the doorway.
“Dad.”
He looked at her face and immediately set the wheel down.
“What happened?”
“Did you talk to Daniel about Noah’s adoption?”
“No.”
“Recently?”
“No.”
May you like
“Did Mom?”
Helen looked offended from the kitchen.
