Chương 2
Rachel had imagined lies too.
She had invented several during the night.
A misunderstanding.
A clerical error.
A medical screening.
Something Eleanor had twisted.
None survived Daniel’s face.
“Because,” Rachel said, “there’s something I should have told you before Mason was born.”
His jaw tightened.
She forced herself to continue.
“When we separated.”
Daniel said nothing.
“It was seventeen days.”
“I remember how long it was.”
“I know.”
Her voice almost disappeared.
“There was someone else.”
Daniel blinked.
Eleanor shifted behind him.
Rachel kept looking at Daniel.
“One night.”
He stared as though he had misheard her.
“You slept with someone.”
“Yes.”
“While we were married.”
Rachel felt the answer physically.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward the floor.
Mason opened his eyes.
His gray-blue gaze wandered without focus, then found Daniel’s face. One small hand reached outward.
Daniel didn’t move at first.
Mason made a soft sound.
Rachel saw the exact second instinct defeated shock.
Daniel took Mason’s hand.
His thumb closed around two tiny fingers.
“How close?” he asked.
Rachel knew what he meant.
“I don’t know.”
His eyes lifted.
“How close was it to when Mason was conceived?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Rachel.”
“I don’t.”
“You’ve had almost two years to figure out whether you know.”
“I tried.”
A muscle moved in his cheek.
“How long have you known this was possible?”
Rachel couldn’t answer quickly enough.
Daniel stepped back.
That small movement felt worse than if he had shouted.
“Since the pregnancy?”
She nodded.
Eleanor spoke from behind him. “Now perhaps you understand why—”
Daniel wheeled around.
“No.”
The word snapped through the room.
Eleanor froze.
“You do not get to finish that sentence.”
“I am your mother.”
“And she is holding my son.”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened.
Daniel looked at Linda.
“You knew?”
Linda’s face folded with shame.
“I knew there had been someone during the separation. I didn’t know whether Mason—Rachel wasn’t sure. I told her to tell you. I should’ve kept telling her.”
“How did my mother find out?”
Linda didn’t answer.
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor lifted her chin.
“Linda was worried.”
Linda gave a small, disbelieving laugh.
“That’s not what happened.”
“Not now.”
“No, apparently now is when things happen.”
Rachel had never heard Linda speak to her sister that way.
Eleanor’s eyes sharpened.
Linda crossed her arms, then uncrossed them.
“She asked me why Rachel wouldn’t let Mason stay overnight at her house,” Linda said. “I told her Rachel had reasons to be anxious. She kept pushing. I said something I shouldn’t have said.”
“Something?” Rachel whispered.
Linda looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Eleanor said, “You were terrified she was lying to him.”
“I was terrified you’d do exactly this.”
Daniel rubbed one hand over his mouth.
Behind them, an uncle coughed in the dining room.
Daniel looked toward the doorway and saw several relatives standing there.
His expression changed again.
“This party is over.”
“Daniel,” Eleanor said.
“I said it’s over.”
“You cannot throw everyone out because your wife—”
“My house.”
The room fell quiet again.
Rachel looked at him.
The house was theirs. Technically. Legally. Emotionally, it had never always felt that way. Eleanor had helped with the down payment three years earlier, and although Daniel had insisted the money had been a gift, Eleanor still behaved as if she had purchased a permanent key to the kitchen.
Daniel walked to the dining room.
“Sorry,” he said to the relatives. “We need some privacy.”
Nobody argued.
That was another thing Eleanor had taught the family: when authority changed hands, recognize it quickly.
People began gathering purses and jackets. Someone lifted a toddler from a high chair. Daniel’s cousin quietly turned off the music. An older man wrapped a piece of birthday cake in a napkin and then, embarrassed by himself, put it back.
Rachel stood motionless while everyone left.
Nobody met her eyes for more than a second.
That would hurt later.
For now she concentrated on Mason’s weight.
Eleanor remained.
So did Linda.
Daniel waited until the front door closed.
Then he returned to the kitchen and picked up the little birthday gift he had set on the counter.
He looked at it as if he had forgotten what it was.
A laugh escaped him.
Not amusement.
He put it down again.
“What kind of test?”
Rachel answered carefully.
“Private kinship testing.”
“With who?”
“Your mother.”
Daniel stared at Eleanor.
Eleanor did not retreat.
“If Mason is your son, a grandparent relationship should support that.”
“Support.”
“It would give us information.”
“Us?”
“Daniel—”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Would you have agreed?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel’s laugh returned, softer this time.
Rachel had always loved that he resembled Eleanor least when he smiled. Now, in anger, she could suddenly see the similarity.
“You used Rachel and my kid for a DNA test because you knew I would say no.”
“I gave her a choice.”
Rachel looked at Eleanor.
“No, you didn’t.”
Eleanor turned.
“I told you exactly what would happen if you kept lying.”
“You told me if I didn’t sign it, you would announce it today.”
Daniel’s head lifted.
Eleanor’s composure finally cracked.
“That is not what I said.”
“You said you wouldn’t let your grandson have a birthday party built on a fraud.”
Linda closed her eyes.
Daniel stepped backward until the counter stopped him.
For a while he looked at no one.
Then he said, “Rachel, pack a bag for Mason.”
She stared.
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know.”
The answer frightened her more than a destination.
“Daniel—”
“I need to get out of this room.”
He looked at his mother.
“You leave first.”
Eleanor did not move.
“Daniel, you are in shock.”
“Mom.”
“You should not make decisions like this while emotional.”
He nodded once.
“That’s probably the first useful thing you’ve said.”
Her shoulders eased almost invisibly.
Then he added, “So I’m deciding only one thing. You’re leaving my house.”
Eleanor’s face went still.
Linda touched her arm.
“Come on.”
May you like
Eleanor pulled away.
She looked at Rachel instead.
