Chương 7
“I suspected. Rebecca didn’t have proof yet.”
“You still could have called.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t.”
“No.”
Richard stood.
Elena saw anger rise through him.
Claire heard it.
“Go ahead.”
“What?”
“Say it.”
Richard paced once across the office.
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
“You let six years pass.”
“I know.”
“My daughter grew up ten miles from me.”
“I know.”
“I could have—”
Claire interrupted.
“You could have what?”
Richard stopped.
“You could have paid for everything? Hired the best doctors? Bought her a house? You think Rebecca didn’t know that?”
“I could have been her father.”
“Maybe.”
The word hit harder than a shout.
Richard stared at the phone.
Claire said, “You were not a good man when Rebecca knew you.”
Elena looked away.
Richard’s voice became low.
“I never hurt her.”
“That is an extremely rich man’s definition of good.”
“Claire.”
“You didn’t hit her. Congratulations.”
Elena shifted in her chair.
Claire continued.
“You canceled on her constantly. You disappeared for days into work. Your father called her trash and you kept attending Sunday dinner with him. When she said she was scared of your family, you told her she was being dramatic.”
Richard’s shoulders lowered.
Claire’s voice softened.
“She loved you. That was part of the problem.”
Richard sat again.
For a while, no one spoke.
Then he said, “Why now?”
Claire breathed in.
“Because Rebecca died.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is.”
“You still waited six months.”
“I was trying to figure out what was best for Lily.”
“And you decided sending her into my house without telling me was best?”
“No.”
Richard frowned.
Claire continued.
“I did not send Lily to your house.”
Elena looked at the phone.
Richard said, “What?”
“The emergency placement was supposed to be with a family in Rye. The agency changed it after my accident.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena felt the hair rise on her arms.
Richard looked at her.
“Vanessa.”
Claire said, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Richard stood.
“Elena, get Lily.”
“No.”
He stared at her.
“She’s asleep.”
“Elena—”
“You are not waking a six-year-old because the adults found another problem.”
He started to argue.
Then stopped.
Claire gave a dry laugh through the phone.
“I like her.”
Richard ignored that.
“Claire, if Vanessa arranged Lily’s placement here, why would she do that?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena did.
Or thought she did.
“She wanted to control what happened before you found out.”
Richard looked at her.
Elena continued.
“Lily arrives here. Vanessa watches her. She gets access to whatever Lily brought. Maybe she expects Claire to be unavailable for a few days. Maybe she planned to move Lily somewhere else before you came home.”
Richard’s face darkened.
Claire said, “That sounds insane.”
Elena nodded.
“It does.”
Richard looked toward the office door.
“She tried to send Lily away this morning.”
Claire went quiet.
Richard continued.
“If I hadn’t walked in—”
He stopped.
No one finished the sentence.
The next morning, Richard requested a voluntary DNA test.
He explained it to Lily at breakfast.
She listened while eating blueberries one at a time.
“So they put a stick in my mouth?”
“Yes.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
“You do it too?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To find out whether I’m your biological father.”
Lily frowned.
“You already think you are.”
“I do.”
“Then why do the test?”
Richard glanced toward Elena.
“Because when something important can be proven, it’s better to prove it.”
Lily considered this.
“Do I get a bandage?”
“No.”
“That’s not fair.”
Richard smiled.
“I’ll buy you a bandage.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
She ate another blueberry.
“Okay.”
The technician came that afternoon.
The process took minutes.
The waiting took days.
During those days, Richard changed in small, awkward ways.
He canceled a trip to Boston.
He attended one board meeting by video and ended it early because Lily had a dentist appointment.
He bought six children’s books and chose all of them badly.
Lily informed him that three were for babies, two were boring, and one was “about feelings in an annoying way.”
Richard placed that one on a high shelf.
Elena caught him reading it later.
He also tried too hard.
The first Saturday, a delivery truck arrived carrying a dollhouse large enough to qualify as real estate.
Lily stared at it in the foyer.
Richard waited for admiration.
Lily asked, “Where would I put Teddy?”
Richard looked at the dollhouse.
“I don’t know.”
“There’s no bed big enough.”
“We can get one.”
“For Teddy?”
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“That’s silly.”
Richard glanced at Elena.
Elena bit the inside of her cheek.
That evening, Lily played with the cardboard shipping box.
Richard watched from the doorway.
“You can return the dollhouse,” Elena said.
He leaned against the frame.
“I spent four hours choosing it.”
“That’s tragic.”
“It had excellent reviews.”
“She’s six.”
“Six-year-olds wrote some of them.”
“No, their parents did.”
Richard looked offended.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to review children’s products without child input.”
Elena smiled.
“There you go. That can be your next corporate campaign.”
He watched Lily crawl inside the box.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
The humor left Elena.
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“No?”
“You don’t.”
“That was unnecessarily direct.”
“You employ me for my warmth.”
He almost laughed.
Then he became serious again.
“What if she is mine?”
Elena looked toward Lily.
“Then you learn.”
“What if she hates me?”
“She doesn’t know you well enough to hate you.”
“Comforting.”
“You’re welcome.”
Richard folded his arms.
“What if I’m bad at it?”
“You will be.”
He stared.
Elena shrugged.
“Everyone is bad at parts of it.”
“You have children?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“I had parents.”
Richard nodded.
Fair.
On the fifth day, the results came.
Richard read them alone first.
Then he sat in his office for twenty minutes.
Elena found him there.
The paper lay on the desk.
She did not need to read it.
His face told her.
May you like
“Is she?”
Richard nodded.
