Chương 5
“What did she do with them?”
Kyle’s face had gone pale.
“I think she copied some pages.”
Claire stopped breathing for a second.
“Copied them?”
“I saw papers in Dad’s office.”
Claire moved toward him.
“Who else has seen them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kyle.”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice rose. “Who?”
Daniel appeared behind him.
“What happened?”
Kyle turned.
Claire answered.
“Your mother copied our fertility records.”
Daniel looked at his brother.
Kyle backed into the hall.
“I just saw papers.”
“Where?”
“Dad’s desk.”
“When?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“Did you read them?”
“No.”
Daniel stared at him.
Kyle’s eyes dropped.
“Some.”
Claire felt nauseated.
She put one hand against the doorframe.
Daniel moved toward her.
She stepped away.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
She pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead.
Fertility treatment had taken two years from them.
Not dramatically.
Slowly.
Appointments before work.
Blood tests.
Needles in a bathroom drawer.
Insurance calls.
One failed cycle.
Another.
A night when Daniel sat on the kitchen floor because he could not figure out how to open a medication package and laughed until he started crying.
Then tests showed that Daniel’s chances of biological conception were far lower than they had been told.
A donor became an option.
They discussed it for months.
Daniel hated the idea first.
Then he hated himself for hating it.
Claire worried he would agree just because she wanted a baby.
They saw a counselor.
They fought in a grocery store parking lot because Daniel said, “Maybe we should stop,” and Claire heard, “Maybe I don’t want a family with you.”
They apologized in the frozen-food aisle.
Eventually they chose together.
The paperwork represented some of the most private and difficult conversations of their marriage.
Evelyn had copied it.
Claire looked at Daniel.
“What if she sent it to people?”
His face tightened.
“I’ll ask.”
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No. I’m asking.”
She walked past him.
Evelyn was folding napkins in the kitchen.
That detail infuriated Claire more than the slap.
“Who did you show our medical records to?”
Evelyn stopped folding.
Richard looked away.
Claire’s heart dropped.
“Who?”
Evelyn said, “Nobody who doesn’t care about this family.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Daniel entered behind Claire.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Your aunt Susan.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Anyone else?”
“Your father spoke to Uncle Mark.”
Richard said, “I was concerned.”
Claire laughed again.
This time there was no humor in it.
“You were concerned, so you shared my fertility records?”
“We didn’t share records.”
“You copied them.”
“Your mother made copies.”
“Richard,” Daniel said.
His father stopped.
Daniel’s voice was low.
“Who has copies?”
Richard looked at the table.
“Your aunt may have photographs.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Daniel asked, “Who else?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire opened her eyes.
“Give me your phone.”
Richard stared at her.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
Claire repeated, “Give me your phone.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“You invaded my bedroom, copied my medical information, and apparently sent it to relatives. Give me your phone.”
Richard looked at Daniel.
Daniel shook his head.
“Don’t look at me.”
Richard’s face flushed.
“I will not hand over my private property.”
Claire almost smiled.
“Your private property.”
Nobody answered.
She nodded.
“Okay.”
She walked away.
Daniel followed her to the foyer.
“Where are you going?”
“Upstairs.”
“Claire.”
She turned.
“I need to call my doctor.”
“Why?”
“Because I got hit in the face and I’m seven months pregnant and I want somebody other than this family to tell me I’m fine.”
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment.
“Right.”
He removed his keys from his pocket.
“I’ll drive.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I can drive.”
“Your car keys—”
“In your mother’s desk.”
The sentence sat between them.
Daniel looked toward the kitchen.
Then back at Claire.
“I’ll get them.”
She touched his sleeve.
“No.”
He waited.
“Use your car.”
Daniel nodded.
She picked up her purse from beside the staircase.
Her hands were still trembling.
He reached for it.
Claire held on.
He understood.
He let go.
At the hospital, the nurse asked Claire whether she felt safe at home.
The question was routine.
Claire knew that.
Still, she stared at the nurse longer than necessary.
Daniel sat in a chair against the wall.
He had removed his uniform jacket and folded it across his knees. Without it, he looked less like an officer and more like the man who left cereal bowls in the sink.
The nurse glanced at him.
Claire said, “My husband is safe.”
The nurse waited.
“My mother-in-law hit me.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“Do you live with her?”
Claire looked at Daniel.
He answered softly, “Not for much longer.”
The nurse looked back at Claire.
“Do you want him to stay while we talk?”
Claire considered.
“Yes.”
That answer mattered.
The baby was fine.
Claire had mild swelling on her cheek and no signs of abdominal injury. They monitored her longer than she expected because she reported tightening earlier in the day.
Daniel sat beside the bed and watched the monitor.
Every few minutes he asked whether a change in the numbers meant anything.
Eventually the nurse said, “Sir, if I need you to panic, I promise I’ll let you know.”
Claire laughed.
Daniel looked offended.
The nurse grinned.
It was the first normal moment they had shared since he came home.
Later, when the room was quiet, Daniel said, “I should have seen it.”
Claire stared at the ceiling.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.”
“I knew my mother could be controlling.”
“That is not the same as knowing she would do this.”
“I left you with them.”
“You didn’t.”
“I asked them to check on you.”
“You asked them to check on me, not take over the house.”
He looked at his hands.
“I made Dad the emergency contact for the alarm company.”
Claire turned toward him.
“You did?”
“Backup contact.”
“That explains how he changed the code last month.”
Daniel looked up sharply.
May you like
“He changed the alarm code?”
“Then changed it back.”
