Chương 6
“Why?”
“He said the system needed resetting.”
Daniel stared at her.
Claire sighed.
“There are going to be a lot of these.”
“A lot of what?”
“Things I didn’t tell you.”
He leaned back.
“All right.”
“You say that now.”
“I’m not promising I won’t get angry.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“I’m promising I’ll try to be angry at the correct person.”
She looked at him.
His mouth moved slightly.
Not quite a smile.
Claire felt tears sting her eyes.
She turned her head.
Daniel did not reach for her.
She appreciated that.
After discharge, they returned home after midnight.
The house was dark.
Richard’s SUV was gone.
Evelyn’s sedan remained.
Daniel checked his phone.
A message from Kyle said they had gone to a hotel. Kyle had taken his own car. Evelyn had forgotten her reading glasses and wanted to return in the morning.
Daniel typed one sentence.
No one comes inside without Claire’s permission.
He showed Claire before sending it.
She nodded.
Only then did he press send.
They entered.
The black suitcase stood upright near the staircase.
Daniel looked at it.
“Do you want me to take that upstairs?”
Claire stared at the handle.
“No.”
“What do you want to do with it?”
She thought.
“Leave it.”
So they did.
For three days it remained there.
A black suitcase in a beautiful foyer.
Not symbolic.
Just inconvenient.
Daniel bumped into it twice.
On the fourth morning, Claire finally rolled it upstairs because she was tired of walking around it.
The parents did not return.
Not because Daniel had legally evicted them.
Their attorney explained that very clearly the next day.
“You own the property,” she said over speakerphone. “That does not mean you should change locks on long-term occupants without following the required process. If they leave voluntarily, document it. If they claim continued residency, we handle that properly.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
Claire sat across from him at the kitchen table.
The attorney continued. “Separate the assault from the housing issue. Claire can make a police report regarding the physical incident. Housing is another matter.”
Daniel looked annoyed.
Claire found that strangely comforting.
He wanted one clean action that solved everything.
Reality refused.
After the call, he said, “I hate lawyers.”
Claire poured more milk into her cereal.
“You called her.”
“I know.”
“You pay her.”
“I know.”
“You’re probably going to call her again.”
“I definitely am.”
Claire smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Susan Mercer, Daniel’s aunt.
Claire had always liked Susan.
The message read:
I don’t know what happened yesterday. Your mother-in-law is very upset. I think everyone needs to calm down before decisions are made that can’t be undone.
Claire stared at it.
Daniel read her face.
“What?”
She handed him the phone.
He read it.
His expression flattened.
“Do you want me to answer?”
“No.”
“What are you going to say?”
“I don’t know.”
She took the phone back.
Then another message appeared.
Susan again.
Whatever else is happening, your private medical choices are between you and Daniel. I’m sorry I was shown anything.
Claire sat very still.
Daniel read that one over her shoulder.
“She saw it.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll call her.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“I said no.”
He stepped back.
The old Daniel would have insisted.
The man who came home three days earlier still looked like he wanted to.
Instead he opened the refrigerator.
He stared inside.
“What are you looking for?” Claire asked.
“Mustard.”
“Door.”
He found it.
They stood in the kitchen while the coffee maker gurgled.
Finally Daniel said, “What do you want to do?”
“With your aunt?”
“With all of it.”
Claire looked at him.
“I don’t know yet.”
He nodded.
“That is allowed.”
The police report was humiliating in ways Claire had not expected.
Not because the officer was unkind.
He was patient.
He asked precise questions.
Where were you standing?
Which hand did she use?
Did you fall?
Did she threaten you before or after?
Were there witnesses?
Claire answered.
Daniel sat in another room because the officer wanted Claire’s account without anyone influencing it.
Kyle gave a separate statement two days later.
That surprised everyone.
He confirmed the slap.
He also confirmed that Evelyn had packed Claire’s clothing and ordered him to take the suitcase downstairs.
Richard described the incident as “a heated family argument.”
Evelyn admitted slapping Claire.
She said Claire had provoked her verbally.
The officer wrote that down too.
There was no dramatic arrest at the mansion.
No squad cars.
No handcuffs.
A report moved through a system.
A prosecutor’s office would decide what to do with it.
Claire went home afterward and slept for three hours.
When she woke, Daniel was in the nursery assembling a bookshelf.
It was the wrong bookshelf.
She stood in the doorway.
“That goes in the office.”
He looked at the box.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Yes.”
He checked the label.
“Oh.”
Claire leaned against the doorframe.
“Are you reorganizing furniture because you’re upset?”
“No.”
“You built half an office bookshelf in the nursery.”
“I needed to do something.”
She looked at the screws spread across the rug.
“Apparently.”
He sat back on his heels.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Bookshelves?”
“Being here.”
Claire’s humor disappeared.
Daniel looked around the half-painted nursery.
“I spent months thinking coming home was the easy part.”
She sat on the floor opposite him.
“Home changed.”
“I know.”
“So did you.”
“So did you.”
She picked up an Allen wrench.
For several minutes they worked in silence.
Then Daniel said, “Did Mom ever hit you before?”
“No.”
“Threaten to?”
“No.”
“Did Dad?”
“No.”
“Kyle?”
“No.”
Claire tightened a screw.
Daniel waited.
“She grabbed my arm once.”
His hands stopped.
“Your mother.”
“When?”
“About two months ago.”
“Why?”
“I was leaving.”
“Leaving where?”
“To have lunch with Emily.”
“Your sister?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She said we needed to talk first. I said we could talk later. She grabbed me.”
May you like
Daniel’s face went pale.
“She let go.”
