Chapter 1 - THE BIRTHDAY CANDLE IN HIS HAND
Alistair shoved our seven-year-old son away from the dining table so hard that Nolan struck the edge of a chair before falling to the floor.
“Stop begging. You earned nothing.”
Nolan pressed one hand to the darkening mark beneath his cheek. In the other, he still held a single blue birthday candle.
“Dad,” he cried, “I only wanted cake.”
I pulled him against me before Alistair could reach for him again.
My husband straightened the sleeves of his blue suit as though his own child had embarrassed him. Behind him, his mother Sharon remained seated beside the untouched barbecue trays. His sister Piper stared into her drink. Eleven-year-old Mason lowered the new tablet Alistair had given him that morning as a reward for good grades.
No one moved to help Nolan.
The day before, Alistair had found forty dollars inside my sewing basket. I had earned it hemming uniforms for women in our Scottsdale neighborhood, saving a few dollars at a time for a small chocolate cake.
He took the money.
“A child doesn’t deserve a celebration just because the calendar changed,” he said.
Then he spent nearly five hundred dollars on Mason’s tablet.
The front door opened before I could carry Nolan upstairs.
My father entered with a wrapped gift beneath one arm. Thomas Reyes had driven from Denver for Nolan’s birthday, though Alistair had repeatedly suggested he postpone the trip.
Nolan ran toward him.
Dad saw the bruise.
He set the gift down carefully.
“Who put that mark on your face?”
Nolan looked at Alistair and lowered his eyes.
“I fell.”
Mason shifted beside the table.
“No, he didn’t.”
Piper grabbed her son’s shoulder. “Stay out of this.”
Alistair did not bother denying it.
“He’s my son. I decide how to discipline him.”
My father crossed the room until they stood inches apart.
“Tomorrow, you lose everything my money built.”
Alistair laughed.
“The company, the cars and this house are all mine.”
Dad opened the leather folder he had carried inside and placed a recorded deed on the table.
Alistair recognized the signature immediately.
May you like
It was mine.
The problem was that I had never signed it.
