Chapter 2 - The Message Marlene Never Wanted Heard
Rachel’s voice sounded exhausted.
“Ethan, I’m borrowing a phone from the front desk. I don’t know why you won’t answer me.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“I’ve called the house. I called your office. Your mom told me you don’t want me coming back until we talk through lawyers.”
Marlene moved toward him.
“Turn that off.”
Ethan raised one hand.
Rachel continued.
“I don’t understand what happened. I just want to see Lily.”
The message ended.
Ethan stared at his mother.
“I never told you to say that.”
Marlene’s jaw tightened.
“You were furious with her.”
“I said I needed one night to cool down.”
“You said you were done.”
“With the argument.”
“You didn’t sound like it.”
Ethan looked at Rachel’s phone again.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?”
“She said she was staying somewhere downtown.”
“Because you told her I didn’t want her here?”
Marlene folded her arms.
“She was already planning to leave you.”
That part was true.
Rachel had said the word separation twice in the past month.
Not because she had stopped loving Ethan.
Because Marlene had been living with them since Lily was born, and what was supposed to be six weeks of help had become eight months of criticism.
Wrong bottles.
Wrong pediatrician.
Wrong nap schedule.
Wrong curtains.
Wrong way Rachel held her own baby.
Ethan had kept saying the same thing.
Mom means well.
Rachel had stopped believing him.
Now Ethan wasn’t sure he believed himself.
He called the number from Rachel’s voicemail.
A hotel receptionist answered.
Rachel came on thirty seconds later.
“Ethan?”
He almost couldn’t speak.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Why?”
“Because Mom lied to you.”
Silence.
Then Rachel laughed once.
It was not a happy sound.
“Which lie?”
Ethan looked at Marlene.
His mother looked away.
Rachel continued.
“She told me you changed the alarm code.”
“I didn’t.”
“She told me you were meeting a custody attorney.”
“I’m not.”
“She said you wanted Lily staying with you until I proved I wasn’t trying to take her.”
Ethan shut his eyes.
Three nights.
Rachel had spent three nights believing her husband had used their baby to punish her.
“Rachel, come home.”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Not angry.
Afraid.
Ethan’s chest tightened.
“I’m getting Mom out.”
Rachel was quiet.
Then she asked one question.
“Did you find my notebook?”
Ethan looked down at the black handbag.
“Yes.”
Marlene went still.
Rachel’s voice changed.
May you like
“Don’t let her take it.”
And Ethan suddenly understood that the notebook mattered even more than the phone.
