Chapter 1 - The Date Before Noah Existed
Diane Carter looked Emily directly in the eye before she let go of the baby.
It wasn’t a stumble.
It wasn’t a weak grip.
She lowered five-week-old Noah almost to the rug, then deliberately released him.
His white blanket opened as he landed and began screaming.
“NOAH!”
Emily hit her knees so hard the impact shot through both legs.
She scooped her son against her chest, checking his face, his breathing, the back of his head.
Behind her, Diane sounded irritated.
“He needs to be taught a lesson.”
Emily turned slowly.
“A five-week-old baby?”
Diane reached toward Noah again.
Emily twisted away.
“Don’t touch him.”
“He cries every time somebody doesn't give him what he wants. You're creating that.”
“He's five weeks old!”
Diane reached again.
Emily slapped her hand away, but Diane came forward a third time.
Something in Emily broke.
Her palm caught Diane across the cheek.
Diane staggered into the sofa.
Ryan rushed in.
He saw his mother holding her face.
He saw Emily clutching their screaming newborn.
And somehow he chose the wrong emergency.
“Apologize to Mom.”
Emily stared at her husband.
“You didn't even ask if Noah's okay.”
Ryan stopped.
Behind him, Diane smiled.
Not triumphantly.
Expectantly.
She opened her handbag.
That smile frightened Emily more than the anger had.
Diane pulled out a thick legal folder and slammed it onto the coffee table.
“This is exactly what we need.”
Claire, Emily’s older sister, had been standing near the kitchen entrance in stunned silence.
Now she moved.
She grabbed the folder before Ryan could.
“Claire, don't,” Ryan said.
Too late.
Claire flipped through several pages.
Her expression changed.
Ryan lunged for the file.
Claire stepped backward.
“What the hell is this?”
Emily saw a date near the top of one page.
She looked at Noah.
Then at Ryan.
The document had been prepared seven weeks before Noah was born.
Emily felt the room tilt beneath her.
“Before he was even born?”
Ryan’s face lost all color.
Diane stopped smiling.
Emily looked from the folder to her husband.
May you like
Suddenly the worst thing in the room was no longer what Diane had just done.
It was the possibility that they had been waiting for Emily to react.
