Chapter 2 - THE NAME MY HUSBAND NEVER SAID
Her name was Nora.
Five years old.
Daniel told me that twenty minutes later while I stood in our bedroom stuffing Grace’s clothes into a duffel bag.
“I only found out six weeks ago.”
I kept packing.
“Five years old.”
“Yes.”
“And you found out six weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“Yet she has the same bracelet your mother bought Grace when she was born.”
Daniel said nothing.
I turned.
“That bracelet came from a jeweler in Boston. Your mother had Grace’s initials engraved inside.”
“I know.”
“So how does Nora have one?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the first lie I could prove.
I walked downstairs carrying Grace.
Helen stood in the foyer.
Nora was behind her.
Helen had cleaned Grace’s face while I packed.
That almost made me angrier.
She knew how to care for a child.
She had simply chosen not to care for mine.
“Where is Nora’s mother?” I asked.
Helen’s expression hardened.
“Not your concern.”
“She became my concern when you starved my daughter to feed her.”
“I did not starve Grace.”
Grace whispered into my neck, “Grandma said no dinner till Daddy comes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
I looked at him.
He had left for work at seven that morning.
It was almost nine at night.
Helen had deliberately withheld dinner from a three-year-old for hours.
“For what?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
I looked at Grace.
“What was Grandma waiting for Daddy to do?”
Grace pointed toward Nora.
“Pick.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Lena—”
“Pick what?”
Grace didn’t understand.
Helen did.
So did Daniel.
I saw it in both their faces.
I took Grace to my sister Rachel’s home in West Hartford.
Daniel followed us outside.
“Please don’t leave like this.”
I put Grace into her car seat.
“You kept a child secret from me.”
“I panicked.”
“You let your mother punish our daughter.”
“I didn’t know she was doing that.”
That part sounded true.
It still wasn’t enough.
Before I closed the door, I asked one question.
“Who is Nora’s mother?”
Daniel hesitated.
Only a second.
But I saw it.
“Paige Holloway.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Yet when I glanced toward the house, Helen was standing behind the glass front door.
May you like
Watching us.
And the look on her face told me Paige Holloway meant everything to her.
