Chapter 2 - THE PRICE OF HIS SILENCE
I took Molly to our neighbor’s house before asking another question.
Karen Whitmore had lived next door for nine years. When she opened the door and saw Molly wrapped in a blanket at midnight, she did not demand an explanation.
She pulled her inside and said, “Stay as long as you need.”
When I returned, Tessa had changed into her own clothes. My robe lay folded on Molly’s bed.
Eric stood by the window.
“Start talking,” I said.
He looked at Tessa. “Maybe she should go.”
“No,” I said. “Nobody leaves until I understand why my daughter was treated like unwanted luggage in her own home.”
Tessa sat in Molly’s desk chair.
She had worked as Nathan’s office manager for two years. Their affair had begun after a legal conference in Milwaukee.
She did not describe herself as innocent.
“I knew he was married,” she said. “He told me he and Brooke were separated privately because of the campaign.”
“They aren’t separated,” I said.
“I know that now.”
When Tessa became pregnant, Nathan told her he would take responsibility. Two weeks later, he fired her for “performance issues” and stopped answering her calls.
Then my mother, Linda, contacted her.
“What did Mom say?” I asked.
Tessa looked at Eric.
“She offered me seventy-five thousand dollars to move to Arizona and sign a confidentiality agreement.”
“Why didn’t you take it?”
“Because the agreement said I could never identify Nathan as the father or seek child support.”
She had refused.
Three nights later, someone broke into her apartment. Nothing valuable was stolen, but her medical records and laptop were taken.
Nathan claimed he knew nothing about it.
My mother told her the next visit would not be as polite.
Tessa went to Eric because he had once repaired the roof on her parents’ house. She believed he was the only person close to our family who might help.
I turned toward my husband.
“You should have called me.”
“I tried to keep you out of it.”
“You moved her into our child’s bedroom.”
“It was supposed to be one night.”
“Why wasn’t she in the guest room?”
Eric looked down.
We had converted the guest room into his home office after his construction company began struggling.
On his desk were financial records he did not want Tessa—or me—to see.
“What are you hiding in there?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
Tessa gave him a bitter look.
“Tell her.”
Eric’s jaw tightened.
“Tell me what?”
He sat down heavily.
Six months earlier, his company had lost a commercial contract and defaulted on equipment loans. Instead of telling me, he borrowed money from my mother.
“How much?” I asked.
“Eighty thousand.”
My stomach dropped.
“And what did she ask for in return?”
“At first, nothing.”
“There is always something.”
When Tessa threatened to appear at Nathan’s fundraiser, my mother called in Eric’s debt.
She told him to keep Tessa hidden until the event was over. Afterward, a driver would take her to a hotel near O’Hare, where another offer would be made.
“You agreed?” I asked.
“I thought I could convince her to accept the money.”
“So you packed Molly’s belongings?”
“She saw Tessa the first night. I panicked.”
Molly had asked why a pregnant woman was sleeping in her room. Eric told her Tessa was in danger and that speaking to me could destroy Uncle Nathan’s family.
When Molly refused to give up her bed, he removed it from the room one piece at a time.
“She cried,” Tessa said quietly. “She asked to call you.”
Eric looked at me. “I never hurt her.”
“You made a twelve-year-old believe the family would collapse if she told her mother the truth.”
“I was under pressure.”
“So was she.”
I held out my hand.
“Your phone.”
“It’s with Molly.”
“Then unlock your office.”
He did not move.
Tessa placed the sealed envelope on the desk.
“The test confirms Nathan is the father.”
Eric stared at it but said nothing.
“What is in the office?” I asked again.
He finally looked at me.
“Payments from your mother.”
We walked down the hall.
Inside his desk, beneath invoices and tax notices, I found bank statements showing three transfers from a company owned by my mother.
The first was the loan.
The next two were marked as consulting payments.
Eric had received another twenty thousand dollars to hide Tessa.
I spread the papers across the desk.
“You sold our daughter’s safety for twenty thousand dollars.”
“I was trying to save my business.”
“You were trying to save yourself from telling me the truth.”
His face tightened.
“You don’t understand what it feels like to fail everyone.”
“I understand exactly what it feels like.”
May you like
I looked toward the kitchen where Molly’s pillow still lay on the floor.
“You just made a child pay for it.”
