Chapter 5 - The Days Lily Wasn’t Where I Thought She Was
The sentence made no sense.
I made Mark explain.
The key was a second copy he had given Diane.
Months earlier, when I told him I no longer wanted her entering our house without calling, he took Diane’s original key.
In front of me.
Later he made another copy.
He placed the duplicate temporarily inside Anna’s old envelope because the envelope was hidden in a locked desk drawer.
Then he gave the key to Diane.
“Why?”
“She was helping with Lily.”
“That’s what daycare is for.”
Mark looked down.
Then I understood.
“Was Lily actually at daycare?”
“Most days.”
“Mark.”
“Claire—”
“How many days?”
He finally told me.
For almost five months, he had been picking Lily up early every Wednesday.
Sometimes Friday too.
Then taking her to Diane.
I worked late on Wednesdays at a medical billing company in Rockville.
Mark was usually responsible for pickup.
He had told me Lily stayed at daycare until he finished work.
“You lied every week.”
“I saved us almost six hundred dollars a month.”
I stared at him.
Our daycare charged reduced fees for a part-time schedule.
Mark had quietly changed Lily’s attendance plan.
I handled the mortgage.
He handled childcare payments.
I had never noticed.
“Was this about money?”
“Partly.”
“What’s the other part?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“My mom was lonely.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
“So you gave her my daughter?”
“That’s not fair.”
“You hid it.”
“Because you hate her.”
“I didn’t hate Diane.”
Not then.
“I didn't trust her judgment.”
“Exactly.”
Mark still could not hear himself.
He had not convinced me.
So he had removed me from the decision.
I requested Lily’s attendance records.
The daycare director emailed them the next morning.
Twenty-one early Wednesday pickups.
Eight Fridays.
Every one signed by Mark.
None by Diane.
He had been careful.
The paper trail showed him collecting his own daughter.
Nothing improper.
The betrayal existed in everything that happened afterward.
Then another detail emerged.
On three Wednesdays when Mark had supposedly taken Lily to Diane, his work calendar showed client meetings downtown until after six.
“Who had Lily?” I asked him.
He stared at the records.
“Mom.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“You told me that never happened.”
“I know.”
“How did she get into our house?”
Mark’s eyes moved toward the photograph.
The duplicate key had not just let Diane visit.
May you like
It had allowed her to pick Lily up from our home after Mark dropped her there.
Diane had been coming and going while I believed she had no access at all.
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