Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO RETURNED OTHER PEOPLE’S LOVE
Rachel called the women from her baby shower.
Not all at once.
She started with Megan.
“Did Diane ever contact you about the monitor?”
Megan went quiet.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After the shower.”
“What did she say?”
Megan sounded embarrassed.
“That you thought it was too cheap.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
The monitor had cost nearly two hundred dollars.
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because that doesn’t sound like you.”
“But you didn’t call.”
“I thought maybe pregnancy had made things weird between us.”
Rachel understood.
One tiny lie.
One damaged friendship.
Then another.
Aunt Susan said Diane told her Rachel disliked the swaddles because the color looked “discount-store.”
Caleb’s cousin Amy said Diane told her Rachel was returning most gifts for “higher-end versions.”
One coworker admitted she had stopped buying the diaper caddy she planned to send because Diane told her Rachel “already had too much junk.”
Rachel wrote every statement down.
She did not know yet which pieces would matter financially.
Emotionally, they already mattered.
Diane had been doing two things at once.
Removing baby items.
Then giving the gift-givers a reason not to ask Rachel where they went.
By the time anyone noticed a missing present, the relationship around it had already been weakened.
That afternoon, Lauren came to the house.
She stood on the porch holding a reusable shopping bag.
Inside were three unopened packages of newborn diapers, a bottle set, and two gray crib sheets.
“These were at Mom’s.”
Rachel stared.
“Where’s the rest?”
Lauren looked miserable.
“I don’t know.”
“You helped her.”
“I helped twice.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me you were buying everything without asking Caleb.”
Rachel almost laughed.
“We have separate personal accounts and a joint household account.”
“I know.”
“Now.”
Lauren winced.
“Yes.”
Caleb stepped onto the porch.
“What did Mom say?”
Lauren looked at her brother.
“That Rachel was going crazy with baby spending. That you were afraid to confront her because she was pregnant.”
Caleb’s face tightened.
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
Rachel crossed her arms.
“What was the nursery for?”
Lauren looked at her.
“For the baby.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Lauren took a breath.
“Mom said you’d need somewhere stable after delivery.”
“My house is stable.”
“She said you’d be overwhelmed.”
“Based on what?”
Lauren’s eyes dropped.
“She kept a folder.”
Rachel felt something cold move through her chest.
“What folder?”
“Receipts. Screenshots. Lists.”
“What kind of lists?”
“All the stuff you bought.”
Rachel stared.
The blanket.
The stroller.
The crib.
Diapers.
Prenatal vitamins.
Everything an expecting parent might buy.
Diane had been documenting it.
Not because she wanted refunds.
Because she wanted evidence.
Evidence of what, Rachel still did not know.
Lauren left the shopping bag on the porch.
Before walking away, she said, “Mom calls it the Rachel file.”
That night Rachel could not sleep.
May you like
For the first time, she stopped asking what Diane had taken.
She started asking what Diane planned to prove.
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