Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE WHERE HER BABY ALREADY LIVED
Rachel finally went to Diane’s house.
Not alone.
Caleb drove.
Lauren met them there.
Diane was gone. Lauren had been given a key years earlier and had asked permission from Diane by text to collect her own stored boxes.
Rachel did not wander through the house looking for evidence.
Lauren took them directly upstairs.
The spare bedroom had become a nursery.
Rachel stopped at the doorway.
White crib.
Gray fitted sheet.
Changing pad.
Bottle sterilizer.
Diaper caddy.
Portable monitor.
A stack of swaddles.
Her things.
Not all of them.
Enough.
The arrangement made her feel sicker than theft would have.
There were diapers in the dresser.
Formula samples.
A baby bath.
A pack-and-play.
Even a framed ultrasound picture.
Rachel walked closer.
“That’s mine.”
She had given Diane a copy at twenty weeks.
Diane had enlarged it.
Above the dresser sat a small wooden sign.
GRANDMA’S GIRL.
Rachel turned away.
Caleb looked devastated.
“I thought she was setting up a place for visits.”
Rachel faced him.
“This isn’t a place for visits.”
He knew.
There was too much.
Lauren opened the closet.
More baby clothes.
Some still had store exchange labels attached.
Rachel found the gray diaper bag from her father.
She pressed it against her chest and began crying.
Not loudly.
She had imagined that bag lost.
Had blamed herself.
Diane had taken it into another house and hung it on a hook beside another crib.
Caleb reached toward Rachel.
She stepped away.
Not because she hated him.
Because she did not know yet what she needed from him.
Lauren found a binder on the dresser.
Rachel file.
The label was handwritten.
Inside were screenshots of purchases.
Receipts.
Printed account snippets Caleb had once shared with his mother when she helped him refinance a car years earlier.
Lists.
Baby spending.
Household spending.
Takeout.
Maternity clothing.
A prenatal massage Caleb gave Rachel for her birthday.
Diane had written notes in the margins.
Impulse purchase.
Unnecessary.
Duplicate.
Luxury.
Caleb turned pages.
“This is insane.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Your mother has been auditing me.”
Then Lauren found another section.
POSTPARTUM.
Printed articles.
Schedules.
A handwritten six-week calendar.
Week 1: Rachel rests. Baby with Diane mornings.
Week 2: Overnight trial at Grandma’s.
Week 3: Caleb back full-time. Baby at Diane’s 4 days.
Rachel stared.
“She planned overnights?”
Caleb’s face went white.
He had never agreed.
At the back of the binder was one final page.
Questions for Caleb:
Who controls household spending if Rachel stops working?
Should Diane be added to baby emergency forms?
Should baby keep supplies primarily at Diane’s because Rachel “overbuys”?
Rachel closed the binder.
The mystery was no longer why Diane wanted the baby’s things.
She wanted the role those things represented.
May you like
She had been building a second home for Rachel’s daughter before Rachel had even given birth.
And she had been building a story that would make taking over look necessary.
Related Stories
