Chapter 3 - the letter she never gave me
Corinne stopped when she saw the envelope in my hand.
“That’s private.”
“It has my name on it.”
“You’re holding your daughter. Don’t start another scene.”
That sentence landed harder than I wanted it to.
Maisie was still shaking against me.
I looked down at her and realized that whatever I wanted to do next, I could not do it while she watched.
“Leave.”
Corinne stared at me.
“Ryan—”
“Leave my house.”
She picked up her purse.
“You’ll regret treating me like the enemy.”
I didn’t answer.
After the front door closed, I sat on the nursery floor beside the crib and opened Elise’s letter.
The first line made my stomach tighten.
Ryan,
I’m not leaving Maisie. I’m leaving this house for a few days because I don’t know how to talk to you when you’re angry anymore.
I stopped.
Read it again.
Then continued.
Elise wrote that she was staying somewhere safe. She said she needed space, but she wanted us to meet with a counselor before making decisions about our marriage.
She also wrote that Corinne had agreed to help us keep things calm.
The last paragraph was the worst.
Please don’t tell yourself I abandoned our daughter. I would never do that. Corinne knows how to reach me. I asked her to give you this after you had a night to cool down.
The letter was dated nine days earlier.
The night Elise disappeared.
I sat there with my daughter beside me and understood that nine days of anger had been built on a lie.
I had told my brother Elise walked out.
I had told my mother-in-law that Elise was refusing to talk to me.
I had spent nine nights resenting the woman who had apparently been waiting for me to read a letter I never knew existed.
My phone rang.
It was my office.
I ignored it.
Instead, I called Elise.
Straight to voicemail.
I tried again.
Same result.
Then I called her older sister, Dana.
We were not close.
Dana answered on the fourth ring.
“What?”
“It’s Ryan.”
“I know.”
“I found Elise’s letter.”
Nothing.
“Dana?”
“You found it now?”
The word now made me sit up straighter.
“You knew about it?”
“I watched her write it.”
My mouth went dry.
“Where is she?”
“That’s not my decision to tell you.”
“I’m not trying to show up anywhere. I just need her to know I never got it.”
Dana exhaled slowly.
Then she said something that changed the shape of everything again.
“Ryan, she thinks you did.”
I looked toward the nursery doorway where Corinne had disappeared.
“What are you talking about?”
“Corinne told Elise you read the letter Sunday morning.”
I couldn’t speak.
Dana continued.
“She told her you were furious. She said you threw it away and told her not to contact you until you were ready.”
“That never happened.”
“I’m starting to understand that.”
Upstairs, Maisie began crying again.
Not loudly.
Just a small, broken “Mama.”
Dana heard it.
Her voice changed.
“What happened to Maisie?”
May you like
I looked at the cracked speaker.
“I think you need to tell Elise she has to call me.”
