Chapter 3 - THE FIRST LIE DANIEL HAD HELPED MAKE POSSIBLE
Daniel slept in the guest room.
Vanessa barely slept at all.
At seven the next morning, Sophie padded downstairs carrying her stuffed rabbit.
She stopped when she saw Vanessa.
Daniel noticed the hesitation now.
He hated himself for noticing it only now.
“Come sit with me,” he said.
Sophie climbed beside him on the couch.
Vanessa remained in the kitchen.
Daniel kept his voice gentle.
“Sweetheart, have you been downstairs before?”
Sophie nodded.
“With Vanessa?”
Another nod.
“What happened?”
Vanessa appeared in the doorway.
“Daniel, don’t interrogate her.”
“I’m talking to my daughter.”
“You’re putting ideas in her head.”
Daniel turned.
“Go upstairs.”
“This is my house.”
“Then go anywhere that isn’t this room.”
Vanessa stared at him, then walked away.
Daniel waited until Sophie’s body relaxed.
“What happened downstairs?”
“She showed me the boxes.”
“When?”
“A lot.”
“What did she say?”
Sophie rubbed the rabbit’s ear.
“She said the lady sent them.”
“What lady?”
“The other mommy.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“What did Vanessa tell you about her?”
Sophie looked uncertain.
“That she didn’t want me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There were moments when anger arrived so cleanly it felt almost calm.
“Did Vanessa say that?”
Sophie nodded.
“She said my other mommy gave me away because I cried too much.”
Daniel’s vision blurred.
“Did she say anything else?”
“If I asked about her, you’d get sad and maybe go away too.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
Sophie leaned closer.
“I don’t ask anymore.”
He held her.
That sentence hurt worse than anything in the basement.
A four-year-old had learned not to ask a question because she believed curiosity might cost her father.
After Megan took Sophie to preschool, Daniel called his lawyer.
Not the divorce attorney from years earlier.
A family-law attorney named Carolyn Shaw who had handled the final custody agreement.
Carolyn searched her records.
“Yes, Julia’s attorney contacted me.”
Daniel stood in his home office.
“When?”
“Multiple times.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did.”
His anger stopped.
“What?”
“I emailed you.”
Daniel opened his laptop.
Carolyn gave him dates.
He searched.
Nothing.
Then she said, “The first time I called your office too. Your wife answered.”
Daniel went still.
“Vanessa?”
“She said you were out of state on a project and asked me to forward everything to your personal email because she was helping you manage household matters.”
Daniel remembered that period.
A hospital expansion in Indiana.
He was gone Monday through Thursday for nearly three months.
Vanessa handled mail.
Appointments.
Preschool registration.
Even some of Daniel’s email because he had given her his home-office password when his father underwent surgery.
He never changed it.
Carolyn continued.
“When I didn’t hear back, I assumed you were choosing not to respond.”
“Why?”
“Because the prior order did not require immediate reunification without agreement or court involvement. Julia could have petitioned.”
“Did she?”
“Eventually.”
Daniel sat down.
“What happened?”
“She withdrew the petition.”
“Why?”
Carolyn hesitated.
“Her lawyer said Julia believed you intended to seek termination of her parental rights if she continued.”
Daniel stood again.
“I never said that.”
“I know that now.”
May you like
Someone had.
And Daniel already knew who.
