Chapter 5: I Can Explain
Daniel called Rachel from the hospital parking lot.
I watched from the window of my room, three floors up.
He stood beside his car with his back to me, one hand in his pocket, the other holding the phone.
I couldn't hear anything.
I didn't need to.
He was in there for eleven minutes.
When he came back up, he sat in the chair by my bed and said nothing for a moment.
"What did she say?" I finally asked.
"She said she called Gordon's office because she was worried about you.
She said she'd noticed you were becoming forgetful, and she was concerned about whether your affairs were in order."
I stared at him.
"She said she was trying to help."
"She impersonated me to an attorney's office."
"She said she didn't give them any false information.
She just asked a general question."
"She gave them my name.
My date of birth."
"I know."
"And she's been trying to help me." I let the word sit in the air between us.
"Seven years of helping me."
Daniel leaned forward and put his face in his hands.
When he looked up, he looked older than he had yesterday.
"She said if I keep pursuing this, she'll file for emergency custody of the children based on an unstable home environment."
The room went quiet in a different way than before.
"She threatened the children," I said.
"She said it wasn't a threat.
She said she was just making sure I understood what was at stake." His voice was careful and controlled in the way that meant he was holding something back by force.
"Daniel."
"I know."
"She cannot be allowed to—"
"I know, Mom.
I know." He stood up.
"I called our family attorney back.
Not just about the will inquiry.
About everything.
Gordon is the estate attorney — I need someone who handles family law.
He gave me a referral.
Her name is Patricia Osei.
She can see me tomorrow morning."
"What about tonight?
Where will the children be tonight?"
"With me.
I called the house before I came back up.
Lily answered.
Rachel is there, but she's in the bedroom.
Lily said she and Owen have been watching television since school." He paused.
"Lily asked me how you were.
She wanted me to tell you she's sorry."
"She has nothing to be sorry for."
"I told her that."
He gathered his jacket from the back of the chair.
He had a two-hour drive ahead of him and two children waiting and a wife in the bedroom who had already shown us exactly what she was willing to do.
"I'll be back tomorrow afternoon," he said.
"I'll be fine."
"I know you will." He paused at the door.
"Mom.
The Christmas fall.
The patio.
Everything before today." He couldn't quite finish the sentence.
"I'm all right," I told him.
He nodded.
But he stood in the doorway for another moment, not quite able to leave, and I understood that he was not asking about my hip.
"I believed her," he said.
"Every time.
I believed her."
"You had no reason not to."
"She was my wife.
I should have—"
"Daniel." I waited until he looked at me.
"You believed her because you are not the kind of person who plans harm against someone who loves you.
That is not a flaw."
He was quiet.
Then he said goodnight and walked out.
I lay in the dark for a long time after that.
May you like
Somewhere across the city, Rachel was sitting in a bedroom calculating what she had left to lose.
And I found myself wondering, for the first time, whether she had already done something that none of us had thought to look for yet.
