Chapter 6: What Derek Did Next
Grace told me not to respond to Marcus Webb.
"Not a word," she said, when I called her back.
"Not a confirmation that you received it, not a no, not a question.
Nothing.
The moment you engage, he has something to work with."
"What does Derek want?"
"Right now?
He wants you back in Columbus where he controls the situation.
The lawyer contact this fast means he's scared.
He didn't expect you to disappear." A pause.
"That's good for us.
Scared people move quickly and they make mistakes."
I didn't feel good about it.
I felt tired in a way that had nothing to do with the birth.
"He's going to come looking," I said.
"Probably.
Does he know your sister's address in Pittsburgh?"
I thought about it.
"I don't think so.
I don't think I ever gave it to him."
"Why not?"
"He never asked."
Grace was quiet for a moment.
"He never asked where your sister lived."
"No."
Another pause.
"Okay.
Stay at Rachel's until Friday.
Don't post anything on social media.
Don't tell anyone in Columbus where you are.
And if Derek contacts you directly — not through his lawyer, but personally — you save it and you send it to me immediately.
Don't reply."
I agreed and ended the call.
We were discharged the next morning.
Rachel's house was a narrow two-story in Shadyside, the kind of Pittsburgh neighborhood where the houses were close together and the neighbors knew each other by name.
She had the second bedroom made up already — a proper bed, a borrowed bassinet beside it, a small lamp on the nightstand that cast a warm yellow circle on the ceiling.
I stood in the doorway holding Emily and didn't say anything for a moment.
"I've had it ready for three weeks," Rachel said from behind me.
"I know."
"I was hoping you'd come before the baby."
"I almost did." I stepped inside.
"I kept thinking he'd change."
"I know that too."
I set Emily in the bassinet and sat on the edge of the bed.
The mattress was soft.
The room smelled like clean laundry and the faint cedar of the closet.
"Rachel."
"Yeah."
"Thank you."
She leaned against the doorframe.
"You don't have to thank me."
"I do."
She was quiet for a moment.
Then: "Sleep.
I'll listen for her."
I lay down without taking my shoes off and was asleep in under a minute.
I woke to Rachel's voice from the hallway, low and sharp.
It was dark outside.
The lamp was still on.
"—I don't know what you think gives you the right to call this number." A pause.
"No.
I'm not telling you that." Another pause, longer.
"Derek, she is not your property.
She never was."
I sat up.
Rachel appeared in the doorway.
Her face was carefully neutral in the way that meant she was working to keep it that way.
"He found your sister's number," I said.
"My number is listed." She held out the phone.
"He wants to talk to you."
I looked at the phone.
Emily made a small sound from the bassinet.
I stood up, walked to the bassinet, and picked her up.
"Tell him," I said, "that his lawyer can contact my lawyer."
Rachel put the phone back to her ear.
"She says your lawyer can contact her lawyer." A pause.
"I don't care, Derek." She ended the call.
She set the phone on the nightstand.
"He said he doesn't have a problem with lawyers," she said.
"He said he has a problem with you taking his child across state lines."
The word *his* sat in the air between us.
Emily's fingers found my collar and held on.
May you like
"Grace," I said.
"First thing in the morning," Rachel said.
