Chapter 5: The Woman on the Couch
Grace was sitting on the far end of the sitting room sofa when I came downstairs.
Lily was asleep across her lap, one small hand fisted in the fabric of Grace's uniform, her face slack and trusting in the way only sleeping children manage.
Grace looked up when I entered.
She didn't speak.
I sat down in the armchair across from her.
For a moment neither of us said anything.
The house was quiet except for the faint sound of Victoria's heels somewhere above us on the landing.
"The letters," I said.
"How many did you send?"
Grace looked down at Lily.
"Eleven.
Over about four months.
Then I stopped because —" She paused.
"Someone called me.
A man I didn't know.
He told me the letters had been received and reviewed, and that you had decided you didn't want contact.
That you'd authorized a settlement and I should speak with the attorney handling it."
"Richard Ashford."
Her head came up.
"You know him?"
"He's Victoria's brother."
Grace was quiet for a moment.
"I didn't know that.
He told me he worked for the Hargrove estate."
"He doesn't.
He never did." I leaned forward, elbows on my knees.
"Grace, I need you to understand something.
I never received those letters.
I never authorized a settlement.
I never spoke to anyone about you or about Lily.
Not once."
She looked at me for a long time.
Her eyes were dry now, but the exhaustion in them went deep — the kind that doesn't come from one bad day.
"I wanted to believe that," she said quietly.
"I told myself there was a chance.
But four years is a long time to hold onto a chance."
"I know."
"She called me personally, you know.
Six months after Lily was born." Grace's voice was careful, measured.
"Victoria.
She said you'd seen a photo of the baby and made your decision.
She said you were engaged to her and that any further contact would be handled legally." She paused.
"She was very convincing."
"She usually is."
"I had forty thousand dollars, a four-year-old, and a signed document I didn't fully understand." Grace looked down at Lily again.
"I took the job here because it was the only position I could find that paid enough and allowed Lily to come with me during the day.
I didn't plan to say anything.
I just needed to work."
"Then why did you come back?
After everything she did to you."
Grace was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "Because Lily started asking about her father."
The words sat between us in the still room.
"She's four," Grace continued.
"She doesn't fully understand.
But she sees other children with fathers and she asks.
And I didn't know what to tell her." Her voice didn't break.
It stayed level and honest and that steadiness was harder to hear than tears would have been.
"I thought if I could just be nearby, if I could just see for myself what kind of man you actually were, I'd know what to tell her."
"And what did you decide?"
She looked at me directly.
"I decided you didn't know."
Footsteps on the stairs.
We both heard them.
Victoria appeared in the doorway of the sitting room, a coat over her arm, her handbag on her shoulder.
"I'm going to stay at Richard's tonight," she said.
Her voice was composed.
"We can discuss the rest of this when you've had time to think clearly."
I stood up.
"You're not leaving, Victoria."
She paused.
"Excuse me?"
"My attorney is on his way.
You're going to be here when he arrives."
Her eyes moved to Grace.
Then to the sleeping child.
Something crossed her face — not remorse, not even anger.
Just the cold arithmetic of someone recalculating odds.
"You can't keep me here, Nathan."
"No," I said.
"I can't.
But if you walk out that door tonight, the first call my attorney makes tomorrow morning will be to the district attorney's office.
And the second will be to the financial crimes unit, because I've been wondering for the last twenty minutes how you funded a forty-thousand-dollar payment without my knowledge, and I think when Marcus looks at the household accounts, he's going to find something interesting."
Victoria's hand tightened on the strap of her handbag.
May you like
"Sit down," I said.
She sat.
