Chapter 3: Something Else You Don't Know
Grace was still crying.
I didn't move to pick her up.
I couldn't.
My legs had stopped working somewhere between the photo on that woman's phone and the sound of Alaric's voice saying there was something else.
"Say it," I told him.
He looked at the woman on the porch.
She crossed her arms and looked back at him.
Whatever was between them, it wasn't love.
It was a transaction, and both of them knew it.
"Say it, Alaric."
"Come inside," he said.
"Both of you.
This isn't—"
"Don't you dare invite her into my house."
"Nevaeh—"
"What is the something else?" My voice came out flat.
Steadier than I felt.
"You said there's something I don't know.
So tell me.
Right now.
In front of her."
He ran a hand over his face.
Behind me, Luke joined Grace.
Two babies crying in the dark hallway.
The woman on the porch stepped forward.
"His name is on the birth certificates.
All three of them."
"Of course it is.
He's their father."
She didn't blink.
"He's also listed as sole guardian in a document he had drawn up six weeks ago.
While you were still in the hospital on bed rest."
The hallway tilted.
"That's not possible."
"His attorney prepared it." She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded envelope.
"I have a copy."
I looked at Alaric.
He didn't deny it.
He didn't say a word.
He just stood there with his hands at his sides, and that silence was its own confession.
"You planned this," I said.
"Before they were even born."
"I was going to tell you—"
"When?
When I was already gone?
When I had no babies and no home and nowhere to go?"
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
"Then how was it supposed to happen?" I stepped toward him.
"You were going to hand me a bag and a document and close the door?
Is that the plan?"
The woman on the porch — I still didn't know her name, and some part of me refused to ask — shifted her weight.
"He told me you'd been checked out of the marriage for years.
That you only kept trying for a baby because you were obsessed.
That once they were born, you'd agree it was better for everyone if—"
"Stop." I held up my hand.
"I'm not talking to you."
"You should be.
I'm the one who actually knows what he's been saying about you."
Grace had gone quiet.
I heard Thaddeus now instead, small urgent sounds from the car seat near the stairs.
Three babies.
Three car seats.
And two people standing in my house who had been planning my removal before my children took their first breath.
I picked up Grace.
She settled against my chest immediately, her whole body relaxing.
Alaric watched me do it.
"Nevaeh.
The document isn't finalized.
Nothing is finalized."
"Because I came home early."
He didn't answer.
"I was supposed to stay in the hospital one more day.
And you were going to use that day." I looked at him over Grace's head.
"What were you going to do?
Change the locks?"
He looked away.
That was the answer.
I walked to the side table by the door.
My phone was there.
I picked it up.
"What are you doing?" Alaric asked.
"Calling my sister."
"Nevaeh, let's just talk—"
"We are done talking tonight." I pressed call.
"You should ask your friend to leave."
The woman on the porch finally spoke again, quietly this time, almost to herself.
"He told me she'd just accept it."
I didn't look at her.
I listened to the phone ring.
My sister Petra picked up on the second ring.
"Nevaeh?
It's late.
Are the babies—"
"I need you to come," I said.
"Right now.
And bring your husband."
A pause.
"What happened?"
I looked at Alaric.
He was still standing in the middle of the hallway, hands at his sides, watching me with an expression I had never seen on him before.
Not guilt.
Not love.
Something smaller than both.
May you like
"I'll explain when you get here," I said.
"Just come."
