Chapter 4: What It Looks Like
"What it looks like," Ryan repeated.
"I mean legally.
Publicly." Claire stepped into the room.
Her voice had steadied.
"If you call anyone tonight, this becomes a story.
And the story won't just be about me.
It will be about Dana.
About you.
About a child you didn't know existed for four years."
"Because you made sure I didn't know."
"Ryan—"
"You told her I didn't want to know." He said it slowly, each word separate.
"You spoke to Dana before our wedding and you told her I had chosen you and that I didn't want anything to do with her or the baby.
You made that decision for me.
And then you hid my daughter inside our home for seven months."
Claire's chin lifted slightly.
"I was protecting our family."
"Whose family?
Lily's?
Mine?" He shook his head.
"Emma is my family too.
She's been my family since before Lily was born and you made sure I never knew she existed."
"I was scared." The hardness in Claire's voice cracked, just slightly.
"I was twenty-eight years old and the man I was about to marry had a pregnant ex-girlfriend.
What was I supposed to do?"
"Tell me the truth."
"You would have left."
"Maybe." He didn't soften it.
"That was my choice to make.
Not yours."
Claire looked at Emma.
The little girl had fallen asleep against the wall, the blanket tucked under her chin, Lily's stuffed rabbit now somehow in her arms.
Lily must have placed it there.
Ryan hadn't seen her do it.
"She can't stay here," Claire said quietly.
"She's staying here tonight."
"Ryan—"
"She is staying here tonight." His voice was flat and final.
"She's five years old, Claire.
She's been living behind a wall.
She's not going anywhere until I know she's safe and until I have spoken to a lawyer."
Something moved across Claire's face.
"A lawyer."
"Yes."
"You're going to make this legal."
"It already is legal.
The question is what kind." He moved toward the door.
"I'm going to get Emma something to eat.
Real food.
And then I'm going to call my brother."
Claire stepped into his path.
Not blocking him — not quite — but close enough.
"Your brother is going to tell you to throw me out."
"My brother is going to tell me to think clearly.
Which is more than you've done in five years."
She didn't move for a moment.
Then she stepped aside.
Ryan went to the kitchen.
He stood at the counter for a moment with both hands flat on the surface, looking at the wall in front of him.
Then he opened the refrigerator and began making a plate of food for a little girl who had been hungry inside his home for seven months while he had eaten dinner three rooms away and never known.
His brother Marcus picked up on the second ring.
"I need you to come over," Ryan said.
"It's eleven-thirty."
"I know."
A pause.
Marcus knew Ryan well enough to hear what wasn't being said.
"I'm getting my keys."
While Ryan waited, he carried the plate back to Lily's room.
Emma was still asleep.
He set the plate beside her quietly, close enough that she would see it when she woke.
He pulled the blanket up a little higher.
She stirred.
Her eyes opened halfway.
"Are you hungry?" he asked softly.
She looked at the plate.
Then she looked at him.
"Lily said you were nice," she said.
Her voice was very small.
Ryan sat down on the floor beside her.
"Lily's a good judge of people."
Emma considered this seriously.
Then she reached for a piece of bread.
He sat with her while she ate.
He didn't ask her any questions.
He just sat there, on the floor of his daughter's bedroom, next to the wall that had hidden this child for seven months, and watched her eat.
He heard the front door open.
Marcus's footsteps in the hall.
He heard Claire's voice, low and urgent.
Then Marcus appeared in the doorway.
He looked at Ryan.
He looked at Emma.
He looked at the opening in the wall.
He said nothing for a long moment.
Then: "Tell me everything."
But before Ryan could speak, Claire appeared behind Marcus in the doorway.
Her phone was in her hand.
Her expression had changed again — back to that hard, calculated look.
"I already called my sister," she said.
May you like
"She's an attorney.
She'll be here in twenty minutes."
