Chapter 3 - The Lawyer He Didn't Tell Me About
Rachel slept at her sister Julia's house that night.
Not because Daniel asked her to leave.
Because she could not think while looking at him.
Sophie came with her.
Lily stayed with Daniel.
That decision hurt both girls.
At the front door Lily wrapped herself around Sophie's leg.
"Don't go."
Sophie looked at Rachel.
Rachel crouched.
"This is not because of you."
Lily began crying.
Sophie handed her Bunny.
Rachel almost stopped her.
Then Sophie said, "Just tonight."
Lily hugged the damaged rabbit.
"Bring it back tomorrow."
Sophie nodded.
Choice.
Not sharing on command.
In the car, Sophie stared out the window.
After ten minutes she asked, "Did Grandma make us leave?"
"No."
"Did I?"
"No."
"Did Bunny?"
Rachel swallowed.
"No."
At Julia's house, Sophie fell asleep on the sofa.
Rachel sat at the kitchen table with Daniel on speakerphone.
"You called a divorce attorney."
"Consultation."
"That word doesn't help."
"I didn't file anything."
"You prepared to."
Daniel exhaled.
"I was scared."
"Of me?"
"Of getting it wrong again."
Daniel's first wife, Claire, had died when Lily was eleven months old.
For two years afterward, Margaret had practically raised Lily while Daniel worked and grieved badly.
Rachel understood why Daniel trusted his mother.
She no longer accepted what he had done with that trust.
"What did the anonymous emails tell you?"
"That Sophie bullied Lily."
Rachel closed her eyes.
"She's eight."
"I know."
"That I was impatient with Lily."
"Some clips made it sound that way."
"And you never showed me."
"I thought if I confronted you, you'd behave differently when you knew I was watching."
Rachel stared at the wall.
"You wanted an unguarded version of me."
Daniel said nothing.
"Do you hear how ugly that is?"
"Yes."
"Now?"
"Yes."
Rachel lowered her voice.
"You weren't trying to build a marriage. You were secretly auditing one."
Daniel sounded like he had been struck.
Good.
Then he said, "There's more."
Rachel's stomach tightened.
"What?"
"The attorney wasn't only about divorce."
"What else?"
"I asked what would happen with Lily if we separated."
Rachel felt tired.
"Of course."
"And with Sophie."
Rachel frowned.
"Why Sophie?"
"Because I love her."
The answer hurt more than indifference.
Daniel continued.
"I asked whether I would have any right to stay in her life."
Rachel covered her mouth.
Complicated.
Again.
Love and betrayal occupying the same room.
Then Julia entered carrying the repaired-looking rabbit.
Rachel stared.
"I thought Lily had Bunny."
"Daniel dropped it off."
Julia placed it on the table.
"He said Lily wouldn't sleep because she thought Sophie needed it."
Rachel touched the torn seam.
Something inside shifted.
Not the recorder.
That had already been removed.
A hard rectangle.
Rachel opened the seam farther.
Inside the stuffing was a folded sheet of paper.
Old.
Creased.
Not something Margaret could have inserted during the recent repair without opening most of the rabbit.
Rachel unfolded it.
A child-development intake form.
Sophie's name.
Date:
Eight months before Rachel and Daniel married.
Requested observer:
Margaret Hale.
Rachel stared.
Julia read over her shoulder.
"What is that?"
The form was from Bright Path Family Center.
A private child therapist Rachel had never contacted.
Reason for consultation:
POTENTIAL AGGRESSION / JEALOUSY IN PROSPECTIVE BLENDED HOUSEHOLD.
Rachel's hands shook.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
OBSERVE WITHOUT MOTHER'S KNOWLEDGE. DANIEL NOT TO BE INFORMED UNTIL PATTERN CONFIRMED.
Signed:
Margaret Hale.
Julia whispered, "She was building a case against Sophie before you even married him."
Rachel's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A woman's voice said:
"Is this Rachel Mercer?"
"Yes."
"My name is Dr. Naomi Price. I used to work at Bright Path."
Rachel stared at the paper.
Naomi continued.
"I heard what happened today."
Pause.
"Margaret Hale brought your daughter to my office last year without your consent."
Rachel stopped breathing.
"She told me she was Sophie's legal guardian."
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