“Give it to me.”
Ethan looked at her.
The request was so unexpected that for a moment he wondered whether he had heard correctly.
“What?”
Vivian extended one hand.
“You’re emotional.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Of course I’m emotional.”
“Let me take Noah.”
“That’s not what you asked.”
Her expression tightened.
“I meant the box.”
“Why?”
“Because you shouldn’t open something like that while you’re upset.”
Ethan felt something cold move through him.
His mother had been there the night police came to tell him Rachel’s car had been found at the bottom of an embankment.
She had sat beside him while he identified Rachel’s purse.
She had chosen the funeral home when Ethan could not speak.
She had helped him dress Noah on the morning they buried Rachel.
For the last two years she had been his strongest support.
But she was looking at the black box as if it contained something dangerous.
Not emotionally dangerous.
Dangerous to her.
Ethan lifted the envelope.
Vivian whispered, “Please.”
He looked at her sharply.
His mother did not say please often.
“Do you know what this is?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Ethan noticed.
“Do you know why Rachel hid it?”
“No.”
“Then why are you asking me not to open it?”
“I’m asking you to think.”
“I am thinking.”
“You have spent two years trying to recover.”
He laughed once.
“Recover?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I really don’t.”
Vivian lowered her voice.
“Noah is right there.”
That worked.
Ethan looked at his son.
Noah’s face was wet.
Confused.
Scared.
Whatever was inside that box had waited at least two years.
It could wait another ten minutes.
Ethan lifted Noah.
“Come on.”
He carried him toward the kitchen.
Vivian followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To put him upstairs.”
“Let me.”
“No.”
The answer came instinctively.
Vivian stopped.
Ethan did too.
For the first time in his life, refusing his mother felt less like disagreeing with a parent and more like locking a door.
He did not know why.
That frightened him.
He carried Noah upstairs.
The boy’s nanny, Elena, was in the laundry room folding clothes.
Ethan asked her to stay with him.
“Everything okay?” Elena asked.
“No.”
She immediately stopped folding.
“Do you need me to call someone?”
“Not yet.”
Ethan knelt in front of Noah.
“I have to go downstairs for a little bit.”
“No.”
The boy grabbed his shirt.
“I’ll be right there.”
“Mommy.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Did you know that box was there?”
Noah looked confused.
“Box?”