They did not move back together.
Not yet.
Two years after the incident, Lily turned seven.
Her birthday party took place in Claire’s backyard.
Nathan attended.
So did Evelyn.
Evelyn still watched him more carefully than she watched anyone else.
Nathan accepted it.
Lily received a dollhouse.
Art supplies.
A purple bicycle.
At the end of the party, she disappeared upstairs.
Claire panicked for perhaps thirty seconds before finding her sitting in the yellow room.
Former linen room.
She was drawing.
The doorway remained empty.
No door.
Claire leaned against the frame.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Party too loud?”
Lily nodded.
Claire smiled.
“Want company?”
“No.”
That answer stopped her.
Then made her smile wider.
“Okay.”
Claire walked away.
Lily had chosen the room.
Not punishment.
Not fear.
Privacy.
Later Nathan stood in the hallway looking inside.
Lily noticed.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Want to see?”
He entered only after she invited him.
She showed him a drawing.
Three houses.
One labeled Mom.
One Dad.
One Grandma.
Nathan stared.
“Where do you live?”
he asked.
Lily laughed.
“All.”
Simple.
Adults had spent two years trying to decide which household represented family.
The child had solved it with crayons.
At seven and a half, Lily asked Claire:
“Why did Daddy lock me in the yellow room?”
Claire had known the question would return.
She sat beside her daughter.
“Because Daddy made a bad decision.”
“Fourteen times?”
Claire froze.
“How do you know that number?”
“I heard Grandma.”
Of course.
Evelyn.
Claire made a mental note.
“More than once.”
Lily waited.
“Was Daddy bad?”
There it was.
Claire remembered Dr. Chen.
Do not make the child choose.
“Daddy did something that was not safe.”
“Was he mad?”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“Sometimes.”
Lily’s face fell.
Claire continued:
“But adults are responsible for what they do when they're mad.”
“You being difficult did not make him lock the door.”
Lily looked up.
“Was I difficult?”
Claire smiled.
“You were five.”
“That means yes?”
“Sometimes.”
Lily giggled.
Then became serious.
“Will he do it again?”