Maya was upstairs.
Lillian stayed with her.
Marcus stood in the foyer.
Vanessa looked at him.
“You know cutting my bag was insane.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not sorry?”
Marcus thought.
“Not yet.”
She stared.
“That cost more than most people make in a month.”
“I know.”
“You think that makes you righteous?”
“No.”
Marcus leaned against the doorframe.
“I think it makes me a man who lost his temper after watching his wife destroy something his dead wife made for his daughter.”
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“There she is.”
“Who?”
“Camille.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Even now.”
“No.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You said dead wife before you said daughter.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You are proving my point.”
“What point?”
“That I have spent three years living in her marriage.”
“You entered my life knowing I was a widower.”
“I did not understand what that meant.”
“No.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“You understood enough to hide your resentment from me.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“Do you know what it is like?”
“To what?”
“To have a dead woman always win?”
Marcus almost laughed.
“There was no competition.”
“That is easy for you to say.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You created one.”
Vanessa’s voice broke.
“You still love her.”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
Vanessa stared.
Marcus continued.
“I will always love her.”
“Then you never should have married me.”
“Maybe.”
That hurt both of them.
Marcus did not soften it.
“But loving Camille never prevented me from loving you.”
Vanessa wiped one cheek.
“Apparently it did.”
“No.”
He looked directly at her.
“You wanted love to mean erasure.”
She picked up her suitcase.
“I hope someday you realize Maya manipulated this entire situation.”
Marcus’s expression went cold.
“Leave.”
Vanessa did.
The next morning, Maya refused school.
Marcus allowed it.
The day after, she went.
Not because she felt ready.
Because she had a chemistry quiz and said Lauren had already ruined enough things.
Marcus drove her.
Normally a driver took her.
That week he drove every day.
On Wednesday, a child therapist named Dr. Elaine Park met with Maya.
On Thursday, Marcus met with her separately.
The first thing Elaine said was, “Do you want reassurance or information?”
Marcus stared.
“Information.”
“Good.”
She opened her notes.
“Maya does not currently describe physical abuse.”
Marcus released a breath he had not realized he was holding.
Elaine continued.
“That does not mean nothing harmful occurred.”