Every conversation from the previous year replayed in his mind.
Emily suddenly refusing sleepovers when Nathan traveled.
Vanessa explaining she was “going through a clingy phase.”
Emily wetting the bed again after nearly two dry years.
Vanessa saying it was because Nathan spoiled her.
Emily refusing food some evenings.
Vanessa saying she was testing boundaries.
Emily asking repeatedly whether Nathan still loved her.
He had answered yes every time.
But he had never asked why she needed the answer so often.
At 2:14 a.m., Nathan opened his phone.
He searched his messages.
Six months earlier:
VANESSA: Emily had another meltdown today. Nothing serious.
Four months earlier:
VANESSA: She's becoming incredibly manipulative when you're away.
Three months earlier:
VANESSA: We need to discuss firmer consequences.
Two months earlier:
VANESSA: At some point she has to learn this family cannot revolve around grief forever.
Nathan remembered reading that last one in an airport.
He had replied:
We’ll talk when I get home.
They never did.
Or rather, Vanessa made sure they discussed something else.
He opened Emily's bedroom door.
She was asleep.
One hand held Sarah's old stuffed rabbit.
Nathan sat beside her.
After Sarah died, he had promised his daughter something.
He promised she would never feel alone.
Somehow, while believing he was keeping that promise, he had brought someone into their home who taught her exactly that.
The next morning, Nathan called Melissa Grant.
Melissa had been Emily's nanny for almost two years.
She quit seven months earlier.
At the time, Vanessa told Nathan that Melissa wanted to move back to Ohio.
Nathan believed her.
Melissa answered after the third ring.
“Nathan?”
“Did Vanessa fire you?”
Silence.
That was enough.
“Melissa.”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“I wondered when you'd call.”
“Tell me.”
“She said I was interfering with discipline.”
“What discipline?”
Melissa exhaled.
“Nathan, I tried to tell you.”
“When?”
“The week before I left.”
“I never got anything.”
“I emailed you.”
Nothing.
“I sent three messages.”
Nathan opened his laptop.
He searched.
Nothing.
“What did you see?”
“She started making Emily sit alone during dinner whenever Emily mentioned Sarah.”
Nathan gripped the edge of the desk.
“For how long?”
“Sometimes ten minutes.”
“Anything else?”
“She'd take Sarah's photographs out of Emily's room.”
“What?”
“Emily would ask me to put them back before you came home.”
Nathan felt nauseated.
“Why before I came home?”
“Because Vanessa put them back when you were there.”
He closed his eyes.
“What else?”
Melissa's voice softened.