Chapter 11 - DANIEL READS EVERYTHING
Daniel spent six hours reading the messages.
He looked worse with each screen.
At 3:00 a.m., he said:
“I knew Mom wanted you to stay at the estate.”
Tessa stared.
“How much did you know?”
“I thought she meant two nights.”
“And Brielle?”
“I knew she wanted to help.”
“Did you know about the nursery?”
“Yes.”
Tessa closed her eyes.
“You never told me.”
“I thought you saw it.”
“I saw a picture after she built it.”
Daniel had no answer.
Then:
“Did you know about the form?”
“No.”
“The logs?”
“No.”
“The plan to list Brielle with doctors?”
“No.”
“The file calling me unstable?”
“No.”
I believed him.
Tessa did not know whether she did.
That mattered more.
Daniel said:
“Mom always organizes.”
Tessa laughed once.
“She organized me out of my own baby.”
Then he looked at me.
“What do we do?”
I almost answered.
Tessa said:
“Don’t.”
Both of us looked at her.
“I’m the mother. Daniel is the father. Dad is Grandpa.”
Correct.
Daniel nodded.
“What do you want?”
“I want to go home.”
Their townhouse.
Not mine.
Not Eudora’s.
Home.
We followed.
Not into the house.
To the door.
May you like
My guards stayed in the car because Tessa did not ask for them.
That was the beginning of my education.
