Chapter 3 - The Woman With My Son
“Stop.”
The woman froze.
My son was wrapped tightly against her chest.
He looked impossibly small.
For half a second, nothing else in the world existed.
Not Caleb.
Not my mother.
Not Emily’s coffin.
Only my child in the arms of a stranger running toward an exit.
“Put him down.”
The woman shook her head violently.
“Mr. Daniel, please.”
I recognized her then.
Marissa.
She had worked at my mother’s estate for years.
“Why are you taking my son?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Your mother told me to.”
My mother’s voice cut across the room.
“That is a lie.”
Marissa flinched.
I didn’t.
“Where were you taking him?”
Marissa looked toward the rear doors.
“A car was supposed to be waiting.”
Caleb swore under his breath.
I heard it.
So did Elena, still connected through my phone.
“Daniel.”
Her voice was urgent.
“Get the baby somewhere secure.”
I approached Marissa slowly.
“Give him to me.”
She hesitated.
Then my son made a soft sound against her chest.
Something inside me cracked.
“I’m his father.”
Marissa’s shoulders dropped.
“I know.”
She stepped forward.
I took him.
The weight of him nearly destroyed me.
I had imagined this moment for months.
Emily laughing beside me.
My hands shaking because I was terrified of holding him wrong.
Her teasing me.
Me pretending I wasn’t crying.
Instead, she lay twenty feet away in a coffin.
I pressed my lips against my son’s forehead.
He smelled like milk and clean blankets.
“What’s his name?”
The question came out broken.
Marissa stared at me.
My mother looked away.
“Emily named him Noah.”
Noah.
I closed my eyes.
Emily and I had talked about that name before I deployed.
She had remembered.
“Hello, Noah.”
My voice barely worked.
His tiny fingers curled against my shirt.
Then Elena spoke through the phone again.
“Daniel, I need you focused.”
I opened my eyes.
“I am.”
“Ask the employee who ordered the car.”
I looked at Marissa.
“Who was the car for?”
She wiped at her face.
“For the baby.”
“Where was he going?”
“I don’t know.”
My mother stepped forward.
“That is enough.”
“No.”
I turned toward her.
“It’s nowhere near enough.”
She pointed at Marissa.
“She misunderstood an instruction.”
Marissa stared at her.
“You told me to have Noah gone before the authorities arrived.”
The room went dead quiet.
My mother’s expression became perfectly still.
Caleb stood.
“Mom.”
She snapped her head toward him.
“Be quiet.”
There it was.
Not grief.
Not confusion.
Command.
The same tone she had used throughout my childhood whenever control began slipping from her hands.
I looked down at Noah.
Then back at her.
“Why did you want my son out of this house?”
“I wanted him away from this chaos.”
“Without telling his father?”
“You weren’t here.”
“I’m here now.”
Her eyes hardened.
“For how long?”
The question hit me like a slap.
“You were gone for almost a year, Daniel.”
“I was deployed.”
“And we were the ones handling everything.”
“Apparently.”
Caleb walked toward the windows.
I watched him carefully.
He was nervous.
Too nervous.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“How long until local law enforcement gets here?”
“I’ve already contacted the state investigative unit.”
My mother’s eyes widened.
“You did what?”
Elena continued.
“Local deputies may arrive first, but I requested state personnel because of the circumstances.”
Caleb moved toward the fireplace again.
I shifted Noah into my left arm.
“Caleb.”
He stopped.
“Move away from it.”
“I’m cold.”
“It’s July.”
His jaw clenched.
I handed my phone to Marissa.
“Hold this.”
Then I walked toward the fireplace.
Caleb moved to block me.
That confirmed everything I needed to know.
I stepped around him.
There was a framed photograph on the mantel.
My father.
My mother.
Caleb.
Me.
Emily.
It had been taken two Christmases earlier.
I lifted it.
Behind the frame was a small steel keyhole set directly into the wooden paneling.
I pulled Emily’s brass key from my pocket.
Caleb’s voice dropped.
“Daniel.”
May you like
I inserted the key.
It fit perfectly.
