Chapter 10 - The Other Father
I sat in my parked car until the windows fogged.
Nora waited beside me without speaking.
Then I called Luke.
“Tell her I’m coming.”
“She’s okay.”
“I know.
Tell her anyway.”
When I reached his house, Emily was on the porch.
She ran to me before I got out.
I held her until she wriggled.
“Daddy, I can’t breathe.”
I loosened my arms.
“Sorry.”
She touched my cheek.
“Are you crying?”
“Yeah.”
“Because of the wedding?”
“Because I missed something important.”
She studied me.
“You found me.”
I carried those words into the next morning.
Officer Morgan called at nine.
A detective had been assigned to review the forged documents and attempted transfer.
There was also someone who wanted to speak to me.
His name was Mark Ellison.
He had seen Rebecca’s wedding post.
We met at Nora’s office.
Mark looked like a man who had rehearsed an apology for years.
“I was engaged to her six years ago,” he said.
I leaned back.
“You had kids?”
“A son.
Ben.
He was nine.”
Nora uncapped her pen.
“What happened?”
“She told me he was stealing.
Breaking things.
Threatening her.”
“Was he?”
“Some things were broken.
Money went missing.
There were pictures.
I believed her.”
His voice tightened.
“I sent him to live with my sister for the summer.”
“And?”
“Rebecca wanted it to become permanent.”
I looked at the floor.
Mark pulled out his phone.
“My sister found Ben hiding food in his room.
He said Rebecca locked the pantry when I worked late.”
The room felt too small.
“Did you report it?”
“I ended the engagement.
I thought that was enough.”
He swallowed.
“It wasn’t enough for my son.”
He showed us old emails.
The language was familiar.
Structured environment.
Unhealthy attachment.
A fresh start for the marriage.
Then he opened a photograph.
A handwritten note.
Different child.
Different house.
Same sharp little hooks.
Nora asked whether he would provide copies and speak to the detective.
“Yes.”
Mark looked directly at me.
“I didn’t come because I thought it would help you hate her.”
“Why, then?”
“Because when Ben told the truth, I asked what he’d done to upset her.”
His eyes filled.
“I need somebody to believe a kid the first time.”
As he left, Nora’s assistant entered with a printed court filing.
May you like
Rebecca was accusing me of threatening her.
And she wanted an emergency order keeping me away from my own house.
