Chapter 7 - After the Guests Went Home
We slept at Luke’s house that night.
Emily wore one of her cousin’s oversized T-shirts and refused to let go of my hand until she fell asleep.
At two in the morning, she woke screaming.
“No suitcase.”
I turned on the lamp.
“You’re here.”
She stared at the room.
“Where’s Rebecca?”
“Not here.”
“Does she have a key?”
“No.”
I had changed the locks before leaving the house.
It was the first useful answer I’d given my daughter in months.
She climbed into my lap.
“I tried to be easy.”
“What?”
“So you wouldn’t get tired.”
I pressed my mouth against her hair and waited until I could trust my voice.
“You don’t have to earn your place with me.”
She fell asleep again.
I stayed awake.
At seven, my phone began filling with messages.
Rebecca’s version had reached the wedding guests overnight.
Daniel suffered a grief-related episode.
Emily is struggling.
Please respect our privacy.
Then came a public post.
A photograph of Rebecca in her wedding dress.
A careful paragraph about loving a man whose unresolved loss had made him cruel.
She never named Emily.
She didn’t need to.
By breakfast, people were discussing my child in the comments.
Luke read over my shoulder.
“Don’t answer angry.”
“I’m not answering.”
I called a family attorney recommended by Hannah’s sister.
Nora Ellis met us that afternoon.
She listened without interrupting.
Then she asked for the note, the forms, the recordings, and the contact information for both officers.
“Marriage would not have given her the right to send Emily away,” Nora said.
“She believed it would.”
“She believed you’d be easier to corner once leaving meant divorce, public embarrassment, and a fight over property.
That’s different.”
“Can she contact Emily?”
“We’ll seek a protective order.
For now, notify the school and every caregiver in writing.”
I looked toward the adjoining room.
Emily was coloring beside Luke.
Nora lowered her voice.
“There’s something else.
Did you give Rebecca access to your financial accounts?”
“A household account.
Nothing in Emily’s name.”
“Then we need to find out how she paid Cedar Glen.”
My phone buzzed before I could answer.
May you like
It was an automated notice from the bank holding Emily’s education savings.
A withdrawal request for twenty-eight thousand dollars had been submitted that morning.
