Chapter 7 - The Blue Notebook
I didn’t show Sofia the message.
“What did you take from Mama’s room?”
Her face went pale.
I moved away from the door so she wouldn’t feel trapped.
“You’re not in trouble. I need to understand.”
She looked toward Caleb, who was lining up his new toy cars on the carpet.
Then she reached into her backpack.
Out came a small blue notebook.
“I thought it might have your number.”
I opened it.
The first pages held ordinary things. Shopping lists. Phone numbers. A reminder about a delivery.
Farther back were amounts.
Dates.
Initials.
Beside several entries, Vanessa had written the same word.
Marco.
There were transfers I recognized because she had asked me for the money on those dates.
Roof repair.
School balance.
Emergency medicine.
Across from them sat different notes.
Reservation.
Car payment.
Weekend.
I kept my face still.
“Why did you keep it?”
Sofia swallowed.
“Because of the page at the back.”
The final page held a short list.
House cleared.
Balance received.
Airport.
Below it were two names.
Vanessa.
Marco.
No Sofia.
No Caleb.
I shut the notebook.
My daughter watched me.
“I thought maybe there was another page.”
I couldn’t speak.
“So I looked again,” she whispered. “But there wasn’t.”
I sat beside her.
“What did you think it meant?”
“That she was leaving.”
“Did she say that?”
“Uncle Marco said kids would make everything complicated.”
I put an arm around her.
She stayed stiff for a moment.
Then she folded against me.
“I didn’t know where we were supposed to go.”
That was when I finally cried.
Not loudly.
Just enough that Sofia reached up and tried to wipe my face.
I caught her hand gently.
“You don’t have to take care of me.”
She looked confused.
“You’re the kid,” I told her. “You get to be the kid.”
I gave Mara the notebook the next morning and explained exactly how it had reached me.
“We’ll preserve it properly,” she said. “But we need more than notes to establish what happened.”
That afternoon, Vanessa asked to meet.
Mara advised a public place.
I chose a café.
My wife arrived without makeup, carrying a tissue.
“I was going to tell you everything.”
“What were you going to do with our children?”
She blinked.
May you like
Then she said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“I thought your sister could take them.”
