Chapter 2
I kept my hand on the baby seat.
Simone lowered the folder. She looked as though she wanted to hide the page, but I had already read enough.
“What is that?” I asked.
Diane moved toward the kitchen. “The children should eat first.”
“They will. Tell me what that paper is.”
Simone glanced at Diane. Whatever answer they had prepared had vanished the moment Ava played Marcus’s message.
“I was asked to witness a conversation,” Simone said.
“What conversation?”
Diane spoke before she could. “One that would have been easier without the children.”
I pulled the paper from beneath the folder. It was a statement saying I had chosen to leave Marcus and that the children would remain with him while we worked things out.
There was a blank line for my signature.
Eli stood close enough to read my expression, though he could not read the page.
“Are we leaving Dad?” he asked.
I knelt. “No. You and Ava are here with me.”
I carried the baby into the living room and set her seat beside the sofa. “Sit with June for a minute, both of you. Dad will be back soon.”
Ava stayed beside the baby. Eli sat on the rug, watching me through the doorway.
I walked back into the hall.
“You expected me to sign this?” I asked Diane.
“I expected you to listen.”
“You told Marcus I wasn’t coming. You tried to turn me away. How was I supposed to listen?”
Diane’s hands curled against her sides.
“Marcus and I have been talking.”
“About what?”
“About how tired he is.”
The words landed hard. Marcus had been tired. So had I. June was three months old. Eli had struggled at school since the baby arrived. Marcus’s work shifts had changed twice. We had argued over small things because the large things felt too heavy to name.
None of that gave Diane the right to stand at our door and decide what happened next.
“Where is he?” I asked again.
“At the pizza place.”
“Then he can tell me himself.”
Simone stepped forward. “Nia, I’m sorry. Diane told me you had already agreed to a separation.”
I looked at the blank signature line. “Does that look agreed to you?”
“She said you wanted me here when you signed.”
“Why you?”
Simone swallowed. “Because I work at a family law office.”
Diane closed her eyes.
Simone rushed on. “I’m a receptionist. I didn’t prepare it. Diane brought it to me and asked me to print a clean copy. She said she’d spoken with an attorney.”
I looked at Diane. “Which attorney?”
“There’s no reason to drag strangers into this.”
I turned back to Simone. “Did you see a lawyer’s name?”
“No.”
That was the first honest answer I felt I had received since reaching the porch.
Outside, headlights swept across the front window. A car door closed. Eli sprang up in the living room.
“Dad!”
Marcus came through the side entrance carrying two pizza boxes. His smile rose when he heard Eli, then disappeared when he saw me standing in the hall with the paper.
“You made it,” he said.
I heard the relief in his voice. I also saw his eyes move to Simone.
Diane said, “Marcus, let me explain.”
He set the boxes on the entry table.
“Why is Simone here?”
I held up the page. “That’s what I’m asking.”
Marcus took it. He read the first lines, frowned, and read them again.
“Mom?”
Diane’s shoulders dropped. “You told me you were struggling.”
“I told you we needed help with the house while June was small.”
“You told me Nia wasn’t sleeping.”
“I told you neither of us was.”
Marcus looked at Simone. “What did my mother tell you?”
“That Nia was leaving.”
He shook his head. “Nia and I talked this morning. I knew she was driving home.”
“I know,” I said. “Ava has your message.”
He turned to Diane. “You said they’d arrive around seven. Why did you tell them they couldn’t come in?”
Diane’s face tightened. “I thought if Nia saw the paperwork, she might finally admit how unhappy she is.”
My chest burned. “You kept my children on the porch to make me look at it.”
Diane said nothing.
Marcus placed the page on the table as if it had dirtied his hands.
“Kids,” he called, keeping his voice steady, “pizza’s here.”
Eli hurried past us. Ava stayed with June until Marcus went to her. He kissed the top of her head, then bent to lift the baby from her seat.
“She’s been crying,” Ava told him.
“I’ve got her.”
Ava stared at him for another second. “Grandma said you didn’t know we were coming.”
“I knew. I wanted you here.”
Her face crumpled. Marcus drew her into his free arm.
I had wanted to hear those words too. But I could not yet move toward him.
Simone picked up her bag. “I’m going.”
“Wait,” I said.
She stopped.
“Do you have another copy?”
“Diane does.”
Diane looked away.
“Where?”
“In the kitchen drawer,” Simone said.
Marcus handed June to me. “Mom, bring it out.”
Diane remained still.
He spoke more firmly. “Now.”
She went to the kitchen. When she returned, she held a thick envelope, not a single page.
I took it from her. My name was written across the front.
Inside were the unsigned statement, notes about the children’s routines, and printed photographs of our apartment over the garage where we had lived before buying this house.
There was also a draft email addressed to Marcus.
It said I had taken June and gone back to my sister’s because I no longer wanted our marriage.
May you like
I looked up.
“How many stories were you ready to tell if we hadn’t come inside?”
