Chapter 6
Rebecca broke the order in less than forty-eight hours.
Not directly.
She was too smart for that.
She sent a message through my coworker, Paul.
He walked into my office Monday morning looking uncomfortable.
“Daniel, I don’t want to get involved, but Rebecca asked me to tell you she just wants her things.”
I stared at him.
“You are involved now.”
His face reddened.
“I didn’t know there was an order.”
“There is.”
He backed up.
“I’m sorry.”
“Send me the message.”
He did.
I forwarded it to the police and my attorney.
Rebecca claimed she needed her grandmother’s necklace from my house.
A necklace I had never seen.
My attorney, Marianne, was calm and sharp.
“This is bait,” she said. “We will arrange a supervised property exchange through counsel. You will not speak to her.”
“I don’t want her things in my house.”
“We will handle it.”
Then she paused.
“Daniel, there is more.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“The school sent over Rebecca’s emergency contact paperwork. She added herself as Emily’s stepmother last month.”
“She was not her stepmother last month.”
“No.”
“She had pickup permission?”
“Yes.”
I gripped the phone.
“Could she have taken her from school before the wedding?”
“Possibly.”
I stood so fast my chair rolled back into the wall.
I left work and drove straight to Emily’s school.
The principal, Mrs. Landry, looked horrified.
“I am so sorry,” she said. “Rebecca told us the wedding was a formality. She said you wanted everything updated early.”
“Did anyone call me?”
She lowered her eyes.
“No.”
I wanted to shout.
Instead, I handed her the protective order.
“Rebecca Cole is not allowed near my daughter. No one takes Emily except me, my sister Claire, or my father if I notify you directly.”
Mrs. Landry nodded.
“Of course.”
“No verbal changes. No emails. No messages through anyone.”
“Understood.”
Then I went to Emily’s classroom.
She was sitting at a table coloring a house with a huge fence around it.
When she saw me, she ran into my arms.
“Daddy? Is something wrong?”
“No. I just wanted to see you.”
She looked past me.
“Is Rebecca here?”
“No.”
Her little body relaxed.
On the drive home, she was quiet.
Then she said, “Rebecca told the office she was my new mom.”
My hands tightened on the wheel.
“When?”
“Last week. She smiled at Mrs. Landry and said I was shy about it.”
I pulled over.
I could not drive through the wave of rage that hit me.
Emily looked scared.
“Daddy?”
I turned around.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“That is okay. Adults should have asked me.”
She nodded, but tears filled her eyes.
“She told me if I kept saying Mommy, it hurt her feelings.”
Sarah.
My Sarah.
The woman whose laugh still lived in Emily’s.
I reached back and took Emily’s hand.
“You can say Mommy whenever you want. Your mother is your mother forever.”
Emily wiped her nose.
“Rebecca said forever families change.”
“Not like that.”
“Will you forget Mommy if you marry someone else?”
“No.”
“Will you forget me?”
I unbuckled, got out, opened her door, and knelt beside the car.
“Never. Listen to me. If I love someone, they do not take your place. Love grows. It does not erase.”
She stared at me.
“Rebecca erased.”
“Yes,” I said. “She tried.”
Emily whispered, “I hated her.”
The shame on her face broke me.
I cupped her cheek.
“You are allowed to be angry at someone who hurt you.”
“I wanted you to be happy.”
“I am happiest when you are safe.”
She climbed into my arms there on the side of the road.
Cars passed.
May you like
The world continued.
But for us, everything paused long enough for my daughter to believe me a little more.
