Chapter 3
Daniel took the papers from Mom.
His eyes raced over the first page.
Then his expression changed.
“What the hell?”
Mom grabbed them back.
“I told you.”
“Told me what?”
“That you didn’t understand.”
Rain struck the umbrella between us.
Daniel looked toward the hotel.
“Why would my mother know you were here?”
Mom laughed bitterly.
“She always knows.”
“What is this?”
“A warning.”
“It looks like a custody filing.”
“It is.”
Daniel stared at her.
“She filed for emergency guardianship of Sophie?”
My heart started pounding.
I didn’t understand every word.
But I understood my name.
I understood custody.
Kids at school whispered about custody when their parents got divorced.
It meant deciding where a child lived.
I grabbed Mom’s coat.
“I’m going home with you, right?”
Mom immediately crouched.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Of course.”
Mom shot him a look.
“Don’t promise things you don’t control.”
Daniel flinched.
Then he pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling her.”
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No!”
Mom’s voice echoed under the hotel awning.
“You call Eleanor, and she’ll know you found out.”
“She already knows.”
“Maybe she suspects.”
Daniel stared at the papers.
“She filed these today.”
Mom pointed to the date.
“No. Her lawyers prepared them three days ago.”
He looked closer.
She was right.
“What happened three days ago?”
Mom didn’t answer.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Emily.”
She looked down at me.
“We need to get Sophie home.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“No.”
“It’s pouring.”
“We’ll take the subway.”
“Sophie just went through something awful.”
“And getting into a car with a man she met twenty minutes ago will make that better?”
Daniel looked at me again.
I wanted to say I wasn’t scared of him.
But that wasn’t completely true.
He made everything feel uncertain.
Mom took my hand.
Daniel stepped aside.
“Okay.”
We started walking.
Then he called after her.
“Emily.”
Mom stopped.
“I will not let my mother take your daughter.”
Mom slowly turned.
“Our daughter.”
His face broke.
It was only two words.
But they changed something.
Mom seemed to realize it too.
She looked away.
Then we left.
Our apartment was small.
Two bedrooms.
One bathroom.
The radiator clanged when it got cold.
Our upstairs neighbor played music too loudly.
I loved it.
It was home.
Mom locked three locks behind us.
Then she checked the windows.
“Mom, why are you doing that?”
“Just being careful.”
She tried to smile.
It didn’t work.
I changed into pajamas.
When I came back, she was sitting at the kitchen table with the legal papers spread in front of her.
Her phone was beside them.
Daniel’s business card sat under her hand.
“You took his card.”
She looked down.
“I guess I did.”
“Are you going to call him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who’s Eleanor?”
Mom went very still.
“Daniel’s mother.”
“My grandma?”
She winced.
“Technically.”
“Why does she want me?”
“She doesn’t.”
“But the paper—”
“She wants control.”
I climbed onto the chair across from her.
“What does that mean?”
Mom rubbed her forehead.
“When I was younger, I worked for Daniel’s family.”
“Like catering?”
“No.”
She looked around our tiny kitchen as if choosing which truth hurt least.
“I was a nursing student. Daniel’s grandmother got sick, and I worked as a private aide in their house.”
“That’s how you met?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love him?”
Mom’s eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
The answer came so quickly that I knew it was true.
“What happened?”
She swallowed.
“His family happened.”
My phone-sized tablet buzzed on the counter.
Mom jumped.
Then someone knocked.
Three hard knocks.
She stood immediately.
“Sophie, bedroom.”
“Who is it?”
“Now.”
I ran down the hall.
I didn’t close the door completely.
I heard Mom approach the front door.
“Who is it?”
“Daniel.”
Mom opened it.
“You cannot come here.”
“I know.”
“How did you find my address?”
“I didn’t. Your emergency filing has it.”
Silence.
Then Mom swore under her breath.
“I brought my attorney.”
Another voice spoke.
“Ms. Carter, I’m Rebecca Sloan.”
Mom opened the door wider.
I crept into the hallway.
A woman with dark hair entered behind Daniel.
She carried a leather folder.
Mom saw me.
“Sophie.”
I froze.
Daniel turned.
“Hey.”
He gave me a small smile.
Not a big fake grown-up smile.
Just a nervous one.
Mom sighed.
“You can stay.”
We sat around the kitchen table.
It barely fit four people.
Daniel looked enormous in our little kitchen.
Rebecca opened the folder.
“First, the petition is aggressive, but it isn’t an order.”
Mom breathed out.
“So Eleanor can’t take Sophie tonight?”
“No.”
“What does she want?”
Rebecca scanned the papers.
“She’s alleging that Sophie may be Daniel’s biological child and that Ms. Carter deliberately concealed her existence.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“So?”
“She’s also claiming concern about the child’s living circumstances.”
Mom’s face changed.
“What?”
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
“Financial instability. Limited housing. Irregular childcare.”
Mom stood.
“I have never left Sophie without care.”
“I’m not accusing you.”
“I work two jobs because rent in this city is insane. Sophie has food, clothes, school supplies, health insurance—”
“Emily.”
Daniel’s voice was gentle.
She turned on him.
“Don’t Emily me.”
He fell silent.
Rebecca continued.
“Those claims alone would not justify removing a child from a fit parent.”
Mom slowly sat.
“Then why file?”
“To scare you.”
Mom looked at Daniel.
“Exactly.”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“I need to speak to my mother.”
Mom’s laugh was hollow.
“You still think this can be solved with a conversation.”
“She cannot just file court papers about a child she has never met.”
“She can if she has enough money.”
“So do I.”
The words came out too fast.
Mom stiffened.
Daniel realized his mistake.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
“I meant I can fight her.”
“With what? More lawyers? More investigators? More people looking through our lives?”
“If that protects Sophie, yes.”
Mom leaned forward.
“And what happens after you beat your mother?”
Daniel hesitated.
Mom nodded.
“That’s what I thought.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll want rights too.”
He looked straight at her.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
Mom closed her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“I’m not saying tomorrow. I’m not saying I take her away from you. But if she is my daughter, I want to know her.”
“She is your daughter.”
“Then I want to be her father.”
Nobody spoke.
I stared at Daniel.
He looked scared.
That surprised me.
Grown-ups weren’t supposed to look scared when talking to kids.
He turned toward me.
“Sophie, can I ask you something?”
Mom started to object.
I said, “Okay.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
The question surprised everyone.
I looked at Mom.
She didn’t tell me what to say.
Then I looked back at him.
“No.”
His eyes filled again.
“Okay.”
“But I don’t know you.”
“I know.”
“And you can’t just become my dad because you say you are.”
“I know that too.”
“You missed my first day of school.”
His voice became rough.
“I know.”
“My kindergarten play.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My broken arm.”
Daniel looked at Mom.
Her face softened for one second.
Then she looked away.
“I missed everything,” he whispered.
I nodded.
“That’s a lot.”
“Yes.”
“You can’t fix it.”
“No.”
I liked that he didn’t lie.
Then someone knocked again.
Mom froze.
Daniel stood.
Rebecca closed her folder.
“Are you expecting anyone?”
“No.”
The knocking came harder.
Mom approached the door.
“Who is it?”
A woman answered.
“Emily, open this door.”
Daniel’s face went blank.
Mom whispered, “No.”
I knew immediately.
Eleanor.
My grandmother.
Mom didn’t open the door.
Eleanor spoke again.
“I know Daniel is in there.”
Daniel moved toward it.
Mom grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
“This ends now.”
“You don’t know her anymore.”
“She’s my mother.”
“And she terrified me when I was twenty-four.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What did she do?”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“She made me believe you chose money over us.”
He stopped breathing.
Outside, Eleanor knocked once more.
Then she said through the door:
“Daniel, ask Emily why your father paid her two hundred thousand dollars to disappear.”
The room went silent.
Daniel slowly turned toward Mom.
“What?”
May you like
Mom looked like she might collapse.
And that was when I realized the biggest secret in our family hadn’t even been told yet.
