Chapter 12
Mom opened the front door.
“We're done for today.”
Doreen left the clothes on the table but took the folder.
At the threshold, she said Garrett would come to his senses if I stopped treating him like an enemy.
“He can begin by telling the truth,” I answered.
Half an hour later, my phone lit up.
Doreen had written a long message about how upsetting the visit had been.
Near the bottom was one sentence.
I knew nothing about Paige until after what happened at the hospital.
I saved the message.
Then I forwarded the photographs to Celia.
Mom sat beside me, and for a while we said nothing.
Lucy woke, stretching one little hand beyond her blanket.
I picked her up.
Doreen wanted me to explain why Garrett hadn't stayed.
I was beginning to wonder how many people had known he was preparing to leave.
PART 6 — THE OTHER WOMAN AT MY MOTHER'S DOOR
Paige came thirteen days after Lucy was born.
Mom answered the door, then stepped into the living room with an expression I couldn't read.
“There's someone here asking for you.”
I saw Paige behind her.
Her loose sweater barely showed the pregnancy I now knew about. She held a purse and a folded stack of papers against her stomach.
I had imagined this moment too many times.
In every version, I knew what to say.
Now all I could think was that she looked like an ordinary woman who had once thanked me for soup.
“Who gave you this address?”
“Doreen.”
Mom's expression changed.
Paige looked down.
“She said we needed to talk.”
Lucy had just fallen asleep. I asked Mom to sit near the bassinet, then told Paige she could have ten minutes at the kitchen table.
I wanted to know what Doreen had sent her to say.
Paige sat on the edge of the chair.
“I had my anatomy scan yesterday.”
I didn't answer.
“They couldn't get all the pictures they wanted of his heart. There's something they need a specialist to look at.”
Her hands were shaking.
“The appointment is next week.”
“I'm sorry you're worried.”
She began crying.
“Garrett said he can't be there for us if this divorce takes everything.”
I looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“He said you won't agree to anything. That the lawyers will take all his money.”
I thought of the document with my name beside money I'd never received.