Chapter 2 - The Date
I forgot the contraction for three seconds.
Seventeen days.
Nathan had been alive.
We had eaten dinner together that night.
I remembered because he came home late carrying Thai food and complained that Victor had “made another equipment mistake.”
I had asked what kind.
Nathan said:
“Something I’ll deal with after the board meeting.”
Now I stared at a guardianship form prepared that same week.
“What is this?”
Judith reached.
I stepped backward.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand legal language.”
“I understand dates.”
Victor rubbed both hands over his face.
“Emily, you need the hospital.”
“Then call.”
Judith snapped:
“She signs first.”
I looked at her.
“You want me to sign custody of my baby while I’m in labor?”
“It is temporary authority.”
“For what?”
“If something happens to you.”
“Something like what happened to Nathan?”
Her eyes flashed.
Then another contraction doubled me.
I dropped to one knee.
Victor moved.
Judith blocked him.
“Don’t.”
He stared at her.
“She could deliver here.”
“Then she delivers here.”
That was the moment Victor finally looked horrified by the person he had married.
He was thirty eight.
Judith sixty two.
They had married four years earlier after meeting through Parker Heritage Construction, where Victor managed fleet procurement.
Nathan never liked him.
I had assumed it was because his mother had remarried quickly after Nathan’s father died.
Maybe I had been wrong.
I opened more pages.
A medical authorization.
A proposed power of attorney concerning decisions after birth.
A voting proxy tied to Nathan’s estate interest in Parker Heritage.
And a letter addressed to the company board.
I authorize Judith Parker to act on my behalf concerning the voting interests held for Baby Parker during my recovery.
My signature line blank.
Judith’s already signed.
Then the life insurance page.
Nathan Parker.
Policy value:
$1.5 million.
Current requested beneficiary:
Judith Parker, mother, one hundred percent.
Effective date requested:
Nine days before his crash.
At bottom was Nathan’s signature.
I knew his signature.
That looked like it.
Almost.
“Why would Nathan remove me?”
Judith folded her arms.
“He wanted his mother protected.”
“No.”
“You think you knew everything?”
“I was his wife.”
“And I gave birth to him.”
There.
Her answer to every boundary.
Biology as ownership.
Victor whispered:
“Judith, that form never went through.”
She spun.
“You idiot.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“The insurance company asked for verification.”
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Because the signature didn’t match an older specimen.”
My skin went cold.
“You knew?”
“I only printed what she gave me.”
Judith slapped him.
Hard.
Victor staggered.
I hit key fob inside my handbag.
My car alarm exploded outside.
Judith turned.
I hit it again.
Again.
Across street, porch light came on.
A dog started barking.
Judith lunged.
“You stupid—”
Victor grabbed her around waist.
“ENOUGH!”
I moved toward door.
Locked.
Deadbolt.
My hands shook.
Victor released Judith long enough to unlock.
She clawed at him.
He shoved door open.
Cold night air hit my face.
Across street, our neighbor for the evening, an older man I knew only as Mr. Dalton, stepped onto porch with phone.
“Everything okay?”
“No!”
I screamed.
“CALL 911!”
Judith pushed past Victor.
“You’re not leaving with my grandchild!”
She grabbed my shoulder.
Victor pulled her away.
I stumbled onto porch.
A contraction struck.
I collapsed against railing.
Mr. Dalton was already speaking to dispatcher.
Then I heard Judith behind me.
“You think police will believe a hysterical widow over me?”
I looked down at the envelope clenched against my chest.
Seventeen days before Nathan died.
Nine days before his insurance beneficiary supposedly changed.
And Victor had just admitted those papers existed before funeral.
I turned toward Judith.
“I don’t need them to believe me.”
I held up envelope.
“I need them to read.”
Sirens appeared at end of street.
Judith stopped struggling.
Victor released her.
May you like
And quietly, without looking at me, he said:
“There’s more.”
