Chapter 2 - Eleven Nights At Evelyn’s
I handed the baby to Evelyn.
Not because I trusted her.
Because my hands had started shaking.
“Where is Jenna?”
Ryan shut the guest-room door halfway.
“Safe.”
“That is not a location.”
“She’s staying nearby.”
“With who?”
“Claire.”
“Stop using my name instead of answering.”
His jaw tightened.
Evelyn carried the baby to the rocking chair by the window.
That chair belonged downstairs.
I had wondered where it went.
Another tiny thing rearranged while I wasn’t looking.
I turned on Ryan.
“You’ve been sleeping at your mother’s.”
“Some nights.”
“Because of the baby.”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
He rubbed his face.
“Eleven.”
I laughed.
It sounded terrible.
“Your mother’s knee.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
I looked at her.
“Was your knee ever bad?”
“It is bad.”
“Did you need Ryan there until one in the morning?”
Silence.
“So every time I asked where my husband was, you lied.”
Evelyn looked down at the baby.
“I didn’t like it.”
That answer almost impressed me.
Not enough to help.
“But you did it.”
“Yes.”
I turned to Ryan.
“Why?”
“Jenna needed help.”
“Then say Jenna needed help.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
That was the first moment I saw something besides panic.
Conviction.
“I promised her.”
My anger stalled.
“You promised Jenna you wouldn’t tell me she was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she ask that?”
Evelyn shifted in the chair.
Ryan said:
“That’s Jenna’s reason to tell you.”
“So respecting her privacy meant lying to me about where you were for eleven nights?”
“No.”
He knew immediately he'd answered the wrong question.
I stared.
“Then what did?”
He sat on the edge of the bed.
“After she delivered, things changed.”
“What things?”
“She needed time.”
“For what?”
He didn’t answer.
I looked at the bassinet.
The bottles.
The diapers.
“Was this baby at Evelyn’s for eleven days?”
Ryan nodded.
“So you moved her here today.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Mom’s building is doing pipe work.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“True?”
“Yes.”
At least one answer.
“They shut water off tomorrow.”
Ryan continued:
“We needed somewhere for a few nights.”
“You have a wife.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“You have a house that is half mine.”
“I know.”
“You have apparently had a niece for twelve days.”
“Claire—”
“And your plan was what? Hide her upstairs?”
“No.”
“What was the plan?”
Ryan stood.
“To tell you tonight.”
I laughed.
“You brought the baby here before telling me.”
“Yes.”
“That is not telling me. That is presenting me with a completed decision.”
Evelyn flinched.
Ryan didn’t.
“I knew you’d be angry.”
“You knew I’d have a choice.”
“That too.”
At least he said it.
I walked to the dresser.
A small pink duffel sat beside the diapers.
Not ours.
I opened it.
Ryan stepped forward.
“Don’t go through Jenna’s things.”
“Then get them out of my bedroom.”
“Guest room.”
I looked at him.
He stopped correcting me.
Inside were newborn clothes, breast-pump parts still sealed in packaging, a paperback novel, and a phone charger.
Jenna’s bag.
“She stayed here?”
“No.”
“Then why is her bag here?”
“She dropped it with the baby.”
“When?”
“This afternoon.”
“So she came to my house.”
“Driveway.”
“Didn’t come inside?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Ryan looked toward his mother.
Evelyn rocked the baby slowly.
I stepped closer to him.
“Why didn’t Jenna come inside?”
His mouth tightened.
Then:
“She didn’t want to see you yet.”
That hurt more than I expected.
“What did I do to her?”
“Nothing today.”
“Ryan.”
He looked away.
I knew that move.
Marriage teaches you the difference between I don't know and I know but don’t want to say it.
“Call her.”
“No.”
“Call your sister.”
“She asked for tonight.”
“She doesn’t get to put a baby in my house and ask for privacy from me.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“She didn’t put the baby here.”
I stared.
He realized it too late.
“Who did?”
“I moved her.”
“Did Jenna know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she agree?”
“Yes.”
“To my house?”
A pause.
Then:
“Yes.”
I watched him.
There was something wrong with the way he answered.
Not necessarily false.
Incomplete.
I picked up my phone.
“I’ll call her.”
Ryan stepped in front of me.
“Please don’t.”
“Why?”
“She’s had twelve days of hell.”
“And what exactly do you think I’m having?”
He looked at the floor.
Then Evelyn spoke.
Very quietly.
“Ryan.”
He turned.
She gave him a look I couldn’t read.
He said:
“Mom.”
“Tell her.”
My chest tightened.
“Tell me what?”
Ryan’s jaw worked.
Evelyn looked at me.
“Jenna agreed to let the baby come here because she believed you already knew.”
Silence.
I looked at Ryan.
May you like
He closed his eyes.
And I finally understood why his mother had dropped the keys.
