Chapter 5
The first supervised contact between Daniel and Lily lasted twelve minutes.
A therapist sat in the room.
So did Nora.
Daniel was told not to promise anything.
Not to discuss the criminal case.
Not to pressure Lily to apologize.
Not to ask why she hit Ryan unless the therapist opened the subject.
Lily entered with the bruise on her cheek fading yellow.
Daniel saw it and looked away.
She noticed.
“You did that.”
“Yes.”
“You hit me.”
“Yes.”
“You shoved me.”
“Yes.”
“You hate me.”
“No.”
“You chose him.”
Daniel felt the therapist watching.
He answered carefully.
“Ryan was badly hurt.”
“You always choose him.”
“No.”
Lily laughed bitterly.
“I’m your secret kid. He’s your real kid.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“You are both my children.”
“Then why does he get your house?”
There it was again.
Not simply jealousy.
Expectation.
Daniel said:
“Because that has been his home since he was born.”
“And you said it was going to be mine.”
“Yes.”
“Then when?”
Daniel could not repeat the promise.
Not after everything.
“I should never have told you where you would live before talking to everyone affected.”
Lily’s expression changed from anger to disbelief.
“So you lied.”
“I made a promise I didn’t have the right to make.”
“That means you lied.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
She stood.
The therapist asked her to remain seated.
Lily ignored her.
“You said Claire would understand.”
Daniel froze.
Nora looked at him.
The therapist wrote something down.
Lily continued.
“You said once Mom was gone, nobody could keep putting it off.”
Daniel felt his face go cold.
He had said something close to that.
Years of avoidance had condensed into one sentence Lily remembered perfectly.
He had told her:
“When the day comes, Claire will understand because we won’t have any other choice.”
At the time Daniel believed he was comforting a child frightened about losing her mother.
Now he heard the manipulation inside it.
He had framed Claire’s future acceptance as inevitable.
Not chosen.
Not discussed.
Inevitable.
The therapist ended the session.
Lily left without hugging him.
Daniel remained in the chair.
Nora looked at him.
“What exactly were you planning to do to your wife?”
May you like
Daniel did not answer.
Because for the first time, he was beginning to understand the question.
