Chapter 6

Vanessa looked at the two signatures.

“Because the forms were submitted electronically.”

Luca didn’t answer.

He reached for his reading glasses, which were lying beside the folder, and examined the pages again.

“Electronic signatures usually have a verification record.”

“These were preliminary documents.”

“Then where’s the record?”

“I don’t know.”

He looked up.

“You handled the submission.”

“Yes.”

“Then you should know.”

Vanessa pushed her chair back.

“I don’t remember every administrative detail, Luca.”

Neither did I.

But I remembered something from working in that house.

Luca’s staff used a standard electronic approval system for business documents.

Whenever he signed electronically, the final page displayed a date and a verification code.

Neither appeared on the Briarfield document.

There was only a picture of his signature.

I wasn’t an attorney.

I certainly wasn’t going to accuse anyone of forgery based on two sheets of paper.

But I understood why Luca had stopped reading.

He folded the pages and put them aside.

“We’ll establish exactly how those were submitted.”

Vanessa folded her arms.

“And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime, Sophie stays home.”

The little girl let out a breath she’d been holding.

I hadn’t realized how tightly she’d been gripping the blue coat.

Vanessa looked at Luca.

“What about tomorrow?”

He glanced toward the wedding invitations stacked near the far end of the table.

“I haven’t decided.”

She stared at him.

“You’re considering canceling our wedding over an application that hasn’t even been finalized?”

“I’m considering what it means that my daughter has spent three weeks believing she’s being removed from her family.”

Vanessa’s face flushed.

“You talk as though I haven’t loved her.”

Luca answered carefully.

“I think you’ve done things for her that were loving. And I think you’ve done things that frightened her. Both can be true.”

Vanessa looked away.

For a moment, she seemed older than her thirty-something years.

I remembered her kneeling beside Sophie last winter, helping fasten the clasp on a necklace before a school concert.

She’d been patient when the little clasp refused to catch.

Sophie had thanked her with a hug.

That hadn’t been an act.

Neither had what happened tonight.

People could be capable of tenderness and cruelty in the same household.

It was one of the hardest things I’d learned working there.

Luca turned toward me.

“Emily, have you seen the household calendar for next week?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Could you bring it?”

Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to know what else has been arranged.”

I found the leather-bound household planner in the service cabinet.

The pages were organized by day.

Monday included the usual grocery delivery, the gardener’s schedule, and a notation about the wedding flowers being collected.

There was also an entry I’d never noticed.

Family transportation — 7:30 a.m.

Beside it were two initials.

Luca read the line.

“Where was the car going?”

Vanessa answered.

“Briarfield.”

“And who was supposed to be in it?”

“Sophie and me.”

“Did you arrange that car?”

“Yes.”

“Without talking to me?”

“We’ve already established that.”

Luca turned to the facing page.

Sunday contained another appointment.

Mr. and Mrs. Moretti — Departure, 6:00 p.m.

Their honeymoon flight.

Luca stared at the two entries.

He seemed to understand something that hadn’t occurred to me.

“You scheduled her departure for the morning after we left.”

Vanessa shook her head.

“The flight is Sunday evening. Sophie would leave Monday morning.”

“Exactly.”

“Luca—”

“You expected us to be overseas.”

Vanessa’s expression changed.

“That wasn’t the reason.”

“Then why didn’t you arrange this while I was home?”

“I thought a quiet departure would be easier.”

“For whom?”

Vanessa didn’t answer.

Sophie watched them from her chair.

“Daddy?”

He turned immediately.

“Yes?”

“Are you going to be on a plane when I leave?”

“No, sweetheart. You’re not leaving.”

“But the paper says—”

“I know what the paper says. I’m changing the plan.”

She considered that.

“Can grown-ups do that?”

“Yes.”

“Even after they write it down?”

“Especially when they realize it was wrong.”

She looked relieved, but only for a moment.

Then she turned toward Vanessa.

“Will you be sad?”

Vanessa’s lips parted.

She seemed genuinely caught off guard.

“About what?”

“If I stay.”

Nobody answered immediately.

Sophie went on.

“You said it would be easier after I was settled.”

Vanessa looked at her.

“I meant things might be easier for everyone.”

“Even you?”

Her voice was so small that I wished I could have taken the question away.

Vanessa lowered her eyes.

“Yes,” she admitted.

Sophie nodded slowly.

Then she pulled her coat closer.

“Okay.”

Luca leaned forward.

“Sweetheart, it isn’t your job to make Vanessa happy.”

“But she’s going to marry you.”

“That doesn’t change it.”

Sophie seemed uncertain.

I understood why.

For weeks, she’d been given a different set of rules.

Be quiet.

Don’t cry.

Don’t mention Mommy.

Make the wedding easy.

Make Vanessa happy.

Go nicely when it’s time.

A single conversation couldn’t erase all of that.

Luca reached across the table.

“Sophie, you can tell me when something upsets you. Even if it’s about someone I love.”

She looked at his outstretched hand.

Then she took it.

Vanessa watched them.

“I didn’t want her to think I hated her,” she said quietly.

Luca turned.

“Then why did you ask her to remove her mother’s name?”

Vanessa looked at the damaged handkerchief.

“Because every time she brought Claire into our wedding, I felt as though I was disappearing from it.”

Sophie stared at her.

“But Mommy can’t come.”

Vanessa’s face changed.

“I know.”

“She died.”

“I know, Sophie.”

“Then why are you mad at her?”

Vanessa couldn’t answer.

I watched Luca’s expression soften with pain.

He’d heard his daughter say something that should never have been necessary.

After a long silence, Sophie reached into her sewing tin.

She removed a small folded drawing.

It showed a house with three people standing inside.

Luca.

Sophie.

Vanessa.

There was a fourth figure above them, drawn inside a little blue cloud.

Claire.

Sophie looked at her father.

“I made this when Vanessa said we were going to be a family.”

He smiled faintly.

“It’s beautiful.”

She shook her head.

“Vanessa said I had to take Mommy out because she wasn’t living here anymore.”

Vanessa looked down.

Sophie carefully unfolded the bottom of the paper.

There was another drawing underneath.

Just Luca and Vanessa.

Sophie had erased herself.

Beneath the empty space, in small pencil letters, she’d written:

Maybe when I come back.

Luca stared at it.

Then Sophie whispered:

“I thought if I stayed away long enough, Vanessa might finally want me.”

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