Chapter 2 - The Papers I Never Signed
Vivienne laughed too quickly.
“That is fake.”
Noah was still crying against her shoulder.
Mara stared at Vivi.
“You said the same thing about my letters.”
“What letters?”
I asked.
Vivi turned toward me.
“Daniel, please.”
“No.”
I held up the commitment document.
“What letters?”
Mara’s jaw tightened.
“Two hundred and eleven.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“I wrote you two hundred and eleven letters.”
I stared at her.
“I never got one.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because after the first six months, one came back.”
She paused.
“Someone had written RETURN TO SENDER across the envelope.”
Her eyes moved to Vivi.
“In her handwriting.”
Vivienne’s expression hardened.
“That proves nothing.”
Mara stepped closer.
“It proved enough for me.”
A murmur passed through the guests.
I turned toward the ballroom manager.
“Clear the room.”
Vivi grabbed my arm.
“Are you serious?”
“Clear it.”
Within minutes, guests were being guided toward the adjoining reception hall.
Phones were already out.
This disaster would be online before midnight.
I didn’t care.
Noah did.
He reached toward Mara again.
“Mommy.”
Mara’s face collapsed.
Vivienne snapped, “Stop calling her that.”
Noah jerked.
Mara immediately said, “Don’t yell at him.”
“He’s my son.”
“No.”
Mara’s voice dropped.
“He’s the child you raised after you made sure I couldn’t.”
Vivienne lunged toward her.
I stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
For the first time in our marriage, Vivi looked afraid of me.
“Daniel, you know what she was like.”
“What was I like?”
Mara asked.
“You were paranoid.”
“After someone started putting things in my food.”
My eyes moved to Vivi.
She scoffed.
“Oh, come on.”
Mara continued.
“You were unstable after Noah was born.”
“According to which doctor?”
“You know which doctor.”
“No.”
Mara shook her head.
“I know the doctor you paid.”
Silence.
Vivienne’s lips parted.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
So did Mara.
She smiled sadly.
“There it is.”
I looked down at Noah.
He had stopped crying.
He was staring at Mara’s left wrist.
Then he pointed.
“The bird.”
Everyone looked.
Mara slowly pulled back her sleeve.
Around her wrist was a thin silver bracelet.
A tiny blue bird hung from it.
Noah’s breathing changed.
“You wore that when you sang to me.”
Vivienne shook her head.
“He saw old photographs.”
“No.”
Noah looked at me.
“I remember it.”
My chest tightened.
Mara touched the bracelet.
“You gave this to me, Daniel.”
I remembered.
Her twenty-seventh birthday.
A tiny jewelry store in Boston.
Noah had been fourteen months old.
I had engraved three letters on the back of the charm.
D.
M.
N.
Daniel.
Mara.
Noah.
Mara removed the bracelet and handed it to me.
The engraving was still there.
My hands started shaking.
Vivi whispered, “She could have kept it.”
Mara looked at me.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
She reached into her pocket again.
This time she pulled out a small photograph.
It showed a narrow bedroom.
White walls.
A barred window.
Mara was sitting on the bed.
She looked thin.
Exhausted.
A date was printed in the corner.
Three years ago.
Standing beside her was a woman in a black coat.
Vivienne.
My wife.
Mara looked directly at me.
“She told me you didn’t want me anymore.”
My eyes lifted toward Vivi.
Mara continued.
“She told me Noah had stopped asking about me.”
Noah made a broken sound.
Mara’s voice cracked.
“And then she told me she was going to become his mother.”
Vivienne grabbed the photograph from my hand.
“That picture doesn’t show where we were.”
Mara didn’t blink.
“No.”
She reached into her pocket one last time.
May you like
“But the video does.”
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