Chapter 7 - Sophie Had Already Been Promised Another FamilyDaniel sat beside his daughter and wished he could erase the last thirty seconds.
He didn't want to question Sophie.
He especially didn't want her to sense that one answer might hurt him more than another.
So he picked up her stuffed rabbit and made his voice casual.
"Mommy talked about a new house?"
Sophie nodded.
"It had a pool."
"Sounds nice."
"And a pink room."
"Very pink?"
"The pinkest."
Despite everything, Daniel smiled.
"That's extremely pink."
Sophie giggled.
Then her face became serious.
"Are you coming too?"
There it was.
Daniel's smile disappeared.
"What did Mommy say?"
"She said you would have another house."
His throat tightened.
"Did she say why?"
"Because grown-ups sometimes don't want to live together."
Daniel looked toward the doorway.
Laura was nowhere in sight.
"Did she tell you when this was happening?"
"No."
"Okay."
Sophie studied him.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you know?"
Daniel forced himself not to react.
"No."
Her little forehead wrinkled.
"But Mommy said you did."
Another lie.
Daniel took a slow breath.
"What exactly did she say?"
"She said you and Mommy were talking about it."
"We weren't."
Sophie looked confused.
Daniel immediately regretted saying it so directly.
He touched her hair.
"Listen to me. None of this is your job to figure out."
"Are you and Mommy getting divorced?"
Daniel had expected the word to hurt.
He hadn't expected it to hurt coming from her.
"I don't know yet."
"But Uncle Mark is going to live with us?"
Daniel closed his eyes for a second.
"Did Mommy say that?"
"Not really."
"What did she say?"
"She said maybe."
"When?"
Sophie thought.
"When we went to ice cream."
Daniel remembered that afternoon.
He'd been working.
Laura had texted him a picture of Sophie holding a giant sundae.
Mark had been there.
Daniel hadn't known.
"Was Uncle Mark at the ice cream place?"
"Yes."
"Did Mommy tell you not to tell me?"
Sophie nodded.
"Because it was a surprise."
Daniel felt rage move through him again.
Not because Laura had brought Mark around Sophie.
Because she had begun preparing their daughter for another family while Daniel was still living inside the existing one.
He stood.
"Finish your movie, okay?"
Sophie caught his hand.
"Daddy?"
He turned.
"Are you sad?"
He knelt.
"A little."
"Because I opened the closet?"
"No."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"Never because you opened the closet."
She threw her arms around him.
Daniel held her longer than usual.
When he stepped into the hallway, Laura was standing near the bedroom.
She knew.
"You questioned her."
"I talked to my daughter."
"You shouldn't involve her."
Daniel walked toward Laura.
"You told her we were getting another house."
"I was trying to prepare her."
"For a divorce you hadn't told me about."
"I knew it was probably coming."
"You told her Mark might live there."
Laura lowered her voice.
"I never said it like that."
"Everything is apparently never said 'like that.'"
"I told her life might look different someday."
"She knows about the pool."
Laura's face tightened.
Daniel continued.
"She knows about the pink bedroom."
Silence.
"That sounds more specific than someday."
Laura looked away.
Daniel felt a terrible clarity.
"You've seen a house."
"It was hypothetical."
"You've seen one."
"Mark showed me a property."
"Where?"
"Outside town."
"Did you take Sophie there?"
Laura didn't answer.
"Laura."
"Once."
Daniel stared.
"You took our daughter to look at a house where you planned to live with your lover."
"It wasn't decided."
"And told her not to tell me?"
"I didn't want to confuse her."
"You taught her that keeping secrets from Daddy makes Mommy happy."
Laura's eyes filled with anger.
"Stop making me sound like a monster."
"I'm repeating what happened."
"You were never home!"
"There it is again."
"Because it's true!"
"So tell me you hated me. Tell me you wanted out. Tell me I failed you as a husband. Maybe I did. But don't use that to excuse making Sophie rehearse our divorce before I even knew there was going to be one."
Laura went silent.
Daniel walked downstairs.
His phone buzzed.
A text from Mark.
MARK: I need to tell you something before Laura does.
Daniel almost deleted it.
Then another appeared.
MARK: She wasn't planning to live with me.
Daniel stopped.
A third message.
MARK: I found out last week.
Daniel stared at the screen.
For months, Mark had apparently believed he was replacing Daniel.
If that wasn't true, then Laura had been lying to both of them.
DANIEL: Explain.
The reply took almost a minute.
MARK: The house Sophie saw isn't mine.
Daniel frowned.
MARK: Laura bought it herself.
DANIEL: With what money?
The typing bubbles appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
MARK: That's what you need to check.
Then Mark sent an address.
Daniel recognized the neighborhood.
Luxury homes.
Private lots.
The cheapest property there cost more than a million dollars.
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His bank accounts should have made such a purchase impossible to hide.
Which meant Laura had money Daniel didn't know existed.
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