Chapter 6 - A Photograph Hidden for Two Years
Nolan stayed twenty-seven minutes.
He knew because he checked the time afterward and hated himself for noticing.
Twenty-seven minutes with his daughters after missing approximately seven hundred and thirty days.
Holly remained suspicious of him for the first five.
Then she decided his wristwatch was interesting.
She touched it.
Tapped the glass.
Tried to turn the crown.
Nolan sat completely still on Maya’s living room rug as if sudden movement might frighten her away.
“You can take it off,” Maya said.
“What?”
“The watch.”
“Oh.”
He removed it and handed it to Holly.
Maya raised an eyebrow.
“That thing probably costs more than my car.”
“It’s a watch.”
“It’s a ridiculous watch.”
Holly immediately dropped it onto the rug.
Maya winced.
Nolan didn’t care.
“Apparently she agrees with you.”
For half a second, Maya smiled.
Then Hope cried again.
Maya went to the bedroom.
Holly remained beside Nolan.
He looked at the child carefully.
Her cheeks were rounder than Maya’s.
Her eyes unmistakably Reed.
But the small wrinkle she made with her nose was Maya.
“Hi, Holly.”
She stared.
“Ho-yee.”
“Holly.”
“Ho-yee.”
“Close enough.”
The bedroom door opened.
Maya emerged carrying Hope.
Nolan had believed he was prepared.
He wasn’t.
Hope rested against Maya’s shoulder wearing pale pink pajamas.
Her face was flushed from fever.
She looked smaller than Holly.
More delicate.
Maya sat on the couch.
Hope opened sleepy eyes.
Then looked at Nolan.
No recognition.
No smile.
Just curiosity.
Nolan felt something break inside his chest.
This tiny person existed because of him.
Yet he was a stranger.
Maya noticed his expression.
“She’s shy when she doesn’t feel well.”
Nolan nodded.
“Can I…”
He stopped.
Maya waited.
“Can I sit closer?”
She gestured toward the chair opposite.
He moved there.
Hope studied him.
Then buried her face in Maya’s shoulder.
Nolan smiled sadly.
“Fair.”
Holly climbed onto the couch.
For the next ten minutes Nolan watched Maya care for them.
Medicine.
Water.
Forehead check.
Blanket.
Stuffed rabbit.
Everything practiced.
Automatic.
Motherhood had become a language Maya spoke fluently.
Nolan knew none of it.
When Hope finally fell asleep against her mother, Maya whispered, “You should go.”
He nodded.
At the door, he turned.
“Thank you.”
Maya looked tired.
“Don’t make tonight bigger than it was.”
“I won’t.”
“It was medicine.”
“I know.”
“And a short visit.”
“I know.”
“Not forgiveness.”
“I know.”
Nolan opened the door.
Then Holly called from behind him.
“Nolan.”
He froze.
Maya froze too.
It was the first time either child had said his name.
Nolan turned.
Holly stood beside the couch holding his watch.
She walked toward him.
Held it up.
He had forgotten it.
“Thank you.”
He crouched.
Holly placed the watch into his hand.
Then, with the unpredictable confidence of toddlers, she touched his cheek.
“Sad?”
Nolan swallowed.
“Not right now.”
Holly smiled.
Crooked dimple.
Nolan left before Maya could see how close he was to crying.
The next morning Hope’s fever had dropped.
Maya texted him that fact without being asked.
Nolan read the message six times.
Then Marcus called.
“We found the photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“The one Wade used against Maya.”
Nolan’s mood changed immediately.
Marcus had traced an old private investigator payment.
The investigator still had archived files.
Among them was the original series of images.
Maya outside the restaurant.
Her brother Evan.
Several photographs Wade had never shown Nolan made it painfully obvious they were family.
In one, Evan hugged Maya.
In another, Maya showed him something on her phone.
In a third, Evan’s wife stood beside them.
Wade had selected only the frames that could be made to look intimate.
Nolan stared at them.
“How much did he pay?”
“Eight thousand dollars.”
“For photographs of my girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus slid another document across the desk.
“Because she had requested accounting records from one of his shell vendors four days earlier.”
Nolan’s jaw tightened.
“What else?”
“Your original executive email archive shows Wade forwarding himself several messages from Maya.”
“What messages?”
“Questions about those invoices.”
“Without my permission?”
“Looks that way.”
Nolan understood.
Maya had become dangerous accidentally.
Not because she intended to investigate Wade.
Because she was smart.
Because she noticed patterns.
Wade needed Nolan to distrust her before she could make Nolan distrust him.
The pregnancy simply gave Wade the perfect weapon.
“Can we fire him?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not if you want the full case.”
Nolan hated that.
“Board audit?”
“Already beginning.”
“Does Wade know?”
“Not officially.”
“Then keep it that way.”
Nolan spent the rest of the day in meetings.
But every thirty minutes he looked at Maya’s last message.
Fever down. She’s eating toast.
At six, Claire called.
“How are they?”
The question surprised Nolan.
“Hope’s better.”
“Good.”
“You remembered which one was sick?”
“Of course.”
Nolan was quiet.
Claire said, “I’m not angry at children.”
“I know.”
“Or Maya.”
He closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“Are you?”
“At Maya?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Claire hesitated.
“I met someone today.”
Nolan’s stomach tightened unexpectedly.
“Who?”
“Your grandmother.”
He blinked.
“What?”
“She invited me to tea.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It was.”
Despite everything, Claire laughed.
“She asked whether I intended to marry you.”
“What did you say?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“What did she say?”
“That was the first intelligent thing either of us had done.”
Nolan smiled.
“That sounds like Nana.”
Then Claire became serious.
“She told me about your grandfather.”
Nolan knew the story.
His grandfather had once spent five years estranged from Nolan’s father after a business dispute.
By the time they reconciled, illness had taken most of the remaining time.
“Eleanor said pride steals years.”
Nolan looked toward the dark window.
“I’ve already learned that.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Knowing something happened isn’t the same as changing.”
Claire was becoming annoyingly similar to his grandmother.
“Are you two forming an alliance?”
“Possibly.”
Nolan smiled.
Then Claire asked quietly, “Have you held them yet?”
“No.”
He hated how much that mattered.
“Someday.”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t make ‘maybe’ your favorite word.”
The next day Maya called.
Not texted.
Called.
Nolan answered immediately.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
Then silence.
“Maya?”
“Holly keeps asking about you.”
Nolan sat down.
“What does she say?”
“Mostly ‘Nolan car.’”
He smiled.
“That’s flattering.”
“She thinks everyone is defined by transportation.”
“Reasonable.”
“And Hope has been looking at the door whenever someone knocks.”
His chest tightened.
“What do you want me to do?”
Maya exhaled.
“I don’t know.”
He waited.
Old Nolan would have filled the silence.
New Nolan was learning not to.
Finally Maya said, “Would you like to come for dinner tomorrow?”
Nolan’s heart hammered.
“Yes.”
She immediately added, “There are rules.”
“Anything.”
“Don’t say that. You don’t know them.”
“Okay.”
“No gifts.”
“Fine.”
“No photographer.”
Nolan frowned.
“Why would I bring a photographer?”
“You’re a billionaire. You people document sandwiches.”
He laughed.
“I promise.”
“No family.”
“Okay.”
“No talking to them about being their father.”
That hurt.
But he understood.
“Okay.”
“And you leave when I say.”
“Yes.”
Maya became quiet.
“Six o’clock.”
“I’ll be there.”
After they hung up, Nolan stared at his office wall.
Then smiled.
Marcus entered without knocking.
He stopped.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re smiling.”
“I’m having dinner.”
“That is generally not considered extraordinary.”
“It is tomorrow.”
“With?”
Nolan looked at him.
Marcus understood.
“Oh.”
Then his face became serious.
“I hate ruining this.”
“What?”
“We found where Wade stored some of his private archived files.”
Nolan’s smile disappeared.
Marcus placed a flash drive on his desk.
“There’s a folder with your name on it.”
Nolan opened it.
Inside were financial documents.
Trust documents.
Photographs of Maya.
Copies of private messages.
And one scanned image that made Nolan’s blood run cold.
The original hospital photograph Maya had mailed eighteen months earlier.
Hope and Holly asleep side by side.
Wade had scanned it before destroying the letter.
Nolan stared at the image.
Wade had known.
Not suspected.
Known.
May you like
And he had spent two years looking Nolan in the face every morning without saying a word.
---
