Chapter 5 - A Little Girl Behind the Glass Door
Cassidy waited until Emily was upstairs before confronting Dominic.
The little girl had fallen asleep again almost immediately after Nora showed her the room.
Cassidy closed Emily's door carefully.
Then she walked downstairs.
Dominic was in the library with Mara.
The contract lay open on the desk.
Cassidy entered.
“Show me.”
Dominic looked up.
“Cassidy—”
“Whatever condition you're both avoiding, show me now.”
Mara turned the document.
“Page seventeen.”
Cassidy stared at her.
“There were twenty-three pages.”
“You reviewed them with counsel.”
“At four in the morning.”
Rachel had reviewed them carefully.
Cassidy knew that.
The problem was that legal language often hid ordinary consequences inside extraordinary sentences.
She read.
The trust defined established legal household as a marriage accompanied by shared primary residence for a continuous period following execution.
Cassidy looked up.
“How long?”
Dominic answered.
“One hundred eighty days.”
“Six months.”
“Yes.”
“That was why you asked for six months.”
“Yes.”
“I thought six months was just the contract.”
“It was both.”
She stared at him.
“You should have told me directly.”
“I should have.”
“Instead you buried it on page seventeen?”
“I didn't write the trust.”
“Don't do that.”
His expression tightened.
“Do what?”
“Answer technically when you know I'm asking morally.”
Mara quietly closed her laptop.
“I'll give you two privacy.”
Neither noticed her leave.
Cassidy paced.
“If Richard wins his challenge?”
“I lose voting control.”
“And?”
“Several properties are sold.”
“What properties?”
Dominic hesitated.
“Residential buildings. Two clinics. Four family shelters. A community legal center.”
Cassidy stopped.
“Shelters?”
“My mother acquired them through the Evelyn Vale Foundation.”
“You told me your mother's shares protected properties.”
“Yes.”
“You didn't say homeless shelters.”
“It wasn't relevant to whether you should marry me.”
“It would have been relevant to whether I understood you.”
Dominic looked away.
Cassidy saw something she had not expected.
Shame.
“Why are you embarrassed about that?”
“I'm not.”
“You absolutely are.”
“I don't discuss my mother.”
“Why?”
He said nothing.
Cassidy sighed.
“Fine. Don't.”
She picked up the contract.
“But from now on, no hidden consequences.”
“There weren't hidden—”
She glared.
Dominic stopped.
“No hidden consequences,” he agreed.
The next morning came too quickly.
Emily had school.
Cassidy woke at six expecting panic.
Instead she smelled pancakes.
She went downstairs and found Dominic standing in the kitchen in shirtsleeves, staring at a skillet as if it had violated a contract.
Nora leaned against the counter drinking coffee.
Cassidy blinked.
“What is happening?”
Nora answered.
“Mr. Vale announced he could make breakfast.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I can.”
Nora pointed at something black in the trash.
“That was breakfast.”
Emily sat at the island.
“He burned four.”
“Three,” Dominic corrected.
“Four.”
“One was intentionally crisp.”
Emily looked at Cassidy.
“It was black.”
Cassidy bit the inside of her cheek.
Dominic slid another pancake onto a plate.
It was shaped vaguely like Illinois.
Emily examined it.
“Is that supposed to be a circle?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He placed it in front of her.
“Eat it.”
Emily took one bite.
Her eyes widened.
“It tastes normal.”
Dominic looked relieved.
Cassidy realized she was smiling.
Then she stopped herself.
This was temporary.
A contract.
Six months.
The strange warmth in that kitchen was dangerous because it made everything look more real than it was.
After breakfast, Cassidy took Emily to school.
Dominic offered a driver.
Cassidy refused.
“We can take the bus.”
“There's a car outside.”
“I know.”
“You have a court requirement for reliable transportation.”
“A bus is transportation.”
“A car is more reliable.”
Cassidy crossed her arms.
“Do you negotiate everything?”
“Yes.”
“Emily?”
The little girl looked between them.
“Car.”
Cassidy sighed.
“Traitor.”
Emily smiled.
During the drive, Cassidy watched her sister carefully.
Emily seemed lighter.
Still cautious.
But lighter.
When they reached school, however, everything changed.
Two parents standing near the entrance recognized Cassidy.
She could tell from the way they looked at her hand.
Then whispered.
Emily noticed.
Children noticed everything adults hoped they didn't.
Cassidy walked her inside.
At the classroom entrance Emily stopped.
“Are people talking because you married Dominic?”
Cassidy knelt.
“Maybe.”
“Did you do something bad?”
“No.”
“Then why are they whispering?”
Cassidy looked toward the adults.
“Because people like stories.”
“Even wrong ones?”
“Especially wrong ones.”
Emily thought about that.
Then she hugged Cassidy.
“Pick me up?”
The question hurt.
Not because it was complicated.
Because Emily asked as if she needed confirmation.
“Yes.”
Cassidy almost said I promise.
She stopped.
“I'll be here at three.”
Emily searched her face.
Then nodded and walked inside.
Cassidy stood behind the glass door watching her disappear into the classroom.
Fourteen months earlier, she had watched hospital doors close around their mother.
Three months ago, she had watched a social worker drive Emily away for temporary placement.
Now every separation felt dangerous.
A voice behind her said, “She doesn't believe adults come back.”
Cassidy turned.
Dominic stood in the hallway.
“What are you doing here?”
“You forgot this.”
He held up Emily's purple lunchbox.
Cassidy stared.
“I left it?”
“On the kitchen counter.”
“How did you know which school?”
“Emergency contact forms.”
He handed it over.
Cassidy glanced through the glass.
“She thinks I'm going to disappear.”
Dominic looked toward Emily's classroom.
“Children remember absence differently.”
Cassidy studied him.
“That sounded personal.”
“It wasn't.”
Another technical answer.
She let it go.
Dominic's phone rang.
He ignored it.
Again.
Ignored.
A third time.
Cassidy frowned.
“Important?”
“Yes.”
“Then answer.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm here.”
“You delivered a lunchbox.”
“Yes.”
“You can leave.”
Dominic looked at her.
“I know.”
Something quiet passed between them.
Cassidy broke eye contact first.
At three o'clock she returned to school.
Dominic did not.
That was fine.
She hadn't asked him.
Emily came running through the door.
“Cass!”
Cassidy caught her.
“Told you.”
Emily hugged her tighter.
On the drive home, Emily talked nonstop about spelling words and cafeteria pizza.
Then she suddenly asked, “Does Dominic live with us forever?”
Cassidy's hands tightened in her lap.
“No.”
“How long?”
“Six months.”
Emily frowned.
“Then what?”
“I don't know.”
“Does he know?”
“No.”
Emily became quiet.
That night, after dinner, Cassidy found Dominic in the library.
“He asked about us?” Dominic said after she told him.
“She.”
“Sorry.”
“Emily asked what happens after six months.”
Dominic closed the file in front of him.
“What did you say?”
“The truth.”
“That you don't know.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Cassidy leaned against the desk.
“She needs stability.”
“I understand.”
“No. You don't.”
Dominic looked up.
Cassidy regretted it immediately.
But he surprised her.
“You're right.”
He stood.
“You think I grew up with stability because I grew up with money.”
“Didn't you?”
“No.”
There was something final in the answer.
Before Cassidy could ask more, the doorbell rang.
Nora appeared.
“Mr. Vale.”
She held an envelope.
“No return address.”
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Cassidy saw it over his shoulder.
The courthouse.
Their wedding.
Someone had drawn a red circle around Cassidy's face.
On the back were six typed words.
SHE WILL COST YOU EVERYTHING.
Cassidy stopped breathing.
Dominic read it once.
Then his face became completely unreadable.
He picked up his phone.
“Lock the exterior gates.”
Cassidy stared at him.
“Dominic.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Who exactly did I marry?”
May you like
And for the first time since the Bluebird, Dominic Vale looked like a man who didn't know how much truth would keep Cassidy safe—and how much would make her run.
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