What she saw there would later matter more than Grant understood.
Vivian answered the door wearing yoga clothes and lipstick. The nanny, Tessa, was in the nursery. Grant was in his home office on a conference call. Rebecca asked basic questions about feeding schedules, pediatric appointments, immunizations, and night wakings.
Grant answered some correctly.
Vivian answered several for him.
When Rebecca asked who usually got up first when Theodore cried overnight, Grant said, “We all share responsibilities.”
Tessa, from the doorway, looked down at her shoes.
Rebecca noticed.
That evening, Jolene brought Dorothy another box of things Emmett’s team had recovered from the house under discovery rules: Colleen’s desk calendar, a bundle of receipts, and a spiral-bound lavender notebook.
The pregnancy journal.
Dorothy sat on the hotel bed and opened it.
At first the entries glowed with uncomplicated hope.
Week 10: Three heartbeats today. I keep laughing at random because I cannot believe my body is doing this.
Week 14: Grant kissed my stomach and cried. For a second, everything felt simple.
Then the shift came, gradual and devastating.