When Emily got home, four-year-old Noah greeted her at the door with a drawing of mommy and daddy holding hands with a little person next to them.
“Mommy, look. It is us, the family,” the boy said proudly.
Emily knelt and hugged her son. How would she explain to him that there was no family anymore, that his father had chosen another woman and was ready to take everything from them?
“It is beautiful, sweetie.” She kissed Noah on the head.
“Where is daddy?”
“He said he would bring me a toy from his business trip to far away Miami.”
Emily thought bitterly. What would he bring, Pamela? A ring? A bracelet? Or perhaps he had already given her a ticket to a new life?
Mrs. Davis, the elderly caregiver who had helped raise Noah since he was born, looked at Emily carefully. “Honey, you are very pale. Is something wrong?”
“It is nothing. I am just tired,” Emily lied. “Mrs. Davis, I need to go to Ethan’s office. It is urgent. Could you stay with Noah until tomorrow?”
“Of course. But what is so urgent that it can’t wait until he gets back?”
“It really can’t, Mrs. Davis.”