In a daze after the police left, Jordan looked around the office wildly. He had no idea how to handle this situation.
Mrs. Harrington walked around her desk. “Dr. Dubois, is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Ah...”
“No, thank you.” Mariella stood. “Could you give us a few minutes alone?”
“Of course. Use my office as long as you need. And again, Dr. Dubois, I’m sorry about all this.”
Mariella closed the door when the woman left.
“Mama, aren’t we getting Yvette back?” Lilliana sounded panicky.
“Yes, of course we will.”
Jordan turned to her. “I don’t know what to do. None of this ever mattered for the past six years.”
Mari knew she couldn’t leave him, despite what was between them. She also realized she had to take over. “First, we’ll go back to your house. Elise might return there.”
“You think she will?”
“I don’t know. At the very least, she might call, and that’s the best place to be.” She said to Lilliana, “Honey, you should go to Aunt Brie’s.”
“No, I want to be with Dr. Dubois and you.”
Mari sighed at the stubborn look on her face. “All right, for a little while.”
On their way out, Jordan took one of her hands and Lilliana took the other. Frigid February air whipped around them. Mari squeezed Jordan’s ungloved fingers. “I’m driving.”
He nodded. He was stunned by the course of events, and the air of defeat that cloaked him was worrisome. His demeanor was something she hadn’t seen before.
Because of the congested traffic and some drizzling snow, the trip to Jordan’s house was excruciatingly slow. All the way, Jordan kept staring down at his phone. Finally, they arrived. With the pall still over him, he unlocked the door and walked inside. Mari said to Lilliana, “I need some adult time with Dr. Dubois.”
“Can I go to Yvette’s room?” she asked innocently. “I’ll feel better there.”
“Go ahead, baby.” She checked her watch. “Are you hungry?”
Lilly shook her head, then crossed to Jordan, who stood with his coat on in the mudroom. She hugged him around the waist.
When Mari and Jordan were alone, she said, “Let’s go to the den.”
He got off his own coat this time, threw it on a chair and they settled in the den on the leather sofa. “I—I’m—” He put his head in his hands.
Mari sat close and rubbed his back. “You’re immobilized. I would be, too if someone took Lilly.”
“I don’t know how to get her back. I don’t even know where she is.”
“You feel terrible. You should.” She walked to a credenza and poured them both a bourbon then sat down next to him. “Drink this.”
She wanted to rail at him for not getting a divorce and legalizing custody before she got involved with him. Before Elise took Yvette. But she knew she couldn’t hurt him like that now.
When they finished drinks, she stood. “I’m going to make some supper.”
“I can’t eat.”
“You have to. Who knows how long...” She trailed off.
The evening wore on. Mari made soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for all of them. Jordan ate by rote, silently. Mari let him be what he had to be and made conversation with her daughter, who was withdrawn, too.
At nine, when they were in the den, and she and Lilliana had finished a card game, she said, “Come on, bambina, let’s get you to bed.”
“Here?” Jordan asked.
“Yes. Unless you want us to leave.”
“God no. I want you with me.”
Again, Lilliana threw herself at Jordan and hugged him. “We’ll get her back, Dr. Dubois. Mama’s family can do anything.”
He kissed her cheek. “Buonasera, ma petite chérie...?”
“Bonne nuit.” She turned away and Mari followed Lilly upstairs.
As she helped Lilliana take off her shoes, as she brushed her hair and washed her face, Mari felt a streak of panic. What would she ever do if... For that reason, she held her daughter close to her heart until the girl fell asleep.
When Mari returned, she and Jordan sat in front of the fire, staring at the myriad colors of the flames. Dark reds. Greens. Yellow. Even black.
“It’s amazing,” he finally said. “You can see all your mistakes in the rearview mirror and wonder how you could make them.”
“Papá always says hindsight’s twenty-twenty.”
“I let her go back to the lifestyle she wanted. But before I gave her money, I should have insisted on a legal agreement.”
“It’s important to live in the present, Jordan. What can we do about this situation now?”
“I’m a lawyer. A law professor. Don’t you think I’ve examined all the possibilities?”
“I—”
Just then, his phone rang. He scooped it up off the coffee table. “Hello.” Then he added, “Oh, thank God, Yvette.”
He put the phone on speaker.
“Please, Papa, come get me.”
“Tell me where you are, love.”
“In a hotel. With Mama.”
“Is she there with you now?”
“Oui.”
“Please put her on the phone.”
They heard over the speaker, “Go into the bedroom, Yvette.”
“No.”
“Do as I say, or you won’t see Papa again.”
“Elise, don’t threaten my child.”
“It worked. She’s gone. Besides, she’s my child too, a fact you seem to keep forgetting.”
Mariella squeezed Jordan’s arm. She mouthed, Keep calm.
“What do you want, Elise?”
“Why, what I’ve always wanted, darling, the status quo.”
Jordan gripped the phone. “The status quo is no longer acceptable to me.”
She laughed, an ugly sound. “Is that because of...what do they call them in America? Yes, your little chipie?”
Mariella touched him again and shook her head vehemently. Don’t take the bait, she was telling him.
“She means something to me. I want a future with her.”
“That’s for other people, Jordan, not us. If you don’t agree, I’ll make a fuss to keep Yvette.”
“You wouldn’t win in the end.”
“Maybe not. As I said, you’ll be ruined. The court might look favorably on me getting custody. The only way for you to keep your daughter, your job and all right, you can have that woman, is to keep things as they are.”
“Do you hate me that much, Elise?”
“No, but I’m determined to keep my life as it is. If you don’t cooperate, well then, I’ll disappear for a while with Yvette.”
“You wouldn’t do that to her.”
“Yes, I would.”
Silence.
“You have an hour to decide. I’ll call you back.” The phone went dead.
“What a heartless bitch,” Mariella said as she sat down. “I’m so sorry, Jordan.”
“I can’t let Yvette go.”
“Of course you can’t.”
“Now you see why I’ve consented to live as I do.”
She stared at him.
He took her hand. “I love you, Mariella. Will you live with me this way? Because I’m asking you for that.”
* * *
“So, you just left him?” Brie’s tone was incredulous. Mari had come over at six a.m. and awakened her sister. She needed her now!
“Yes. I just left him. Sitting there in the den in front of the fire. Totally dejected.” Tears threatened—and won. They coursed down her cheeks. “I got Lilliana up and we drove away.”
“Oh, honey.” Brie sat next to her and took her hands.
When she quieted, Mariella shrugged. “I didn’t have a choice. He gave in to Elise’s demands. Not only did he lie to me for months about his marital status, but he wants to keep living like he is—married to someone else.” She scrubbed her hands across her face.
“Let me make you some coffee.”
Rage came as fast as regret. “I don’t want coffee! I want to scream and rage and throw things.”
Brie leaned back against the chair. “We could go outside. I could get you old stuff you could break.”
“I can’t believe that the whole time we were falling in love, he was keeping two huge things from me. I wonder if the same thing happened with the other grad student. He told her he was married but had to stay married so everything was business as usual.”
Her sister’s eyes widened. “Do you really think that?”
“I don’t know. For a little while, when we were trying to find Yvette, I thought I had moved past some of the hurt. I could probably forgive him for the lies, but when he asked me to live with him while he stayed married...” She raised her arms in a hopeless gesture. “I realized he meant permanently, and I couldn’t do it.”
“The bastardo. How can you forgive someone for loving you so much?”
“I know—what did you say?”
“He loves you too much to let you go. That’s why he asked you to stay.”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“A little. I—”
Mari scraped back her chair. “I’m going home. I’m not staying here if you take his side.”
“Mari...”
“Don’t use that tone with me. Like I’m a child.”
Her sister stood, too. “Well, right now you’re acting like one.”
Without another word, Mariella stomped across the room, opened the door and stormed out.
Brie didn’t even come after her.
* * *
Jordan cuddled Yvette next to him in front of the fire. Elise had dropped her off at eleven the night before, and today, father and daughter both played hooky. As the blaze cracked and spurted, he tried not to think about the finality of Mari abandoning them.
“This is fun, Papa.” They’d played a game of checkers after a big breakfast. “We never did it before.”
“I know, chérie.” His daughter was back, safe and sound, and that was enough. It had to be.
She snuggled closer, nosed into his shoulder. “Why is Mama so mean?”
“Some people are made that way.” He tipped her chin. “You’ll never be like her, so don’t worry.”
“I won’t be! I hate yelling.”
“Did she yell at you?”
“A lot. I don’t want to see her again, Papa.”
“You won’t have to. But someday, you’ll probably be ready to forge a relationship with her.”
As if the thought was silly, she didn’t respond. Like any eight-year-old, she switched topics to something more pleasant. “I can’t wait to talk to Lilliana. Was she scared for me?”
“Yes, bébé. She was. She slept in your bed.”
“I know. She left me a note. Can her and Mrs. Moretti come over after school?”
“I don’t think so, darling. Some other time.”
“You probably want to be with just me because you were scared, too.”
“That’s right, Yvette.” And because you’re all I have now.
* * *
“Why wasn’t Yvette at Stepping Stones today, Mama?” Lilliana asked when Mariella went to pick up her daughter at the after-care program. Jordan had texted Mari that Yvette had been returned, but nothing more.
“I don’t know, sweetheart.”
“I have to see her.”
“I’m sure she and Dr. Dubois want some time together after their ordeal. He didn’t come to his class tonight.” Instead, he’d asked Ahmad to facilitate the two presentations then dismiss the students.
“I have to, Mama.”
“You’ll have to wait.” Her tone was short. Mari wasn’t up to dealing with a temper tantrum.
Nonetheless, Lilliana nagged her all the way home. She also kicked the front seat, which she knew not to do. By the time they reached their house, Mariella had a headache that could slay dragons. “Come on, Lilly,” she said, irritated. “Get out of the seatbelt and booster chair.”
“No. I’m staying in the car until you take me to see Yvette.”
Mari bolted out of her side and yanked open the back door. “Out now, young lady.” Still, her daughter didn’t budge. “Now!” Mari said, surprising herself that she yelled.
It surprised Lilliana, too. She burst into tears.
* * *
Jordan was like a wild man Wednesday night, running his hand through his hair, stalking around the house after Yvette had gone to bed. He went over in his head, for the millionth time, his predicament.
Status quo and lose Mariella.
Sue for custody, perhaps lose Yvette.
He had to choose his daughter over the woman he loved. And it was ironic that that was exactly what Mariella said he should do.
Despite all this, he even went online again and reread all the French laws. They strongly suggested he’d be able to keep his daughter. But the laws didn’t reflect what would happen when a Pulitzer Prize winner was exposed as a fraud. There was no way out of the situation. After he closed out of his server, he stared at the Internet icons on the screen. His gaze snagged on the one labeled New Book. He called up the outline. It read: