“With Abby.”
His sister.
Claire immediately felt relief.
“Okay. Good. I want to see them.”
Matthew’s body shifted, blocking the doorway more completely.
“Not today.”
The relief vanished.
“What?”
“You’re not seeing them today.”
“Matthew.”
“No.”
“They’re my children.”
“I know who they are.”
Claire’s face flushed.
“Then why are you acting like I’m some stranger?”
Matthew held her eyes.
“Because to one of them, you are.”
The sentence hit with such precision that she physically recoiled.
“Don’t.”
“You asked.”
“Caleb was a baby. Of course he doesn’t remember me.”
“Yes.”
“But Sophie does.”
Matthew looked away for the first time.
Claire saw something there.
Pain.
Old pain.
Not fresh enough to belong to this morning.
“What?” she asked.
He looked back.
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth in words a four-year-old could understand.”
“What does that mean?”
“That you left.”
Claire’s lips parted.
“You told her I abandoned her?”
“I told her Mommy went away and I didn’t know when she was coming back.”
“You made me sound like I didn’t care.”
Matthew’s expression finally hardened.
“I didn’t have to make you sound like anything.”
Claire fell silent.
He took one breath.
Then another.
“Before you see them, there are things you need to know.”
Fear began to replace hope.
“What things?”
Matthew looked at the suitcase.
Then at her.
“You keep talking like you came back to the same life.”
“I know it isn’t exactly the same.”
“No. You don’t.”
“I’m trying to.”
“You’ve been standing here seven minutes.”
“I just got here.”
“Exactly.”
Claire stared at him.
Matthew’s voice stayed low.
“While you were gone, Sophie stopped asking when you were coming home.”
Claire’s eyes filled immediately.
“Matthew.”
“While you were gone, Caleb learned to sit up. He learned to crawl. He got his first tooth. He took his first steps.”
“Please.”
“You weren’t there for any of it.”
“I know.”
“No. You know as information. I lived it.”
Claire wiped at one eye.
Matthew continued.
“While you were gone, I filed for divorce.”
Everything in Claire’s face stopped.
“What?”
“It was finalized seven months ago.”
She stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You couldn’t.”
“I could.”
“You didn’t know where I was.”
“We tried to find you.”
“You never served me.”
“We tried.”
“I never received anything.”
“You stopped using your phone. You closed your email account. Your sister said she didn’t know your address. Certified letters came back. My attorney followed the court’s process.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“The judge granted the divorce by default.”
“You’re lying.”
Matthew’s eyes went cold.
“I have spent eighteen months learning not to lie to our children about you. I’m not starting with you now.”
Claire gripped the suitcase handle.
“We’re divorced?”
“Yes.”
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
She looked at his left hand again.
The missing ring.
Somehow she had noticed it and still not allowed herself to understand it.
“What about the kids?”
“I have sole legal and physical custody.”