Chương 1 - Người Đàn Ông Đến Từ Singapore

I was doing a home visit for of my kindergarten students when he jumped onto my husband’s and yelled, “Ms. Morgan, meet my superhero dad!”

For a second, I honestly thought I had walked the wrong house.

Daniel was supposed to be in Singapore.

He had texted me the night .

I’d asked time he was flying home the next day was the anniversary of Lily’s death.

Our daughter.

He replied almost four hours later.

Work emergency. I can’t get in time. Stay with her a longer for both of us.

Now he was standing ten feet away me in a kitchen in Charlotte, wearing an apron and holding a plate of sliced fruit.

A woman I knew as Noah’s mother walked behind and wiped something his forehead with her thumb.

“Daniel, you’re sweating again.”

He smiled at her.

Then he looked at me.

The smile disappeared.

Noah tightened his arms around Daniel’s neck.

“I told you my dad was strong. He can carry me with .”

My student was beaming.

I looked at Daniel.

years of “long-term overseas assignment.”

years of late-night calls that mysteriously had to end when someone walked his hotel room.

years of missed Christmases, anniversaries, medical appointments, and every visit I made to Lily’s grave.

And apparently he had been living twenty minutes my school.

Daniel recovered I did.

He lowered Noah to the floor and wiped his hands on the apron.

Then he walked toward me and held out his .

“Hi. Daniel Price. Noah’s father.”

I stared at his .

He was pretending he had never met me.

The man I had loved since I was seventeen.

The man whose name was printed next to mine on the marriage certificate in the locked box under my bed.

The man who had slept me nights earlier telling me he’d flown in Singapore for a forty-eight-hour meeting.

“Ms. Morgan?”

Noah’s mother looked confused.

I forced myself to breathe.

Then I smiled.

“Claire Morgan. Nice to meet you.”

Daniel’s stayed in the air for another second he let it fall.

“Come in,” Noah’s mother said brightly. “I’m so the place a mess. I’ve been nervous all day. We’ve never had a teacher come to the house .”

Her name was Tessa.

I knew that already.

I had met her twice at pickup.

Soft voice. Pretty. A scattered.

Noah talked about her constantly.

My mom burns toast.

My mom loses her keys.

My dad says my mom would forget her head if it wasn’t attached.

Cute stories.

I had at them.

I had also heard hundreds of stories about Noah’s father.

His father made pancakes shaped like dinosaurs.

His father slept on the floor his bed when he had the flu.

His father could fix the sink.

His father packed lunch notes.

His father read books in funny voices.

His father was a superhero.

I had never asked his name.

Why would I?

Tessa opened a shoe cabinet the door.

“Here. These are clean.”

I bent to change my shoes.

On the top shelf pairs lined each other.

Men’s loafers.

Women’s ankle boots.

Tiny sneakers with cartoon rockets.

Above them was a framed photograph.

Daniel had arm around Tessa.

Noah sat on his shoulders.

All wearing matching navy sweaters.

They standing in front of a Christmas tree.

The date printed at the bottom was last December.

Daniel had told me he spent last Christmas in a hotel in Singapore a client meeting had gone wrong.

I had eaten frozen lasagna alone.

Tessa glanced at my left .

“Oh.”

Her eyebrows lifted.

“I didn’t you married.”

Daniel went completely still.

I looked down at my wedding ring.

A plain platinum band.

Daniel had picked it himself.

I had worn it for years.

I slid it off.

There was a trash can the entry bench.

I dropped the ring it.

Tessa’s mouth opened.

I said, “I’m anymore.”

Daniel’s drained of color.

Tessa immediately looked horrified.

“Oh my God. I’m . I didn’t mean to bring something painful.”

“It’s fine.”

“I really am .”

“You couldn’t have known.”

Daniel looked at me as if he was trying to figure out whether I was about to scream.

I wasn’t.

yet.

Tessa pulled out a chair for me.

“Please sit. Daniel cut fruit. Noah, go get your drawing folder for Ms. Morgan.”

Noah ran toward the stairs.

Daniel started to follow.

Tessa caught his wrist.

“Can you bring the ginger tea first?”

“Sure.”

He went to the kitchen.

I sat down my legs didn’t feel reliable.

There four family pictures on the wall.

A beach.

A pumpkin patch.

Christmas.

Noah’s preschool graduation.

Daniel was in every .

visiting.

standing awkwardly on the edge.

He belonged there.

Tessa sat me.

“I hope this isn’t too formal. When the school said teachers doing family home visits this year, I panicked.”

“It’s just part of the kindergarten family engagement program. Mostly I ask about routines, Noah likes, anything you think I should .”

“Oh, that’s easy. He’ll tell you everything whether you ask or .”

She .

I had always liked her.

That somehow made it worse.

Daniel returned with cups.

Plain hot water for me.

Coffee for himself.

Ginger tea with honey for Tessa.

She reached for it.

Daniel touched the mug first.

“Too hot.”

Tessa made a .

“I’m .”

“You about your throat last night.”

“I did cry.”

“You absolutely .”

“I complained.”

“You while complaining.”

Tessa swatted his arm.

He smiled.

It was such an ordinary exchange.

The kind couples have years together.

The kind Daniel and I had never had.

Tessa noticed me watching them.

“He babies me.”

“So I hear.”

She .

“Noah tells you?”

“Sometimes.”

“ does he say?”

I picked my notebook.

“That his dad makes breakfast every morning.”

Tessa grinned.

“He does.”

“That his dad knows which blanket you like.”

Daniel stopped drinking his coffee.

Tessa didn’t notice.

“And apparently someone in this house always losing her keys.”

She covered her .

“I’m going to kill that child.”

I managed a small smile.

“Noah also says his dad ties your shoes when your hurts.”

“He exaggerates.”

“No, I don’t!”

Noah came running carrying a folder.

“Dad does it all the time.”

Tessa pointed at .

“Traitor.”

Noah climbed onto the couch.

“My mom can’t do anything.”

“I can do things!”

“You burned soup.”

“That was time.”

Daniel corrected her quietly.

“.”

Tessa leaned his shoulder.

“See I live with?”

I watched his automatically settle at her waist.

She kept talking.

“Honestly, I’m hopeless. I cut my cooking once and Daniel basically banned me the kitchen.”

“ you needed stitches.”

“Four stitches.”

“Still stitches.”

“When Noah had pneumonia last winter, Daniel stayed with for two nights. Wouldn’t even let me take a shift.”

Noah nodded proudly.

“Dad slept sitting .”

Tessa smiled at Daniel.

“And when I’m sick, he’s unbearable. Medicine alarms, soup, heating pad, checking my temperature every hour.”

Something inside me went very quiet.

Two years earlier, I had developed a fever of 103.

I called Daniel seven times.

He rejected six calls.

On the seventh, he texted me.

In a meeting. Take Tylenol and sleep.

I lost Lily, I started bleeding heavily at two in the morning.

Daniel was away for work.

I called an ambulance myself.

I spent the night in the emergency room alone.

I had convinced myself that Daniel simply wasn’t nurturing.

Some men weren’t.

Some men froze around illness.

Some men didn’t to say when people .

I had spent years translating his neglect personality.

Sitting in Tessa’s living room, I finally understood.

Daniel knew exactly how to care for someone.

He just hadn’t wanted to care for me.

Tessa touched his knee.

“I tell Claire all the time, Noah got ridiculously lucky with his dad.”

“You tell me?”

She .

“ directly. Noah tells you for me.”

Then she looked at my bare ring finger.

“And I’m again about earlier.”

“It’s okay.”

“No. Divorce awful. My parents almost divorced when I was .”

Daniel stared at the floor.

Tessa continued.

“You’re young. You’ll find someone better.”

I almost .

“How do you there someone better?”

“ good men exist.”

She squeezed Daniel’s arm.

“Look at this .”

Daniel closed his eyes for half a second.

Tessa turned to me.

“ happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t really want to talk about .”

“Of course.”

She lowered her voice.

“My problem I want to fix everyone.”

Daniel stood abruptly.

“I’m going to check on the oven.”

“There’s nothing in the oven.”

“I .”

He walked away anyway.

I opened my notebook.

“Let’s talk about Noah.”

That saved me for twenty minutes.

Favorite books.

Food allergies.

Sleep routine.

Sensory issues.

He loved drawing maps and building things.

He hated spinach.

He sometimes when classroom games had unclear rules.

Normal teacher questions.

Normal answers.

Then I asked, “Date of birth?”

Tessa told me.

My pen stopped.

I looked .

“?”

She repeated it.

Today.

Exactly years ago.

“Today his birthday?”

Noah threw both hands the air.

“I’m !”

Tessa .

“We’re doing the family party tonight. He’s been counting down since June.”

I couldn’t feel my fingers.

years ago, on this day, I was in a hospital bed asking where Daniel was.

Lily had stopped moving at twenty-two weeks.

There complications.

Pain.

Blood.

Doctors talking in soft voices.

I remembered asking a nurse to call Daniel again maybe he would answer a hospital number.

He didn’t.

Later he texted me.

I’m so . Flight delayed. I’m trying.

I held our daughter .

She was so small I could cover most of her body with both hands.

We had already picked her name.

Lily.

I had bought a yellow sleeper she never wore.

The nurse put it in a memory box with her footprints.

While I was holding my dead daughter, Noah was being born.

I looked at Daniel.

“ years.”

He knew exactly I meant.

Tessa tilted her head.

“You remember the date?”

I forced myself to look away .

“It’s a date I don’t forget.”

“Something important?”

I looked straight at Daniel.

“Mr. Price probably remembers.”

His lips parted.

he could speak, his phone rang on the coffee table.

The screen lit .

MOM.

Tessa picked it .

“Elaine!”

My mother-in-law’s appeared on video.

The same woman who had once told me my pregnancy loss was probably proof my body “wasn’t meant for motherhood.”

The same woman I had driven to physical therapy twice a week her knee surgery.

The same woman whose groceries I delivered during COVID Daniel was “too busy.”

Her whole softened when she saw Tessa.

“There’s my girl.”

Tessa smiled.