Chapter 3 - THE NIGHT HE REMEMBERED
Declan did not leave the airport.
He stood beside the curb until the SUV disappeared into traffic, replaying the dates in his head.
October.
Four years old.
November divorce.
January.
He remembered January.
He remembered the rain against the windows of the hotel suite in Savannah, where he had gone after a brutal argument with his father. Cassidy had found him there because she had refused to let their marriage end with a telephone call.
They had talked until sunrise.
He had told her he was ready to start again.
He had held her and promised that his family would no longer control their lives.
Then his mother had arrived in Atlanta with a stack of documents and a story about Cassidy leaking confidential company information to a competitor.
Declan had believed her.
He had accused Cassidy of using him. She had denied everything, but he had already decided that the evidence mattered more than her word.
The divorce followed quickly.
He remembered the final meeting in the lawyer's office. Cassidy had looked pale, but she had not cried. She had signed the papers, placed her ring on the table, and walked away.
He had assumed she had nothing.
Now he knew she had carried three children through those years without him.
His phone rang.
His mother.
“Declan, darling. Are you at the hotel?”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
“At the airport.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“I saw Cassidy.”
Silence.
Then, carefully: “How unfortunate.”
“She has three daughters.”
Another silence.
“What?”
“They're four.”
His mother inhaled sharply.
“Declan, you mustn't jump to conclusions.”
“I did the math.”
“Perhaps they belong to someone else.”
“They have my eyes.”
“Many children have dark eyes.”
“Mother.”
“Whatever happened, it was years ago. You have a life now.”
He looked toward the road.
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Did you?”
“Declan, don't make an emotional decision.”
He ended the call.
Then he dialed his attorney.
“I need every document from the divorce. Every communication. Every message from my mother about Cassidy.”
“That's a lot of material.”
“Then start now.”
“Is something wrong?”
May you like
Declan looked at the place where the SUV had disappeared.
“I think I have three daughters.”
