He Accused Me of Stealing, But I Heard the Truth novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: You Never Called

Laurence sat in Maureen's kitchen on a chair with a cracked vinyl seat, and Maureen put a plate of eggs in front of him without asking.

He did not touch it.

Ben Mulvaney stood by the door with his notebook, saying nothing, watching the room.

I put the baby book on the table, closed.

"You wanted the bracelet explained," I said. "I can't. But I can tell you what I couldn't in the hospital, with Imogen listening."

"Imogen was not listening."

"She was at your elbow."

His jaw moved, and he looked at the eggs.

*She was at my elbow. She is always at my elbow.*

"Go on," he said.

So I told him what I had left out in front of the doctors.

"In the car she said, 'Laurence wants you to handle this.' Those were her words. She said you were tired of the baby and the money was your way of making it kind."

His head came up.

*I never said that. I never said a word of that.*

"I believed her," I said. "That is the worst thing I have ever done. I believed her because she was the one person in your life who was ever kind to me."

His hands closed on the table's edge.

"Why didn't you call me?"

I stared at him.

"You never called," Laurence said. His voice cracked on the second word, and he forced it back down into the ice. "Six years, Ciara. Not once. I kept my phone number for six years. I kept the apartment in your name. I told myself a woman who wanted nothing from me would at least call to say she was alive."

*I would have come in one hour. I would have come from anywhere.*

I had not known that.

I had not known he kept the number.

"I called," I said.

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