Chapter 10: The Postnup

Hugh's mother did not sit down.

She stood in the back office of the bakery with the leather folder against her chest.

She looked at my father's old desk, my mother's calendar from the flour supplier, and the flour on the floor.

"My son asked me to bring this," she said. "He doesn't like to see you worry."

"What is it?"

"A postnuptial agreement. Hugh's lawyer drew it up. You'll sign it Monday at two, at his office." She put the folder on the desk.

"The family has certain protections."

I opened it.

The flagged pages were yellow. I read them standing.

If the marriage ended, I would leave with what I had come with.

I would waive any claim to the building on Taylor Street.

I would waive any claim to the boutique, and to the company, and to the condo in River North.

"What I came with," I said, "was a bakery."

"It was a lease," she said.

"Which my son now holds." She smiled thinly.

"A woman like you gets one chance at a family like ours, Elise. Sign where the flags are, and don't make it difficult."

"And if I don't?" I said.

"Then you have until the twentieth to behave."

She went out through the shop, and the bell rang behind her.

I stood with the folder in my hands.

I had expected to be scared, and I was something else entirely.

On Monday I sat in Hugh's lawyer's office on the fortieth floor, at a long glass table with a view of the river.

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