The Choices We Made novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Plot With No Stone

"Nobody searches her bag."

Weston stood at the top of the back stairs with his jacket over one arm.

He had come home early. Nobody had told him to.

Gretchen turned, and her face went through three expressions in one second.

"Wes. She was alone in Albie's room. I saw her come out."

"I'm sure you did."

"She took something."

"Then she took it from my house, and I'll decide what to do about it." He looked at the housekeeper. "Take Albie downstairs for his snack."

The housekeeper took the boy's hand and went.

Albie looked back once over his shoulder at Eliza.

Weston waited until the stairwell was empty.

"Gretchen. Go home."

"You're sending me away?"

"I'm asking you to leave my house while I talk to my wife."

It was the first time in six years that Eliza had heard him call her that without an edge on it.

Gretchen's mouth opened and closed.

She picked up her purse, and she did not look at Eliza as she passed.

Weston led Eliza into his study and shut the door.

"What did you take?"

She had decided on the stairs that she would lie, and now found she couldn't.

"Hair. From his brush."

"For a test."

"Yes."

His face did not move. "Why?"

"Because I think he is mine. A baby cried somewhere in that hospital the night I lost mine, and nobody will tell me whose."

The air in the study stopped.

Weston walked to his desk, opened the top drawer, and took out a white envelope with a lab's return address.

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