he said.
“I am,” Mike answered.
“Look, this is a family matter. No need to make it bigger than it is.” Daniel spoke easily, like people do when they’re used to pretending everything is fine. “My wife’s here, with my daughter. We had a misunderstanding. It happens. I’m here to take them home.”
“I see,” Mike said.
“Right.” Daniel smiled wider. “So no hard feelings, friend. Sarah!” he called toward the house. “Come on out. Enough already.”
The door creaked open. Sarah stepped onto the porch with Sophie in her arms. The little girl buried her face in her mother’s shoulder and didn’t look up. Sarah looked straight at Daniel and said nothing. Judith swept her gaze over the yard. Let it rest on Mike. On the shed. On the chicken coop. Then she looked at Sarah the way she always had—down her nose.
“So you found yourself a setup already,” she said. “Didn’t take long.”
Mike turned to her.
“This woman lives in my house,” he said evenly. “That child lives in my house. You drove in without being invited. You have one minute.”
Judith opened her mouth. Daniel stopped smiling.
“Easy,” he said. “Who exactly do you think you are?”
“Owner,” Mike said again. “Already told you.”
“She’s my wife.” Daniel took a step forward. “I have rights.”
“Call the sheriff then,” Mike said. “And while you’re at it, explain how your wife ended up on the highway in a January blizzard wearing house clothes and slippers, carrying a four-year-old, with no ID and no phone.”
Daniel went quiet.
“There are witnesses,” Mike added. “The truck driver who saw her and gave them a ride to town. I know who he is. He remembers it too.”
In truth Mike didn’t know the driver. Sarah had told him about the semi that stopped on the highway and took them as far as the turnoff to Mill Creek. But Daniel didn’t know that. Daniel just stared at him. The smile was gone.
Judith tried a different angle.
“Sophie,” she called sweetly. “Come to Grandma, honey.”
Sophie burrowed deeper into her mother’s shoulder.
“Sophie,” Judith said again, sharper this time. The child didn’t move.
Judith turned to Sarah.
“We have the child’s documents,” she said. “Her birth certificate. Did you think about that?”
“I did,” Sarah said. First time she’d spoken since coming onto the porch. Her voice was level. Her arms holding Sophie tightened slightly. Mike saw that. But her voice didn’t shake.
“I’m filing for divorce,” she said. “Sophie stays with me. You need to leave.”
It cost her something to say it. He could see that. But they couldn’t. They only saw a woman standing there calmly saying what she meant.
Daniel glanced at his mother.
