Sophie answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
Her voice sounded guarded.
“Sophie, it’s Nina. Please don’t hang up. Emma thinks she hurt you.”
“She didn’t. It’s not her fault!”
“Emma thinks she hurt you.”
The answer came so quickly that I straightened.
“Then why are you avoiding her?”
Silence.
“Sophie?”
Her voice dropped.
“You’d better ask your husband.”
“Then why are you avoiding her?”
I looked toward the bedroom.
Mark was still standing there.
“Ask Mark.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What did he do?”
“Ask Mark.”
“He probably won’t tell you the truth.”
“What truth?”
Sophie’s voice cracked. “It’s about what he did to me… and my mom.”
“What did he do?”
“He was giving my mom money.”
My mind went somewhere awful.
“It’s about what he did to me… and my mom.”
“It’s not that,” Sophie said quickly. “Nothing like that.”
“Then what happened?”
“He helped us. Then he made us wish we hadn’t let him.”
Before I could ask more, she whispered, “I’m sorry about Emma.”
Then the call ended.
I stood there for a few seconds.
“Then what happened?”
When I turned, Mark was gone.
I found him downstairs with Emma.
***
Mark handed Emma a mug of hot chocolate and put an arm around her.
“Anybody who treats you like that doesn’t deserve you.”
I stopped halfway down the stairs.
When I turned, Mark was gone.
He knew why Sophie had disappeared. Maybe not every detail, but enough.
I wanted answers, but Emma was already hurting. I wasn’t turning our living room into a courtroom before I understood what had happened.
***
After my daugter went to bed, I found Mark in the kitchen.
“How much money have you given Helena?”
He stopped.
He knew why Sophie had disappeared.
For half a second, his face went blank.
Then he said, “It’s not an affair.”
“I didn’t ask if it was.”
“Nina…”
“How much?”
He dropped the cloth into the sink.
“It’s not an affair.”
“Helena had a rough year.”
I waited.
