Chapter 4

Leah had asked if I truly believed all Daniel ever did at her house was sleep.

The next day, in front of more than twenty friends and relatives, she called my husband “the man who held this family together.”

I stood at the back of the room and watched Daniel join her in the center.

They held Noah’s framed photograph between them, their shoulders touching.

“If it weren’t for Daniel this past year, I might not have been able to get out of bed.” Leah’s voice broke halfway through. “He answered every call. He never let me face the worst nights alone.”

Helen wiped away tears.

One by one, relatives stepped forward to embrace them.

Someone clapped Daniel on the shoulder and told him Noah had been lucky to have such a good brother.

No one looked at me.

Daniel met my eyes across the room.

He quickly looked away and put a hand against Leah’s back.

My phone held the photographs from Leah’s bathroom. I kept it in my coat pocket.

If I confronted her in front of the family, the room would fill with her tears before Daniel answered a single question.

It was nearly ten when the memorial ended.

After Helen and the last relatives left, I picked up my coat.

Daniel carried a pillow out of the guest room and placed it on the couch with practiced ease.

“You’re staying again?” I asked.

“Leah’s emotions have been all over the place today. I’ll leave after she settles down.”

Leah stood beside the stairs. She did not ask him to stay or tell him to go home.

She simply switched on the guest-room light, as if reminding us both who that bed had been waiting for.

“Daniel, we talked about this.”

“I remember.” He exhaled. “You also agreed to wait until after the memorial. At least don’t do this tonight.”

I walked up to him and opened my hand.

My wedding ring rested in my palm, pale beneath the overhead light.

The exhaustion vanished from Daniel’s face.

“Emma, what are you doing?”

“I never asked you to forget Noah, and I never asked you to watch Leah fall apart. She can call Helen, her friends, or a therapist. She has other people. You’re the one insisting on being the only person she needs.”

“She lost her husband.”

“Fourteen months ago. And I’m losing mine now.”

Daniel reached for the ring. I closed my fingers before he could take it.

“Come home with me now. After tonight, no more sleeping here. No more treating every feeling she has like your personal emergency.”

Leah came down the stairs and gently closed her hand around Daniel’s arm.

“Don’t fight because of me,” she said. “I can stay by myself.”

Her words told him to leave. Her hand did not let go.

Daniel glanced at her, then turned to me.

“Do you really have to force me to choose today?”

“You started choosing a long time ago. The first thirty-seven times, I never told you what it would cost.”

I opened my hand again and made him look at the ring.

“This time, you know.”

I pointed toward the door.

“Come home now. We call a counselor in the morning, and tonight is the last night your clothes stay in this house.” I nodded toward the lit guest room. “If you choose that room again, I’ll pack mine tomorrow.”

Daniel’s breathing turned uneven. He looked at me, then down at Leah’s hand still wrapped around his sleeve.

I did not rush him. I did not offer him another excuse.

“Daniel,” I asked, “are you coming home with me tonight?”

He lifted his head and opened his mouth.