Chapter 3

The next morning, Tess asked me whether the hotel in Vermont had an indoor pool.

I was writing my latest blood pressure reading into my log.

My pen stopped.

"What hotel?"

She immediately looked at Reed.

Rowan went quiet too.

The breakfast table suddenly felt much too still.

"Don't worry about it," Reed cut in, pushing the milk toward her. "Eat your breakfast."

I looked at him.

"You explain it."

Tess spoke carefully.

The day after Christmas, they were going to Stowe for six nights.

Grandma and Grandpa were going.

Mom was going too.

The hotel had a family suite overlooking the ski slopes.

"You're not coming?" she asked me. "Dad said sitting in the car that long would be too hard for you."

I did not question him in front of the twins.

After his parents picked them up to see a holiday movie, I set the family tablet in front of Reed.

"Show me the reservation."

"Camille, do we really have to do this right now?"

"Yes. Right now."

He logged into his email without meeting my eyes.

There were two reservations on the confirmation.

One was a two-bedroom family suite for two adults and two children.

The other was a standard room for his parents.

The two adults listed on the family suite were Reed and Maren.

My name did not appear anywhere.

"The suite has two bedrooms," he said quickly. "Rowan and I would take one. Maren and Tess would take the other."

"The reservation lists you and your ex-wife as the two adults."

"That's how the family package works. Don't turn it into something else."

"Then why am I not on it?"

"You're already uncomfortable sitting for long stretches, and you can't ski. If you came, everyone would spend the whole trip worrying about you."

"My doctor never said I couldn't go. You never even asked me."

Reed did not answer that.

He told me the hotel was almost full, the twins had been looking forward to this for months, and he had already taken the time off work.

He explained everyone else's plans.

Still nothing about me.

The total on the confirmation was $9,580.

I asked where the money had come from.

Reed said he would take care of it.

I logged into our joint accounts and found the transfer almost immediately.

After we married three years ago, we had opened a joint savings account we called the Kids' Future Fund.

Every month, I deposited the same amount Reed did.

The money was supposed to cover the twins' braces, summer camps, and eventually college.

After I got pregnant, I doubled my own contribution.

My doctor had warned us that I might deliver early, and I wanted money set aside for the baby's medical expenses.

The hotel deposit and the suite had both been paid from that fund.

Reed had written a note on the transfer:

Twins' winter experience.

"You used money I saved for all three children to book a family suite for you and your ex-wife."

"That money was always meant for the kids."

"The extra money I put in was for the baby's medical care."

"I know." He looked away. "My bonus comes in January. I'll put it back."

"What if the baby comes early?"

"The doctor only said it was possible. Stop frightening yourself before anything has even happened."

He spoke as though the money had simply been sitting unused.

As though the child inside me did not count as someone worth protecting until she was born.

The front door unlocked.

Maren entered using the code.

She had come for a pair of sneakers the twins had left behind, but the moment she saw the reservation on the table, she stopped.

"She knows?" she asked Reed.

"Yeah."

Only then did Maren look at me.

"I thought he'd already mentioned it."

"When did you book it?"

"October."

October was the month I had been called back for a second blood pressure check.

It was also the month Reed told me household expenses were getting high and the crib could wait until there was a sale.

"You knew the reservation listed the two of you as the adults?" I asked her.

"That's just how the room is booked," she said. "We're taking our twins."

"You're sharing the same suite for six nights. And you're using money I put into that fund."

Maren's expression hardened.

"Do you have to make co-parenting sound so ugly?"

"Co-parenting doesn't require hiding things from a wife."

Reed stepped between us.

It was a small movement.

But it made his choice for him.

"Enough. She only came for the shoes." Reed handed them to Maren. "Go home. I'll call you later."

"Reed, I'm talking to you."

"I hear you."

"Then why are you standing in front of her?"

He looked down, almost as if he had only just realized where he had placed himself.

He did not answer.

That night, I downloaded three years of statements from the Kids' Future Fund.

Attached to the October transfer was another note Reed had entered for the bank.

Use baby's reserve first. Replace after bonus.

The charge came immediately after one of my increased deposits.

The amount covered the hotel's first deposit almost exactly.

He had not merely hidden the trip from me.

He had known exactly which child's money he was spending.