Chapter 4 - THE NURSERY CLOSET
Sarah returned home two days later with Lily in her arms and Megan beside her.
Daniel had gone ahead, promising the house would be calm.
It was not.
Ashley was still there.
She stood in the kitchen holding a mug, fully dressed now, smiling as if the hospital incident had never happened.
“I made soup.”
Sarah walked past her.
“No, thank you.”
Daniel followed.
“Can we not start?”
Sarah turned.
“Start what?”
He lowered his voice.
“A fight.”
Megan laughed once.
“Your wife gave birth while you were waiting for your friend to wash her hair.”
Daniel’s face reddened.
Ashley set down her mug.
“I said I was sorry.”
“You said you wouldn’t take long,” Sarah replied.
She carried Lily upstairs.
The nursery had been Sarah’s sanctuary for months. Cream walls. White crib. Hand-sewn curtains from Megan. A small oak dresser that had belonged to Sarah’s father.
Sarah opened the closet to hang Lily’s going-home blanket.
Half the shelves were empty.
Her carefully labeled newborn supplies had been pushed into plastic bins.
Ashley’s clothes occupied the other side.
Sarah stood very still.
Daniel appeared behind her.
“She needed more space.”
Sarah turned.
“In my daughter’s nursery?”
“The guest room closet is small.”
“So?”
Daniel exhaled.
“Sarah, this is exactly what I mean. Everything feels like an attack to you right now.”
Megan, standing in the hall, went silent.
Sarah placed Lily safely in the crib.
Then she removed Ashley’s clothes one armful at a time and dropped them into the hallway.
Daniel grabbed her wrist—not violently, but firmly enough to stop her.
“Don’t.”
Sarah looked at his hand.
He released her.
Ashley came upstairs.
Her face changed when she saw the clothes.
“What are you doing?”
“Moving you out of my baby’s room.”
Ashley’s eyes narrowed.
“Daniel said I could use that closet.”
“Daniel does not own my permission.”
Ashley disappeared downstairs.
A minute later, she returned holding a folder.
She handed Sarah a paper.
It was a residential occupancy agreement.
Twelve months.
Ashley Monroe was listed as a tenant.
Daniel’s signature was at the bottom.
So was Sarah’s.
Sarah’s breath stopped.
“That isn’t my signature.”
Ashley tilted her head.
“It matches every other document you’ve signed.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
He would not meet her eyes.
May you like
Then she noticed the witness line.
The witness was Daniel’s mother, Carol Bennett.
