She nods.
“I’m Autumn Wickerton,” I introduce myself, shaking her hand while trying to sort all the information they just dumped on me. He was married. She’s Persy’s sister. Was he married to Calliope? As I’m trying to solve the mystery, panic cripples up my spine. He’s not trying to help me. He tricked me into coming over so I’d sign the release so Persy could air my call.
“Should I be concerned about this visit?” Nyx asks.
“It’s related to the calls, but it’s not what you think,” Zach says. “This is about Matilda’s grandparents.”
I look at him, skeptical. Is it just about the Blackthornes?
“Then we should go to my office.” She turns to look at her husband. “Will you be okay?”
“What’s the worst that can happen? There’s an extinguisher in every room. I put away the knives, and nap time is in thirty minutes.”
“I feel so much better.”
“You should. We’re probably going to the playground. Love you, babe.” He winks at her and blows her a kiss. She captures it and touches her chest lightly as if she’s saving it in her heart. They’re adorable. The pang of jealousy I feel when Aiden and Miranda do something that sweet pinches my heart. Pax and I were too young to have a relationship like that. It hurts to know I’ll never have it, but at least I have Matilda with me.
We enter an office that faces Lake Washington. It has double-glass doors, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and there’s a corner where there are toys and books. I assume it’s for her children.
“Please take a seat.” She shows us to a leather couch and sits in a recliner. “How can I help you?”
“I’m not sure.” I point at Zach. “He thinks I need to talk to you. As you probably know, my daughter sent an email to your sister, and they had three phone conversations which aired.”
“Four,” she corrects me.
I wave a hand. “Either way, it occurred to me that if Zach were able to recognize my family, so would a lot of people. What if the Blackthornes recognize her, and they try to fight me for custody?”
She flinches and shakes her head. “Didn’t I say that we shouldn’t air that call?”
“You did,” Zach agrees.
She stands up and grabs a yellow pad from her desk and a pen. “But no one listens to me. Let’s talk about your in-laws. Start from the beginning. Where is her father?”
This is a conversation I hate to have with anyone, even more so with a stranger.
I start with their background. Mr. Blackthorne was Dad’s partner. He was the mastermind behind the embezzlement and the insider trading scandal. He knew how to fix things in a way that made my father look guilty. He got a slap on the wrist and didn’t lose a cent or sleep while Dad went to jail.
“Mom didn’t want to pull me out of the school. The principal offered me a scholarship. Mom accepted it without thinking about the bullying or…” I shrug. “Pax was always by my side. He switched his schedule so we’d be in the same classes. He watched me and protected me. We applied to the same colleges. His parents hated me because he declined to go to Harvard so he could stay with me. He died in a car accident. I survived…”
“They wish it had been you instead of him, don’t they?” she asks.
I nod, swallowing the knot rooting in my throat.
She reaches out and squeezes my hand. “I’m glad you’re with us.”
I tell her more about Megan Blackthorne and how she threatened to take Matilda away.
“Listen, I think the best will be to take the call off the air. Is it okay with you if I call my sister to explain the issue?”
“I don’t want to be a—”
“You have to put your daughter’s safety first,” she interrupts me. “I don’t work during the weekends, but I’ll dig up some information on the Blackthornes. In my opinion, they don’t have a case against you. The calls were innocent. It’s a conversation between an influencer and a girl who wants to see her mother smile, be happy. I bet she learned to be caring and supportive from you.”
“Maybe I’m overreacting,” I say.
“I like to be proactive,” she insists. “My firm and I take these types of cases seriously. In fact, if any of them threaten to fight you for custody, I want you to call me right away. They might just be doing it to intimidate you. They want you to live in fear. That’s bullying. I’ll stop them.”
“I can’t afford you.”
“I’m not charging you anything. I’ve been there, and thankfully I had plenty of people who supported me. Now it’s time to pay it forward.”
“Thank you.”
She hands me her card. “Text me next Monday so I can work on this case.”
“Can you apologize to your sister? I feel like I’m letting her down.”
“She might be able to spin it or do something cool with it. Maybe you can give her an interview in exchange?”
“I’ll call her.”
I turn to look at Zach as I pull out my phone so I can get myself a Lyft. “If you want to stay with your family, I’m okay.”
He shakes his head. “Nah, we can go.” He turns his attention to Nyx. “Thank you for receiving us on such short notice. Are you guys staying long?”
“We’ll be here this week. I get to host Thanksgiving, so the family will be here tomorrow. You should come by and have dinner with us. Bring your brothers and your sister.” She glances at me and smiles. “Why don’t you two bring Matilda? We have an indoor pool, a playground, and a bowling alley. You can be here early, around three, so she can enjoy the house.”
“Thank you, but I work tomorrow night.”
“Brunch?” she asks.
I’m about to shake my head when Zach says, “We’ll see you here. Do you want me to bring something?”
“No. We’ll have plenty of food.”
As we get into the car, I ask, “You were married to Callie Brassard?”
He nods.
“Mind if I ask what happened to her?” I know she died, but Persy never said how.
“She was in an accident.”
“It sucks, doesn’t it? If someone dies of a long-term illness, you can prepare. Not that you’ll ever be ready. When it’s an unexpected accident…”
I’m unsure of how to finish the sentence. Jarring, traumatic, all of the above, and more?
He turns to look at me briefly. “No ‘sorry,’ pitying look, or ‘it’s going to get better?’”
“It’s not going to get better,” I answer him. “It’s just going to be different. Everyone keeps telling me to move on, to find someone, to start living. They don’t understand that I am living. I don’t know what they expect from me. Even my child thinks I’m failing at life, and maybe I am. So no, I won’t be giving you the usual: I’m sorry, it’ll get better with time. I hate when people do it to me.”
He smiles. “Thank you.”
“I envy you, though. You can talk to her family and celebrate her life. I don’t have anything from Pax. I lost the little I had of him in a fire. His family took charge of his social media accounts and blocked me from them. I can’t even go in and save the few pictures he posted of Matilda and him. She only got three weeks with her dad.”