Chapter 3 - ST. ALDEN
Alexander’s face changed. “What school?”
Eleanor closed her eyes. “Noah.”
“The one with the gates.”
Alexander stood. “Mother.”
She exhaled. “St. Alden is not a prison.”
I knew the name. Every senior member of staff did.
St. Alden Children’s Development Institute sat three hours north of the city. Beautiful campus. Private rooms. Full-time therapists. Tuition higher than most salaries.
Alexander stared at her. “You enrolled him?”
“I placed a temporary reservation.”
“He is five.”
“He has attachment problems.”
Alexander saw that too. “What attachment problems?”
Eleanor looked at me. “This.”
Alexander stepped between us. “No. Look at me.”
“What doctor recommended residential placement?”
“Dr. Feldman believes Noah has difficulty processing grief.”
“Dr. Feldman sees him twice a month.”
“And you see him when your schedule permits.”
Eleanor pressed. “You are gone constantly. He wakes screaming. He follows Emma from room to room. Tonight he rejected three appropriate women and called an employee his mother.”
Noah whispered, “I didn’t reject them.”
“I don’t know them.”
Alexander rubbed a hand over his face. “When was he supposed to go?”
Eleanor hesitated. “Monday.”
Alexander stared. “The morning after the wedding weekend?”
“If the ceremony had gone according to plan.”
I understood why Eleanor wanted me gone before sunrise. Noah would wake without me, then leave for St. Alden.
By the time Alexander returned from whatever honeymoon or board retreat followed, the house would be quiet.
Alexander looked at me. “Did you know?”
“Not until tonight.”
“How?”
Her face hardened. “Emma.”
I reached into my apron pocket again. Not for the resignation. For the folded photocopy I had found on the printer beside Eleanor’s study.
ST. ALDEN — INTAKE AUTHORIZATION.
ELEANOR STERLING.
Alexander took it. His voice dropped. “You don’t have authority to sign this.”
Eleanor’s answer came too quickly. “Actually, I do.”
She continued. “Your wife gave it to me.”
May you like
Noah’s mother had been dead for three years.
Then Eleanor said, “Lydia signed the guardianship directive before she died.”
