I SEE YOU an unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist by PATRICIA MACDONALD (bookstand for reading txt) 📗

Sydney was waiting by the front window when they arrived. She grabbed up her little pink backpack and rushed to meet them. Hannah scooped her up, and inhaled her pure, delicious scent. She told herself that Lisa had been stopped before she could carry out her plan. Sydney was still untouched and innocent. Please, God, she thought.

She carried the toddler out to the car. Adam got out of the car and opened the back door and extended his arms for her, ready to put her in the back seat. Then he hesitated, and looked at his wife.

Hannah shook her head. ‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘Don’t hesitate. Don’t ever wonder.’ She handed Sydney to her grandfather, who placed her tenderly in her car seat while Sydney insisted, ‘Sit with me, Pop-pop.’

Adam blinked away tears but he gave her a weary grin. ‘I love you, little bit.’

‘Wuv you,’ Sydney cried, blowing him a kiss.

Hannah put one of Sydney’s favorite CDs into the dashboard so they would not need to talk. Sydney sang along cheerfully, leaving her grandparents alone with their thoughts and their recollections of the dreadful meeting with Lisa.

Hannah felt as if it had been the longest evening of her life. They couldn’t really talk in front of Sydney but there was so much she wanted to say to Adam, so much information that she needed his help to process. Fortunately, Sydney seemed oblivious, banging around cheerfully among her toys, eating her dinner with gusto, taking her bath and crawling up on Adam’s lap for a story before bed. Hannah took her in to her room at last, and tucked her under her covers.

‘When is Mommy coming home?’ Sydney asked.

‘I don’t know,’ said Hannah.

‘Tomorrow?’ asked the child.

‘No,’ said Hannah grimly. ‘Not tomorrow.’

‘I’m gonna draw a picture for her when she comes home,’ said Sydney.

Hannah felt like her heart was being crushed in her chest. ‘Yes. That would be nice,’ she said. ‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow.’

Sydney threw her arms around Hannah’s neck. ‘I love you, Mom-mom,’ she said.

‘I love you too,’ said Hannah. ‘More than you will ever know.’

Hannah left Sydney’s room, pulling the door shut quietly behind her, and tiptoed down the hall back to the living room. Adam was sitting in his favorite chair from where he often watched TV, but tonight the screen was dark. He stared at it nonetheless. He looked up when Hannah came into the room.

‘Did you get her off to sleep?’ he asked.

Hannah nodded. ‘She was tired. She asked me when her mother was coming home. She wants to draw a picture for her.’

Adam sighed. ‘Poor little thing. She has no idea.’

‘Thankfully,’ said Hannah. ‘Are you OK, darling? You look terrible.’

‘I feel as if a bomb exploded inside me. It’s like my chest is filled with rubble.’

‘I know,’ said Hannah.

Adam looked over at his wife. His face was gray and haggard. ‘Hannah, I can’t believe what she is doing. I mean, I heard it with my own ears but . . . I still can’t believe it.’

Hannah shook her head. ‘It’s as if I don’t know her at all.’

‘How could she hate me so much? To say such a thing? Was I such a bad father, that she should hate me so much?’

She wanted to sit beside him and take his hand. She didn’t want to have to see the pain in his eyes. But she remained in the chair where she had sat down when she re-entered the room. They were going to have to be strong. Realistic. This was no time to break down. ‘You were a wonderful father,’ said Hannah staunchly. ‘From the day she was born.’

Adam looked at Hannah with narrowed eyes. He was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly that his knuckles were white. ‘I’m trying to imagine how you felt when you heard that . . . accusation she made. I mean, didn’t you . . . wonder if it was true? It would be only human to wonder,’ he said.

Hannah started to immediately deny it, and then she hesitated. She tried never to lie to him. Certainly not when it was this important. ‘All right. Sure. For a moment. Of course I did. For a minute.’

Adam winced, pierced by her words. But he had asked what she had been thinking, and Hannah knew him well enough to know that he would accept what she said stoically.

‘You know, in the course of my job I’ve seen families where this sort of thing has happened. Children preyed on by parents and grandparents. There’s no use pretending that this doesn’t occur. It does,’ Hannah admitted.

Adam took a deep breath and considered his wife’s honest response. ‘You thought it might be possible.’

‘Anything’s possible,’ said Hannah.

‘Look, Hannah,’ he said. ‘I’m trying to be calm about this. And fatalistic. No one could blame you for asking yourself . . . Look, if you want me to take a lie-detector test . . . Or a paternity test . . .’

Hannah raised her hands as if to ward off a blow. ‘Stop. Please. It was only the shock that rocked me for a moment. And then I came to my senses. I know you, Adam. A person’s world has to have some bedrock . . . truths. If there’s one thing in this world that I do know, it’s that you could never do what she said.’

‘Thank you,’ he said humbly.

‘No need,’ said Hannah.

Adam grimaced. ‘Listening to her, I swear, I almost thought she believed it.’

‘She may have convinced herself somehow. Obviously, there is something terribly wrong with Lisa.’

‘Parents are supposed to be their child’s most tireless advocates. No matter what,’ he said. ‘I always believed that. We’re supposed to support them and stay on their side.’

Hannah looked at him frankly. ‘With all that we know about her now? After seeing those letters?’ She shuddered