Chapter 3

Once Mary calmed down, Clara led her over and gave me a apologetic nod.

"Ms. Carter, I’m so sorry. Mary was startled."

"She doesn't have a father. Julian has helped us a lot, so sometimes she gets confused."

I stared at her. "Did you know Julian is married?"

Clara lowered her eyes. "Yes. That’s why I’ve never asked anything of him on my own."

I gripped my clipboard.

Before I could speak, Julian frowned and scolded me. "Chloe, don't be so harsh."

I looked straight at him. "Am I the one being harsh here?"

He went speechless.

Clara spoke up softly. "Julian, stop. Ms. Carter has every right to be angry."

She shrank back, and Julian instinctively stepped in front of her, shielding her.

I reached down, tapped the pause button on my phone's voice recorder app, and sent a message to Adrian, my clinical director:

Conflict of interest. Requesting immediate withdrawal from this on-site evaluation.

But until my replacement arrived, the record could not be interrupted.

The preschool director smiled and walked over. "Next is the family photo session. Ms. Carter, please continue recording Mary’s family interaction stability."

My hand holding the pen tensed.

The observation had already begun. A sudden change in evaluators would ruin the assessment.

I couldn’t just throw my clipboard down and storm out in front of the children.

Julian glanced at me, remaining silent.

A photo booth was set up in the center of the lawn.

The teacher called out, "Mary’s mommy and daddy, come over! Mary, stand in the middle."

Mary ran over, holding Julian’s hand on one side and Clara’s on the other.

Julian looked at me.

Clara whispered, "Maybe we shouldn't. Let's not make things difficult for Ms. Carter."

Mary immediately panicked. "Daddy, are you leaving again?"

Julian sighed and walked over to them.

The photographer smiled. "Dad, lean closer to Mom. Perfect. Mary, smile for the camera!"

Julian leaned closer to Clara. Clara didn't move away.

The sunlight fell beautifully over them.

I looked down at the evaluation sheet. I remembered our wedding photo shoot. Julian had promised me that in every photo, he would always stand by my side.

After the photos were printed, Mary ran to me with a small copy.

"Ms. Carter, look! This is my mommy and daddy."

I looked at Julian in the photo.

His lips were pressed in a tight line, but he didn't say a word to deny it.

I flipped to Mary's enrollment application form.

Under the "Family Guardian" section, it read: Julian.

Relationship: Father.

The signature was Julian's. The date was three months ago.

That day was our wedding anniversary.

No wonder the preschool staff kept calling him Mary's dad.

I shut the folder and wrote the first line in the evaluation recommendation box:

Highly recommend verifying the authenticity of the family relationships to prevent the child from internalizing false parental identities.

Julian walked over, saw the words, and his face drained of color.

He lowered his voice. "Chloe, don't do this."

"You know she’s just a child."

"So?" I countered. "Because she's a child, I'm supposed to help you write a better script for this play?"

His brow furrowed deep. "That's not what I meant."

Clara stood nearby, whispering, "Ms. Carter, I can explain."

"She really is dependent on Julian."

"I know it's not the child's fault," I said, looking straight at Julian. "The adults are the ones to blame."

Julian didn't argue, nor did he admit it.

Mary tugged at his hand. "Daddy, does Ms. Carter not like me?"

Julian knelt to soothe her. "No, Mary. You're great."

"Then why isn't she smiling?" Mary asked.

Julian paused. "She's just tired today."

I gripped my pen. He wouldn't even admit that he was the reason I was tired.