Page 149 of The Newcomer
“That is the loveliest offer anyone has ever made me. Truly. But Joe, we can’t stay.”
“Why not?”
Letty slid off his lap and stood looking out at the sky. “I talked to Tanya’s lawyer today. I’ve got to go back to New York. There’s so much stuff to settle with her estate. The most important thing is, we’ve got to get a judge to name me as Maya’s legal guardian.”
“But Wingfield isn’t even her biological father,” Joe protested. “He’s going to prison, and if I have anything to do with it, he’ll spend the rest of his life there. And besides, your sister left a will naming you as Maya’s guardian. What is there to fight?”
“Tanya represented to Evan that he was Maya’s father. His name is on her birth certificate. So right now, as far as the law is concerned, he is, in fact, her father. I’ll probably have to get a DNA test to eliminate Evan as Maya’s father.”
“How long can all that take?”
“I don’t know. Sammi says there’ll be hearings, so I’ll have to be there for that. And a judge may want to interview me, and Maya.”
“Sammi?”
“Tanya’s lawyer. She’s the one who drew up the will for Tanya. And of course, Tanya didn’t bother to tell Sammi that Evan wasn’t Maya’s biological father.”
“Fine. So you guys live here, but you fly back up there for the legal stuff.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “I can’t keep ping-ponging Maya from place to place. She’ll start kindergarten in the fall. I told you before, I need some stability in our lives. Especially now that we know she actually saw Evan kill her mom. I need to find her a good child therapist.”
“We’ve got kindergartens right here in Treasure Island,” Joe said. “And therapists. Letty, do you really want to raise Maya in a place like New York? C’mon? Where would you live? You told me before your old apartment was the size of the efficiency. Can you honestly tell me you want to go back to that?”
“I’ll have to find a new place,” she said.
“And what’ll you do about a job? How are you gonna afford living in New York with a kid?”
A breeze had kicked up, and she suddenly felt chilly. Maybe it was the thought of spending another winter in the city. Of bundling Maya into a snowsuit, mittens, socks, and boots. Or maybe it was just the wind blowing off the Gulf. She had to keep reminding herself that it was technically still winter, even in Florida, in late March, when the nighttime temperatures dropped into the low sixties.
Letty crossed her arms and rubbed them to keep them warm.
“Tanya had a pretty big life insurance policy,” she said slowly. “Of course, Maya is the primary beneficiary, but I’m the secondary. Sammi says the money will go into a trust to provide for Maya, but it’ll be more than enough to provide for her housing and education and welfare. She says it’ll also be enough to hire lawyers to make sure Evan never gets near Maya again.”
“What about us?” The question hung there in the jasmine-scented air.
Letty wouldn’t allow herself to go to him. If she did that, he’d pull her into his lap again, draw her into his plans for their future. She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to resist the temptation.
“I don’t know. I can’t think about us right now. I want to, Joe. I want to want all the things you’re offering. But the timing is all wrong.”
She couldn’t see his face in the dim light, but from the tone of his voice, which dripped icicles, Letty knew he was hurt.
“So that’s it? You’re leaving? How soon?”
“I’ve already told your mom about my plans.”
“You told her, but not me?”
“Earlier today, while you and Vikki were at the hospital. I felt like I owed her. Fortunately, I don’t have that much stuff here to pack up. I’ll find an apartment for Maya and me, someplace that’s month-to-month, no lease, so I don’t have to make a long-term commitment.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to make a commitment now, would you?”
His words sliced right through to the bone, but she wouldn’t let on to him that she was hurt.
Joe stood up abruptly. “I’d better go. I’m meeting with the district attorney in the morning, and we’ve got a conference call with that sheriff down in Immokalee, and there’s a shit ton of paperwork to do.”
Letty pressed her lips together to keep from begging him to stay. Instead, she gathered up the pizza box and the glasses and followed him inside. He picked up his keys and opened the apartment door to leave.
Vikki Hill stood there, her hand raised to knock. Her hair was mussed and her gym shorts and T-shirt looked like they’d been rescued from the dirty-clothes hamper. “You gotta come see this,” she announced.
