Madeline:
After I told Baxter about the contract and reminded him that he could not act foolishly, I asked the two of them to leave me alone.
Graham immediately obeyed, but Baxter tried to resist.
He grunted, coughed, groaned, and stomped his feet—childish tantrums meant to make the children hear him and come out, asking me to spend time with him.
He did not realize I was one step ahead.
The moment he started all that, I had already closed the door to my children’s room.
I did not let him near them.
After he left, I locked the door and sat by the window, intending to have a glass of wine.
But my kids had already woken up from their nap, so I could not.
“How are you?” Nina asked after we had played with the kids, fed them. And now that they were watching TV, we had some time for ou
