Reasonable Doubt: Volume 3 (Reasonable Doubt 3)

“He doesn’t f**k me like you do...” she whispered.

“Stop it, Ava.” He kissed her cheek. “Stop it.”

I didn’t want to hear anymore.

I couldn’t take it.

As the two of them kissed and held each other—completely immersing themselves in their own world, I forced myself to walk away.

I hit the lights in my office and noticed a bright blue box on my desk. It read, “To: the love of my life. From: Your first and only love.”

My heart ached again as I tore the wrapping and looked inside: A new set of cufflinks, a set that probably cost more than all of my suits combined. My initials were engraved in them, and she’d enclosed a quote from my favorite authors:

“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of life much so. Aim above morality.”

-Henry David Thoreau

I sighed. She’d left out the last part of the quote, the “Be not simply good; be good for something.”

I pulled out my phone and sent her an email:

Subject: Coffee.

I think I will try some coffee…Are you still at the coffee shop?

—Liam

Subject: Re: Coffee.

Yes. I think I’ll be here all night.

What kind would you like?

—Ava.

Subject: Re: Re: Coffee.

Whatever you think is best for a first timer…

Have you talked to Kevin today?

—Ava

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Coffee.

Not at all. He’s been weirder than usual lately. (We really need to find him a girlfriend…) Have you?

—Ava.

I didn’t answer.

I left my office and walked over to Emma’s playroom, looking at her as she slept peacefully. I wanted to make her wake up, make her look at me, so I could study her features and pick them apart, so I could see for myself that she was indeed Kevin’s, but I couldn’t.

She was mine, biological father or not.

I carried her out of the firm and rushed home. As soon as I set her down, I flipped over the coffee table and opened the envelope I’d filed away hours earlier.

It was a standard summons, a demand to appear in court, but the charges listed didn’t end on one page. They didn’t even end on two.