Page 43 of In A Faraway Land

Snooping and Regrets

Flicka von Hannover

I regretted snooping

as soon as I saw the name.

Dieter loaded Alina into a hired car to take her to the daycare while Flicka did just a few more things around the townhouse.

Once the car turned the corner, she made a beeline for Dieter’s file folder he kept in the top drawer of their dresser.

She’d tried to resist. She’dtried to refrain.

But she just had to know, damn it.

She tugged the drawer—damn thing stuck—and pulled out the manila folder with a few sheets of paper inside.

The Mirabaud passports were there, the Gretchen one that she had used and the one for Dieter under the name Raphael.

Raphael.

And another passport, a Swiss military one for official travel, expired the year before. That one had Dieter’spicture and listed his name as Dieter Schwarz.

She set the passports aside.

Just as she’d suspected, there was a birth certificate for Alina. He’d shown it to the daycare center when they’d enrolled her.

The toddler girl’s name was Alina Sophie Mirabaud. Her father’s name was listed as Raphael, and her mother’s as Gretchen. Alina had been born in Chicago.

Panic closed around Flicka’s heart.

More papers filled the folder. A stapled stack was a divorce decree, a signed notice of the dissolution of the marriage of Gretchen Mirabaud, born Gretchen Muller, and Raphael Mirabaud.

Raphael.

There was even a Swiss birth certificate written in five languages for Raphael Mirabaud. It listed his birthday as October twenty-sixth, and Raphael was almost seven months younger than Dieter claimedhe was.

That asshole was a Scorpio, not a Virgo.

Raphael.

She said it out loud, trying it in her mouth,“Raphael.”

It felt foreign. It felt wrong.

It felt like Dieter Schwarz had been lying to her for over a decade, since she was a little girl.

Flicka closed her eyes, shoved the folder back in the drawer, and slammed it shut.

She wouldn’t believe the papers. Paperwork could be forged.

Dieter wouldn’t lie to her.

She resolved not to believe it at all, no matter what.