Chapter 2 - The Rules of the Bellacorte House)
The Bellacorte house was large enough for a child to disappear inside it.
There were twelve rooms Noah was allowed to enter freely and at least twice that many he was expected to stay away from.
Mark called it structure.
Claudia called it teaching standards.
Noah understood it differently.
There were good rooms and dangerous rooms.
The playroom was usually safe.
The kitchen was safe unless Mark was on the phone.
The formal dining room was dangerous because Claudia hated fingerprints on the table.
Mark's office was always dangerous.
Their bedroom was forbidden.
The garage depended on whether Mark was home.
The hallway outside Noah's bedroom was dangerous after eight.
And anywhere could become dangerous if a glass broke, a shoe was left in the wrong place, or Noah asked the wrong question at the wrong time.
The following morning, Claudia entered his bedroom before sunrise.
Noah was asleep.
She switched on the ceiling light.
He sat up.
"Where is it?"
He rubbed his eyes.
"What?"
"The airplane."
Noah became still.
Claudia crossed the room.
"You took it out of the cabinet."
No answer.
She opened the toy chest.
Then the closet.
Then the drawer beside his bed.
Noah watched her.
"Where did you put it?"
"It's for Grandpa."
"I didn't ask what it's for."
She turned toward him.
"I asked where it is."
Noah pulled the blanket higher.
Claudia walked to the bed.
"Are you lying to me?"
"No."
"Then tell me."
Noah's eyes moved toward the floor for half a second.
That was enough.
Claudia bent, lifted the edge of the bed skirt, and saw the pillowcase.
Noah jumped down.
"No."
She reached for it.
Noah grabbed the airplane first and ran.
He made it to the hallway.
Claudia caught his sleeve.
"Give it to me."
"No."
"Noah."
"It's mine."
She pulled him back.
He hugged the airplane against his chest.
"Grandpa's going to like it."
"You don't decide what Grandpa likes."
"He said he likes things I make."
Claudia paused.
"When?"
Noah realized too late that she had become interested.
"Last time."
"What did he say?"
Noah said nothing.
Claudia crouched.
Her voice softened suddenly.
"Noah, what did Grandpa say to you last time you visited?"
Noah stared at her.
"He said I could show him my drawings."
"Anything else?"
"He said I can call him."
"When?"
"Whenever."
Claudia's expression tightened.
"Did you call him?"
"No."
"Did you tell him anything?"
Noah looked confused.
"About what?"
She studied him for several seconds.
Then Mark appeared at the end of the hall.
"What's going on?"
"He took the airplane back."
Mark walked closer.
Noah backed against the wall.
Mark looked at Claudia.
"Give us a minute."
She released the boy's sleeve.
Mark crouched in front of Noah.
"Son, do you know why rules matter?"
Noah nodded automatically.
"Tell me."
"So people behave."
"So people can be trusted," Mark corrected. "And when someone breaks rules, trust goes away."
Noah looked down.
"You broke a rule."
"I wanted to give Grandpa my present."
Mark took the airplane gently.
That gentleness frightened Noah more than anger.
"Do you know why your mother doesn't want you bringing this?"
Noah shook his head.
"Because my father notices everything."
Mark held the toy up.
"He'll ask where you made it."
Noah waited.
"He'll ask who helped you. He'll ask why you were in the garage. He'll ask questions."
Noah did not understand why that was bad.
Mark leaned closer.
"And you talk too much when adults ask you questions."
Noah's eyes lifted.
"I'm not supposed to lie."
"Nobody is asking you to lie."
Mark smiled without warmth.
"I'm asking you to know what is private."
He placed the airplane against Noah's chest.
Noah took it.
"What happens inside this family stays inside this family."
Claudia folded her arms.
Mark continued.
"If Grandpa asks whether everything at home is good, what do you say?"
Noah hesitated.
Mark's eyes hardened.
Noah whispered, "Everything is good."
"If he asks whether your mother and I take care of you?"
"You take care of me."
"If he asks whether you're happy?"
Noah looked at the wooden airplane.
Mark waited.
"I'm happy."
"Good boy."
Mark stood.
Claudia stared at him.
"You are letting him keep it?"
Mark looked toward her.
"Yes."
She frowned.
Mark gave her a meaningful look.
"We're going to teach him how to behave with it."
Noah did not understand.
But that afternoon, he learned.
Every time he forgot a rule, the airplane disappeared for an hour.
When he spilled juice, Mark put it on top of a cabinet.
When Noah cried, Claudia extended the punishment.
When he asked for it back too many times, Mark said the airplane might not survive until the birthday.
By evening, Noah had stopped asking.
That night, Mark entered his study and closed the door.
Claudia followed him.
Noah was supposed to be asleep.
He was not.
He was sitting halfway down the stairs with the airplane in his lap.
Through the study door, he could hear their voices.
"The trust meeting is after his birthday," Claudia said.
"I know."
"If Richard changes the documents, we're in trouble."
"He won't."
"He already asked for Noah's school reports."
Silence.
Then Mark spoke.
"He also asked Martha whether Noah seems afraid of me."
Claudia's voice dropped.
"Why would he ask that?"
"I don't know."
Noah leaned closer.
Mark continued.
"My father has always been suspicious. If Noah says something stupid in Colorado, Richard will turn it into a war."
"Then don't let Noah be alone with him."
"That's the plan."
Noah stared at the tiny airplane in his hands.
Claudia spoke again.
"And if Richard asks about the money?"
Mark did not answer immediately.
When he finally did, his voice was barely audible.
"He won't."
Noah did not know what money they were talking about.
But he remembered something else.
A week earlier, he had heard Mark yelling into the phone about an account with Noah's name on it.
At the time, he had not understood.
Now he heard Claudia say a sentence that made even a four year old recognize fear.
"If your father finds out what we used Noah's trust for, he won't just cut us off."
Noah accidentally shifted his foot.
The stair creaked.
The study went silent.
Noah's heart stopped.
The door opened.
May you like
Mark stepped into the hall.
And looked directly toward the stairs.
