Chương 8
About her life.
About the choices you were making while I was watching.
Daniel stopped.
Grace noticed.
“What does that mean?”
He looked up.
“I don’t know yet.”
She stared at him.
“My father wrote this years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how do you not know?”
Because Marcus had always been good at making people feel like they were standing in front of a locked door.
Daniel had spent years believing he was the one holding the key.
Maybe he had been wrong.
He looked back at the letter.
I watched you become more like your father every year.
You built something impressive.
You became someone people respected.
But you also became someone who believed providing was the same as being present.
Daniel swallowed.
Grace looked uncomfortable.
“Should I read this?”
He handed the letter back.
“No.”
She frowned.
“No?”
“It’s from my father to me.”
She looked at the paper.
“It’s also about my father.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
For a moment neither moved.
Then Grace folded the letter carefully.
Not angrily.
Not dramatically.
Just carefully.
“My father always said people showed who they were by what they avoided.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That sounds like Marcus.”
“He was right a lot.”
“Annoyingly.”
A small smile appeared.
Then disappeared.
Grace looked down.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That he had a daughter.”
Daniel answered honestly.
“No.”
She nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
The word carried disappointment.
Not accusation.
That made it harder.
“You thought he hid me.”
“I think he protected you.”
“From what?”
Daniel looked at the letter.
“I don’t know.”
Grace stood and walked toward the kitchen.
The apartment was small enough that she only needed a few steps.
She opened a cabinet.
Closed it.
Opened another.
Daniel noticed.
A nervous habit.
People often searched for something to do when they were trying not to react.
“He wasn’t a secret person,” she said.
Daniel stayed quiet.
“He was quiet.”
She leaned against the counter.
“Those are different.”
“Yes.”
“My father would disappear for hours.”
Daniel listened.
“I used to think he was avoiding us.”
“Maybe he was.”
Grace looked at him.
The answer surprised her.
Daniel continued.
“But maybe not for the reason you thought.”
She looked away.
“Everyone always wants dead people to be better than they were.”
“I don’t.”
“No?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
“I think Marcus was a good man.”
He paused.
“But good people can still hurt others.”
Grace nodded.
“That’s what I needed people to understand.”
The honesty in her voice changed the room.
“He loved me.”
Daniel waited.
“But he still left me with questions.”
She looked at the letter.
“And I hated him for that.”
The word sounded painful.
Not angry.
Painful.
Daniel understood.
The people we love are often the only ones who can disappoint us deeply enough to create anger that lasts years.
Maya walked into the room holding the teddy bear.
“Mommy.”
Grace turned.
“Yes?”
“Can I have juice?”
The seriousness of the moment broke instantly.
Grace blinked.
Then laughed quietly.
“Of course.”
Maya walked toward the kitchen.
Daniel smiled.
“That was good timing.”
“She’s talented.”
“She knew.”
Grace looked at him.
“Knew what?”
“How to stop adults from making things too serious.”
Grace smiled.
“She does that.”
The ordinary moment lasted only a minute.
But Daniel needed it.
The letter had changed something.
Not solved anything.
Changed.
After Maya returned to the living room with her juice, Grace sat beside her.
Daniel looked at the envelope.
“There may be more.”
Grace looked at the boxes.
“I know.”
“Have you checked?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She looked at Maya.
“Because if there is more, then I have to accept that my father left me things I didn’t know existed.”
Daniel nodded.
“And if there isn’t?”
“Then I have to accept that this is all I get.”
He understood.
Sometimes people feared finding answers because answers could remove the hope that there was still something waiting.
A phone buzzed.
Grace looked down.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She turned the screen toward herself.
“It’s my landlord.”
Daniel looked away.
“Everything okay?”
She hesitated.
“No.”
The hesitation told him enough.
“What happened?”
Grace locked the phone.
“He says there was a complaint about noise.”
“Maya?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He says someone contacted him about a tenant violation.”
Daniel frowned.
“Did you violate anything?”
“No.”
“Then?”
She laughed without humor.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at her.
The timing bothered him.
The estate complaint.
Now this.
“Who knows where you live?”
Grace looked confused.
“What?”
“Who knew your address?”
She thought.
“My employer has it.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
Daniel stood.
Grace looked up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
She had started saying his name without hesitation.
A small change.
A real one.
“I’m thinking.”
“That usually means trouble.”
He almost smiled.
“Sometimes.”
She looked at him carefully.
“You think someone is doing this?”
“I think two complaints appearing at the same time is unusual.”
Grace’s face tightened.
“Because of me?”
“Because someone is trying to create pressure.”
She looked toward Maya.
Fear appeared briefly.
Not for herself.
For her daughter.
Daniel saw it.
“We need to be careful.”
Grace nodded.
“I can handle it.”
“I know.”
She looked surprised.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Most people say that when they mean they think I can’t.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I mean I know you have handled things before.”
The answer softened something.
“But handling everything alone is not the same as being okay.”
Grace looked at him.
For a moment, she almost responded.
Then her phone buzzed again.
This time it was not her landlord.
It was a message from an unknown number.
She opened it.
Her face changed.
Daniel saw the reaction.
“What is it?”
She handed him the phone.
The message contained only one sentence.
Stop looking for answers that were buried for a reason.
Daniel read it twice.
Then he looked at Grace.
The fear on her face was gone.
Something else had replaced it.
May you like
Anger.
“My father wasn’t buried with secrets.”
