Chương 3
Then I stood beside Godfrey’s SUV and looked at the house keys in my palm.
By the time I returned that evening, Selina and Godfrey were waiting at the dining table.
The broken plate had disappeared from the backyard.
So had Phedra’s bucket.
Someone had even put flowers on the table.
Selina had removed the hummingbird necklace.
“Where’s Phedra?” Godfrey asked.
“Hospital.”
Selina crossed herself.
“Is she very bad?”
I pulled out a chair.
“Yes.”
For the first time that day, something resembling shame crossed her face.
It did not stay long.
“We did what we could.”
“I know.”
Godfrey frowned.
“You know?”
“I’ve had time to think.”
Selina studied me.
I let my shoulders sag.
Then I rubbed my face and gave them the thing they had been waiting for all day: a version of me they could understand.
“I’m tired.”
My mother’s posture softened.
“Of course you are.”
“I came home with news.”
Godfrey glanced at Selina.
I pretended not to notice.
“The accident at the shop last year,” I said.
“You remember?”
Selina nodded.
“The one with the machine.”
“The company settled.”
Neither of them moved.
I let the silence stretch.
“How much?” Godfrey finally asked.
I looked at my brother.
“A little over a million dollars.”
His lips parted.
Selina whispered my name.
I lowered my eyes before either of them could see that, for the first time since finding Phedra in the dirt, I knew exactly what I was going to do next.
Selina was the first to move.
She sat back slowly, as if the number had pushed against her chest.
“A million?”
“A little more.”
Godfrey leaned forward with both forearms on the table.
“American?”
“Canadian settlement, paid in Canadian dollars, converted when it clears.”
He blinked.
That distinction seemed to disappoint him for half a second, then arithmetic repaired the feeling.
“When does it hit?”
I reached for the water pitcher.
“Soon.”
Selina watched me fill a glass.
Her face had changed completely.
The tightness around her mouth was gone, replaced by concern so soft and practiced that I almost admired it.
“You should have told us about the case.”
“There wasn’t much to tell.”
“You went through all of that alone?”
I drank.
The same woman who had told my wife she should have thought about cancer before getting sick was now grieving an accident that had happened to me eighteen months ago.
Family can perform miracles when money walks into the room.
Godfrey rubbed his jaw.
“So what are you thinking?”
“About?”
“The money.”
“I haven’t decided.”
“You need to be smart.”
Selina nodded immediately.
“Very smart.”
I looked from one to the other.
“What would you do?”
Godfrey smiled.
It came too quickly.
“Well, first, you don’t leave that kind of money sitting in some regular account.”
“Obviously.”
“You buy assets.”
“What kind?”
“Property, maybe.”
He tapped one finger against the table.
“Business.”
Selina added, “And family.”
Godfrey gave her a brief annoyed look, as if she had entered his sales pitch before he reached the closing.
I pretended not to notice.
“I’ve been thinking about coming home permanently.”
That silenced them.
Selina’s eyes filled with tears.
This time I believed at least part of them.
“You mean it?”
“Calgary was never supposed to be forever.”
She put a hand over mine.
“My son.”
I let her.
Her fingers were warm, familiar, and for one dangerous second I was eight years old again, feverish under a blanket while she pressed a damp cloth to my forehead.
That was the difficulty with betrayal.
People did not become strangers simply because you discovered what they had done.
The history remained in the body.
Godfrey pushed his chair back.
“If you’re coming home, then you should see the shop tomorrow.”
“What shop?”
He stared at me.
“My auto shop.”
“Oh.”
“You sent money when I opened it.”
“I sent Mom money.”
The room tightened.
Godfrey recovered with a laugh.
“Same difference.”
“No.”
He stopped laughing.
I lifted my glass.
“But I’d like to see it.”
His shoulders dropped again.
“Good.”
Selina squeezed my hand.
“We can fix all of this.”
I looked at her.
“All of what?”
“With Phedra.”
The hesitation before my wife’s name was small, but it was there.
“She needs us right now.”
“She needed you eleven months ago.”
My mother withdrew her hand.
I had pushed too hard.
The trick would not work if they believed I had already judged them.
I rubbed my forehead.
“I’m tired.”
Selina softened again.
“Of course.”
“I’m angry, but I don’t know everything yet.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
“So tell me tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I want everybody’s records.”
Godfrey frowned.
“What records?”
“Bank statements, receipts, construction expenses, the shop paperwork, whatever you have.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m about to have more money than I’ve ever had in my life.”
I leaned back.
“If I’m investing here, I need to know how this family handles money.”
Godfrey’s eyes narrowed.
Selina answered before he could.
“That’s reasonable.”
He looked at her.
She gave him a glance that lasted less than a second.
Something passed between them.
“Sure,” he said.
“Reasonable.”
I stood.
“I need clothes from my room.”
Selina rose too quickly.
“You can stay here tonight.”
“I’m going back to the hospital.”
“They’ll let you sleep there?”
“I’ll find out.”
She followed me into the hallway.
I had nearly reached the bedroom when she touched my arm.
“Damian.”
I turned.
Her voice dropped.
“Don’t make promises to Phedra about the settlement yet.”
“Why would I?”
“She’s frightened.”
“Yes.”
“Sick people get ideas.”
I stared at her.
Selina looked away first.
“What kind of ideas?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I don’t.”
“She might think all of it should go toward treatment.”
There it was.
Not cruelty this time.
Fear.
My mother was frightened that a woman with cancer might consume money that Selina had already begun spending in her imagination.
I nodded slowly.
“That would be emotional.”
May you like
“Exactly.”
“I won’t make any decisions tonight.”
