Chương 7
Megan’s head turned toward my mother.
“What?”
My mother stood so quickly the plastic chair scraped backward.
“He did not say that.”
Daniel’s voice sharpened through the receiver.
“Yes, I did.”
“You said you wanted to help the family.”
“I said I wanted Clara to have it.”
“You said you didn’t want her knowing it came from you.”
“That is not the same thing.”
My mother looked around as if the corridor might contain a witness favorable to her.
My father’s face had gone slack.
“Evelyn, where is that money?”
She stared at him.
He asked again.
“Where is it?”
“I used it.”
“For what?”
She shook her head.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“It was years ago.”
I laughed once.
Apparently everything became irrelevant if enough calendar pages passed over it.
Daniel coughed into the phone.
The nurse inside stepped toward him, but he waved her off.
“What did you use it for, Mom?”
My mother looked through the glass.
“You were drowning.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“I was what?”
“You and Megan were behind on the property taxes.”
Megan whispered, “Oh my God.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
My mother rushed on.
“You had already given us fifty thousand dollars, and then you were trying to give away another twenty when you were carrying debt.”
“That was my money.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By taking money I told you to give Clara?”
“I didn’t take it.”
“What do you call it?”
She looked at me.
“I used some of it to cover the taxes.”
My father frowned.
“I paid those taxes.”
“Not all of them.”
His expression hardened.
“How much did you pay?”
My mother’s mouth tightened.
“Eight thousand.”
“And the rest?”
Silence.
Megan bent down and picked up the phone charger from the floor.
She started winding it around her hand slowly.
I had the strange impression that she needed something small to obey her.
Daniel spoke first.
“Where did the other twelve go?”
My mother said, “I put it with the savings.”
My father stared at her.
“The account for Clara?”
“Yes.”
I felt too tired to be angry.
“How much is in that account now?”
Her eyes came to mine.
“Thirty-seven.”
“Thousand?”
“Yes.”
“Why more than twenty-five?”
“Interest.”
My father shook his head.
“Not that much interest.”
She looked annoyed.
“I added to it.”
“With what?”
“Our money.”
“How much?”
She exhaled hard.
“Not consistently.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“I don’t have every figure memorized.”
My father laughed without humor.
“You remember every figure when the figure proves you were generous.”
She turned on him.
“You are not going to stand there and make me the only person responsible for this.”
“I’m not.”
“You stopped the sale.”
“I did.”
“You told Clara no.”
“I did.”
“You signed the closing documents.”
“I did.”
“Then stop looking at me like I stole something.”
My father took a step closer.
“You hid money from me.”
“You hid behind me.”
His face tightened.
She pointed at him.
“You let me make every phone call to Clara because you couldn’t stand hearing Lily in the background.”
He said nothing.
“You let me be the one who said no.”
“I told you what to say.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“But you never said it yourself.”
That landed.
I watched my father’s shoulders lower.
My mother’s voice cracked.
“You sat in the den while I told our daughter we couldn’t help her child.”
My father swallowed.
“I know.”
“You made me do it.”
He looked at her.
“No.”
She stopped.
“I let you do it.”
For a few seconds, none of us moved.
The distinction was small.
It was also the first honest distinction either of them had made all night.
Megan finished winding the charger and unwound it again.
“I need to ask something.”
Everyone looked at her.
She looked at Daniel through the glass.
“When you gave them the second twenty, did you tell me?”
His eyes dropped.
“No.”
She nodded once.
“Of course.”
“Megan.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Her voice was too calm.
“It’s actually helpful.”
He looked alarmed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m learning that every time you felt guilty, you moved money around instead of talking to me.”
“That’s not fair.”
She laughed under her breath.
“Now you care about fair?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
She continued.
“We were fighting because you said we couldn’t afford to replace the furnace.”
“I remember.”
“You said we needed to stop pretending money grew on trees.”
“I know.”
“You had given away seventy thousand dollars.”
“I didn’t give it away.”
“You gave it to your parents.”
“For Clara.”
“Who never got it.”
He flinched.
Megan pressed her lips together.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel looked at her.
“For what?”
“For saying that like it was your fault alone.”
“It was partly.”
“Yes.”
She glanced at my parents.
“Apparently that’s the family business.”
My mother said, “That is unnecessary.”
Megan looked at her.
“No, unnecessary was buying us a house while your granddaughter needed treatment.”
My mother’s face hardened.
Megan did not look away.
“I lived in that house.”
Her voice dropped.
“I posted pictures from that house.”
I saw it then.
The silver bow.
Megan in a white sweater standing beside Daniel with a champagne bottle.
I had hated her in that photograph even though she had never asked me to.
“I didn’t know,” she said to me.
I nodded.
She looked almost disappointed by the lack of punishment.
“I didn’t know the amount.”
“I believe you.”
Her eyes filled.
“I knew they were helping us.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
She studied me.
“How?”
“Because you didn’t know what the choice cost.”
Daniel spoke through the receiver.
“I did.”
I looked at him.
He was not letting himself off the hook.
I respected him for that and resented him for making respect possible.
Dr. Shah returned with another physician I had not seen before.
May you like
They spoke briefly to the nurse, checked Daniel’s chart, and went into his room.
Daniel lowered the phone.
