Chương 9
“For now.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“You cannot simply erase a grandmother.”
Laura looked at her.
“You just tried to erase a father.”
Margaret stared.
Then she left.
The front door clicked shut.
No one spoke.
Sophie said, “Can I have my tablet?”
Laura let out a breath.
“Twenty minutes.”
“Thirty?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Deal.”
She went back to the family room.
Daniel sat on the bottom stair.
Laura leaned against the wall.
After a while he said, “I need to see Dad’s note.”
“Yes.”
“What if she made it up?”
“She reacted before she had time to decide not to.”
“I know.”
Laura looked at him.
“Do you?”
He glanced up.
She almost apologized.
Didn’t.
Daniel said, “I’m calling Mark.”
“Why?”
“He helped Mom with Dad’s estate.”
Laura nodded.
Mark was Daniel’s cousin and an attorney, though not the kind who handled estate litigation. Laura did not know exactly what he had done for Margaret after Charles’s death.
Daniel called.
Mark answered on the fourth ring.
“Please tell me you’re not calling about yesterday.”
Daniel said, “I’m calling about yesterday.”
Mark groaned softly.
“Danny.”
“Did Dad leave a note about Sophie?”
Silence.
Laura straightened.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Mark?”
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Is Laura there?”
“Yes.”
Mark exhaled.
“I’m not getting in the middle.”
“You’re already in it.”
“No, I helped Aunt Margaret organize paperwork. That’s it.”
“Did you see a note?”
Another silence.
Daniel stood.
“Mark.”
“I saw a letter.”
Laura’s heart began beating faster.
“About Sophie?”
“About the trust.”
“What did it say?”
“I didn’t read the whole thing.”
“What part did you read?”
“Danny.”
“What part?”
Mark hesitated.
“Your dad was worried about your mom.”
Daniel frowned.
“How?”
“He thought grief would make her controlling.”
Laura looked at Daniel.
Neither spoke.
Mark continued.
“He wrote several letters. One for each of you. I assumed you got yours.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then talk to your mom.”
“I am talking to you.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Did Dad question Sophie’s paternity?”
Mark answered immediately.
“No.”
The speed mattered.
Daniel sat again.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Did he say anything about not including her in the trust?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Laura closed her eyes.
A dead man had just been cleared of an accusation he never knew existed.
Daniel said, “What did the letter say about Mom?”
Mark sighed.
“Something like she might confuse keeping people close with controlling them. I don’t remember exactly.”
Laura looked at Daniel.
His eyes were wet.
Mark said, “He loved her.”
“I know.”
“He was worried she’d be alone.”
“I know.”
“And he knew she could get… rigid.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Rigid.”
“His word, maybe. I don’t know. Look, I shouldn’t paraphrase this. You need the actual letter.”
“Why didn’t you send it?”
“I gave everything to your mom.”
“When?”
“After the memorial.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“That was eighteen months ago.”
“I assumed she distributed the personal letters.”
“She didn’t.”
Mark went quiet.
Then he said, “I’m sorry.”
Daniel ended the call.
Laura sat beside him.
They did not touch.
After several minutes, Daniel said, “I believed her.”
“Yes.”
“She used Dad.”
“Yes.”
“I still believed her.”
Laura looked at the opposite wall.
There was a crooked family photograph above the console table.
They had been meaning to straighten it for months.
“I believed versions of her too.”
Daniel turned.
Laura shrugged.
“I told myself she was snobbish, not dangerous. Difficult, not cruel. Old-fashioned. Lonely. Grieving.”
“You defended her?”
“Not to you.”
“To yourself.”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
For a moment they were not opponents.
Just two people looking at the same wreckage from different sides.
Then Daniel said, “I want to go get the letters.”
Laura’s shoulders tightened.
“No.”
He stared.
“I need them.”
“You need to stay here.”
“Why?”
“Because Sophie asked if you’re her father this morning.”
His face fell.
Laura continued.
“You don’t get to solve your mother right now.”
He looked toward the family room.
“You’re right.”
“I know you want to go there because paperwork is easier than sitting here.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s accurate.”
He stood.
“What do you want me to do, Laura?”
She stood too.
“Stop asking me to assign you fatherhood.”
His expression hardened.
“I am trying.”
“I know.”
“Nothing I do is enough today.”
“No.”
He looked stunned.
Laura immediately regretted how sharp it sounded, but she did not take it back.
“Today it isn’t enough,” she said. “Today is the consequence day.”
He stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you did something months ago that made yesterday possible. You don’t get to repair it before lunch.”
Daniel looked away.
The silence stretched.
From the family room Sophie laughed at something on her tablet.
Both parents turned toward the sound.
Daniel sat down again.
“Okay.”
That afternoon, Laura took Sophie to the park.
Not because the park fixed anything.
Because Sophie wanted to feed ducks.
The pond had a sign saying not to feed them bread, so they bought approved pellets from a small dispenser.
Sophie threw them too hard.
Most landed on the path.
A duck waddled directly toward Laura’s shoes.
She stepped back.
Sophie laughed.
The sound loosened something in Laura’s chest.
“Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Can DNA change?”
Laura looked at her.
“Not like that.”
“Can the paper change?”
“The paper could be wrong if someone did the test badly, but Daddy’s test wasn’t wrong.”
Sophie stared at the pond.
“Grandma said papers can lie.”
“People can lie about papers.”
Sophie considered that.
“Did Grandma hate me?”
Laura’s first instinct was immediate reassurance.
No, sweetheart, of course not.
She stopped herself.
Children noticed false certainty too.
“I don’t think she hates you.”
“Then why did she do mean things?”
Laura watched a duck plunge its head underwater, tail straight up.
“People can love someone and still do things that hurt them.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
“Would you do that?”
Laura looked at her daughter.
“I have.”
Sophie’s eyes widened.
May you like
“When?”
“I’ve yelled when I should’ve listened. I’ve promised things and forgotten. Once I told you your drawing was beautiful when I was answering a work email and didn’t even look at it.”
