Chương 5
Diane nodded immediately.
“Of course.”
Richard said nothing.
Sarah looked down at her hands.
Mr. Keller gave Emily his card even though she already had his number.
“Call me in the morning.”
He left at seven fifty-eight.
Emily knew because she looked at the microwave clock immediately afterward.
She would remember that time.
Not because anything dramatic happened.
Because at seven fifty-eight, with the attorney gone and the guests gone and the music off, they became a family again.
That was worse.
Linda stood first.
“I should go.”
Diane looked at her.
“You probably should.”
Linda picked up her purse.
“Diane, I honestly thought—”
“I know what you thought.”
“Sarah told me—”
“I know what she told you.”
“I would never intentionally—”
“Linda.”
Her sister stopped.
Diane rubbed the bridge of her nose.
“Please go home.”
Linda nodded.
She did not say goodbye to Emily.
At the door, she turned as though she might.
Then she left.
Richard stayed at the table.
Sarah stayed at the table.
Emily’s suitcase stood beside the wall.
Nobody touched the cake.
Finally Richard said, “Your grandmother promised me I would never have to leave this house.”
Emily looked at him.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Did she put it in writing?”
His eyes flashed.
“Not everything between family needs to be in writing.”
Sarah made a tiny sound that might have been a laugh.
Every head turned toward her.
She covered it with her hand.
“Sorry.”
Emily could not help it.
She laughed too.
Not because it was funny.
Because the absurdity had exceeded her ability to remain solemn.
Richard stared at both daughters.
“You think this is amusing?”
“No,” Emily said. “I think that sentence had bad timing.”
Even Diane laughed then.
One broken breath through her nose.
She immediately looked ashamed.
Sarah started crying for real.
Emily could tell the difference.
Her shoulders folded inward. She covered her face with both hands. The careful birthday makeup was finally ruined.
“I hate all of you.”
Richard pushed his chair back.
“Sarah.”
“No. Leave me alone.”
“You owe your sister an explanation.”
“I know.”
“Then give one.”
“I said leave me alone.”
She ran upstairs.
Richard started after her.
Emily said, “Dad.”
He stopped.
“Not tonight.”
“She just tried to destroy your reputation.”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re protecting her?”
“I’m stopping you from going upstairs angry.”
His face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Emily had seen that expression on him when she was young and had said something too accurate.
Diane looked down.
Richard walked toward the living room instead.
He stood among the balloons.
After a while, he began picking up cups.
No one asked him to.
Emily went upstairs to the guest room.
The bed was stripped because Linda had apparently packed the sheets too.
Emily stood in the doorway and stared at the bare mattress.
Then she laughed again.
She sat on the floor.
Two minutes later Diane appeared carrying clean sheets.
Neither of them spoke while making the bed.
At one point Diane tried to fit the wrong corner of the fitted sheet over the mattress.
Emily said, “Other way.”
“I know.”
“You clearly don’t.”
“I have made beds before.”
“Evidence suggests otherwise.”
Diane looked at her.
Emily waited.
Her mother smiled despite herself.
It vanished quickly.
“I am so sorry.”
Emily tucked the sheet under one corner.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Emily straightened.
Diane’s eyes were swollen now.
“When that bracelet came out of your bag, I thought—”
“You thought I took it.”
“Yes.”
Emily looked away.
Her mother continued.
“And then I remembered all those arguments with your grandmother about the house and your father, and I thought maybe you were angry and you did something stupid, and I—”
“I never argued with Grandma about the house.”
Diane stopped.
“What?”
“I never talked to her about who got it.”
“Your father said—”
“I told Grandma I thought Dad was pushing her to move too fast when she first went into assisted living. That was the argument.”
Diane stared at her.
“He said you were pressuring her not to sell.”
“She never wanted to sell.”
“But Richard said you kept interfering.”
Emily folded a pillowcase.
“Dad calls it interfering when someone disagrees before he’s finished making the decision.”
Diane sat on the edge of the bed.
For a long time she studied the carpet.
Then she said, “He was scared.”
Emily did not answer.
“The business was bad then.”
“I know.”
“No, you knew it was slow. You didn’t know how bad.”
Emily put the pillow on the bed.
“What does that have to do with Grandma?”
Diane rubbed her palms together.
“Your father thought if Eleanor sold this place, she would give him some of the proceeds early.”
Emily stared at her.
“Did Grandma know that?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Not the whole answer.
But a door opening.
Diane pressed her lips together.
“He had used a line of credit to keep the company going. Then two contracts disappeared almost at the same time. He panicked.”
“And asked his mother for money.”
“He asked whether she planned to stay in the house.”
“She had already moved out.”
“I know.”
“He was trying to get her to sell.”
“He thought the place was too much for her.”
“And he needed money.”
Diane looked up.
“Both can be true.”
Emily sat beside her.
That was the first useful thing anyone had said all night.
Both can be true.
Her father could have worried about Eleanor and wanted her money.
Sarah could love Emily and resent her.
Diane could trust her daughter and still believe terrible evidence.
Emily could own the house and not feel triumphant.
Both could be true.
“Did Grandma give him money?”
“No.”
“Did he get angry?”
“Yes.”
“How angry?”
Diane looked toward the door.
Not because Richard was there.
Because he might be.
“That’s between them.”
Emily stood.
“That answer is between all of us now.”
Diane flinched.
May you like
Emily regretted the sharpness immediately but did not apologize.
Her mother left ten minutes later.
