Chương 3
“That was almost diplomatic.”
“I’ve been practicing.”
Ava stared at the ceiling.
Daniel had liked Nathan because Nathan almost never said more than he had decided to say.
They had met in the unglamorous part of Morgan Development’s security department eight years earlier, after a contractor threatened a vice president over a canceled project. Nathan later started his own firm. Daniel kept hiring him because, in Daniel’s words, Nathan had the rare ability to make rich people understand that their money did not suspend physics.
The thought of Daniel hurt more than Ava’s shoulder.
“I should have changed the code the first time,” she said.
Nathan’s gaze shifted toward her.
“I should have told Vanessa she couldn’t come and go whenever she wanted.”
“Yes.”
Ava looked at him.
“You could pretend to argue.”
“You hired me because I don’t.”
“I inherited you.”
“You renewed the contract.”
“That sounds like something my accountant would say.”
“It sounds like something your accountant did say.”
Ava smiled, then pressed her lips together when the cut inside her cheek stung.
A nurse came in to check the monitor.
For five minutes they discussed blood pressure, hydration, and whether Ava wanted ice chips.
Nobody mentioned houses.
Nobody mentioned wills.
Nobody mentioned the woman who had hit her.
The ordinary conversation steadied Ava more than reassurance had.
After the nurse left, Eleanor returned alone.
She closed the door.
“Vanessa says you stepped backward to scare her.”
Nathan looked at Eleanor.
Ava did not.
“Did she tell you that herself?”
“She called me.”
“You answered?”
“She’s my daughter.”
There was no apology in it.
Ava had not expected one.
“What did you say?”
“I told her to stop talking.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
That sounded like Vanessa.
Eleanor sat.
“She says you have been poisoning Daniel against her for years.”
Ava turned toward the window.
“Daniel is dead.”
“I’m aware.”
“I don’t have the energy to defend what someone says I did to a person who can’t answer.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“But?”
Eleanor’s lips tightened.
“There is no but.”
Ava waited.
Eleanor looked down at her hands.
Then the but came.
“I should have told her about the transfer.”
Nathan stood.
“I’ll give you privacy.”
Ava said, “You don’t have to.”
“I do if I want to keep liking any of you.”
He stepped into the hall.
Eleanor watched the door close.
“That man has become rude.”
“He learned from Daniel.”
“Yes. That’s what worries me.”
For several seconds the only sound in the room was the fetal monitor.
Eleanor folded the handle of her purse down and flattened it again.
“Robert used to say Vanessa was born believing every room had a seat saved for her.”
Ava had heard Eleanor speak about her late husband thousands of times.
She rarely began a story with him unless she was avoiding the present.
“Eleanor.”
“I know.”
“Did you tell Vanessa she would get the house?”
Eleanor’s eyes lifted.
“Not exactly.”
“What does not exactly mean?”
“It means I said something careless fifteen years ago.”
Ava waited.
“After Robert died,” Eleanor said, “Vanessa came home and found me packing his clothes. She was twenty. She asked if I was going to sell the house. I said no. She asked what would happen when I died.”
Ava felt a dull ache start behind her eyes.
“And?”
“I told her it would still be the family’s house. I said she and Daniel would always have it.”
Ava stared at her.
“That sounds fairly exact.”
“I was talking to a grieving twenty-year-old.”
“Twenty is old enough to hear nouns.”
Eleanor flinched.
Ava regretted it immediately and did not apologize.
The baby moved again.
Eleanor placed both hands in her lap.
“Years later Robert’s trust was restructured. Daniel bought out several interests. The property ended up under his control. Vanessa knew some of that, but not all of it. She was already married by then. She had her own life.”
“Except she remembered what you said.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel knew she remembered.”
“Yes.”
“And nobody corrected her.”
Eleanor’s silence answered.
Ava turned her face away.
There it was again.
The Morgan family’s preferred method of conflict resolution.
Wait.
Be polite.
Let the loudest person believe whatever kept dinner pleasant.
Daniel had done it.
Eleanor had done it.
Ava had learned to do it because loving Daniel had meant learning the shape of his family’s silences.
She had spent years congratulating herself for being calmer than Vanessa.
From the hospital bed, calm looked suspiciously similar to avoidance.
“Why did Daniel transfer it to me before he died?” Ava asked.
Eleanor looked surprised.
“You know why.”
“I know what he told me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That he wanted me to have somewhere no one could take from me after he was gone.”
“That was true.”
“It wasn’t all of it.”
Eleanor’s gaze moved toward the door.
Ava felt something settle inside her.
Not fear this time.
Recognition.
“What did Vanessa do?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“Ava.”
“What did she do?”
“She asked me for help.”
“With what?”
“Her company.”
Ava already knew Vanessa’s interior-design firm had struggled after two large commercial clients delayed payments. She also knew Vanessa spent money as if admitting scarcity were a character defect.
“How much?”
Eleanor named a number.
Ava stared at her.
It was almost four times what she had expected.
“That wasn’t help.”
“No.”
“That was a rescue.”
“I know.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
“Did she ask you to borrow against the house?”
Eleanor did not answer quickly enough.
Ava closed her eyes.
“Jesus.”
“She was desperate.”
“So she tried to put your home behind her business debt.”
“She asked. I said no.”
“Daniel found out.”
“Yes.”
“And then he transferred control to me.”
“Yes.”
Ava opened her eyes.
“Was I ever going to be told that part?”
“Daniel thought it would make you feel used.”
Ava laughed once.
May you like
The sound hurt.
“So instead I just get hit on a staircase without context.”
