“I know, baby.” I pulled her closer. “I wish things were different, too.”
“Do you think I’ll ever have a big family?”
“I wish things were different, too.”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
I kissed her hair and looked at the pouch.
Could I keep her from her grandfather, with only weeks left? But what if he broke her heart?
Back then, I didn’t yet know that he would break mine, too.
They had money. Lawyers.
I decided to meet him first. Alone.
My phone buzzed. Unknown number.
“Hi, this is Meredith. We met at Walmart yesterday.”
“What do you want?”
“Please don’t judge us by what Nate told you.”
“Was he lying?”
Unknown number.
“Not exactly. But he doesn’t know everything.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’d rather do it in person. I’m at St. Luke’s cafeteria.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t. Not yet. But there’s something about Claire and your son you deserve to know.”
My son…
“Why should I trust you?”
I left Ellie with my neighbor Pat and drove to St. Luke’s.
Meredith sat in the corner with a coffee she hadn’t touched.
“You came,” she said.
“Have you been following my granddaughter?”
“Yes. For three days.”
“Why?”
“Have you been following my granddaughter?”
“I couldn’t make myself approach you. What was I supposed to say?”
“Then what happened at Walmart?”
“I was about to talk to you in the candy aisle. Then I saw Dad’s driver at the entrance.”
“His driver?”
“Dad discovered the ring was gone. He guessed what I was doing.”
“And sent someone after you?”
“Then what happened at Walmart?”
“Frank. To bring me home before I reached you.”
“So?”
“I panicked. I hid the ring behind the candy and let Frank take me to the car. Then I begged him to let me go back for my wallet.”
“And Ellie found it.”
“Yes.”
“I panicked.”
“The phone call?”
“Dad. He was furious.”
“You told me Ellie saved your life.”
“She saved something I could never replace. That ring was Mom’s last wish for Claire’s child.” Her eyes filled. “And I’d already failed Claire.”
“How?”
“She saved something I could never replace.”
“She wrote me a year before she died. I never answered.”
“Why not?”
“Dad threatened to cut off anyone who contacted her. The house. The company. My kids’ tuition.”
“So you chose the money.”
“I chose the easy thing. I regret it.”
“Nate says your father doesn’t want Ellie.”
“So you chose the money.”
“That’s what he says.”
“You don’t believe him?”
“He’s kept Mom’s ring beside his bed for nine years. I think he wants to make things right, but something stops him.”
“What did Claire do that was so terrible?”
“She married your son.”
“Daniel?”
“She married your son.”
“Dad wanted someone wealthy. Daniel fixed school buses. Dad called him a mechanic with no future, right in front of Claire.”
“Daniel was the best man I ever raised.”
“I know. Claire said so in her letter.” Meredith hesitated. “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“When I told Dad that Claire was dead, he just said, ‘I know.’”
“Dad wanted someone wealthy.”
“He knew?”
“Apparently.”
“I buried them with eleven people there. Not one from her side.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Where is he?”
“Room 412.”
“Not one from her side.”
“Stay here.”
***
A thin, gray old man lay in the hospital bed with an oxygen tube under his nose.
He looked at me once. Then he knew.
“You’re Daniel’s mother.”
“I am.”
“My children had no right to send you. Get out. You’ll get nothing from me.”
“You’re Daniel’s mother.”
“They didn’t send me. And I don’t want anything from you.”
I dropped the velvet pouch on his blanket.
“You can choke on that ring, but you’ll never see Ellie.”
He didn’t touch it.
“Your daughter and my son died on Route 9. You didn’t even come to the funeral.”
“I know.”
