Chapter 3
The children’s mother, Caroline, had died when Maya was an infant. Rebecca married Ethan eighteen months later.
To Leo and Maya, Rebecca had become Mommy because she was the mother they remembered.
Margaret continued.
“Thomas, Ethan was considering changing more than his will.”
“What?”
“He contacted a family attorney.”
“Why?”
“He had concerns about Rebecca’s finances.”
That was not what I expected.
“Finances?”
“She had taken out loans he didn’t know about.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he think she was stealing from him?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“What do you know?”
“I know he kept notes.”
“The blue notebook?”
Margaret went silent.
Then she said, “You know about that?”
“Rebecca mentioned it.”
“Where is it?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan gave it to someone else.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Your mother.”
My mother arrived at the hospital at one in the morning wearing bedroom slippers beneath a long wool coat despite the Texas heat.
She marched through the entrance carrying a tote bag large enough to evacuate a small country.
“Where are my babies?”
I pointed toward Maya’s room.
Mom took two steps before stopping.
Her eyes found mine.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Mom.”
“That means no.”
She shoved a wrapped sandwich into my hand.
“Eat.”
Some things were stronger than organized crime.
Italian mothers were one of them.
She checked on Maya first.
Then Leo.
She kissed both children gently without waking them and stood between their rooms with one hand pressed over her mouth.
Finally she looked at me.
“What happened?”
I told her what I knew.
Not every suspicion.
Just facts.
When I mentioned the blue notebook, the color left her face.
“You have it.”
She turned toward the window.
“Mom.”
“I promised Ethan.”
“He’s gone.”
“I know that.”
“He told Margaret Bennett you had it.”
Mom’s shoulders sagged.
“I wish he hadn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because he made me promise not to give it to you unless something happened.”
“Something happened.”
“No.” She looked at me. “Not his death.”
A chill moved through me.
“What did he mean?”
“He said I would know.”
“How?”
“He told me there was a sentence on the first page.”
“What sentence?”
Mom closed her eyes.
“If Thomas is reading this, then I was wrong about Rebecca—or Rebecca was wrong about herself.”
Neither of us spoke.
“That doesn’t make sense,” I finally said.
“It didn’t make sense to me either.”
“Where is the notebook?”
“In my safe.”
“Can we get it?”
Mom studied me.
“Thomas.”
“What?”
“Whatever you read in there, remember something.”
I waited.
“Ethan loved Rebecca.”
That surprised me.
“I know.”
“No. You know he married her. You know she helped raise his children. But Ethan wasn’t naive. If he was worried, he was worried for a reason. And if he still loved her, that was for a reason too.”
I looked toward Leo’s hospital room.
“I’m not interested in reasons that explain away what happened.”
“Neither am I.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying truth usually arrives with more than one face.”
At dawn, child services approved a temporary placement.
With me.
The decision came with conditions, inspections, interviews and more paperwork than some business acquisitions I had completed.
I signed everything.
Every page.
Every line.
When Leo heard, he stared at me.
“We’re going to your house?”
“For now.”
“The big one?”
“Yes.”
“With the gate?”
“Yes.”
He thought about this.
“Can Maya have the room next to mine?”
“You can choose whichever rooms you want.”
He looked almost worried by the freedom.
“Can they be close?”
“As close as you want.”
“And can Grandma come?”
“She already invited herself.”
That earned the smallest smile.
Maya’s requirements were simpler.
“Pancakes?”
“For breakfast?”
“And dinner.”
“We can discuss dinner.”
“No. Pancakes.”
I nodded solemnly.
“Pancakes.”
For the first time since I had found them at my gate, she laughed.
It lasted perhaps two seconds.
It was enough.
Three days later, Leo came home from the hospital.
I had expected him to be impressed by the house.
Children usually were.
He barely noticed.
He cared about three things.
May you like
His room was beside Maya’s.
The kitchen always had food.
