Chapter 11 - The Lie a Child Learned
By the next afternoon, Olivia could manage short conversations.
Her voice was rough. Each breath seemed to require a decision.
Lucy sat at her bedside, touching the hospital bracelet as if checking that her mother was real.
"Mrs. Alvarez said you got a new heart part."
"I did."
"Does it come with a warranty?"
Olivia laughed, then winced. Lucy immediately looked scared.
"You're okay," Olivia told her. "That was worth it."
Ethan stood near the window until Olivia asked him to sit.
"I need to say this while you're both here."
Lucy stopped touching the bracelet.
"Your father didn't leave you," Olivia said. "He didn't know you were his. I told him something that wasn't true."
"Because Victoria scared you."
"Yes. But I also let you believe he chose not to come. Being scared doesn't make that fair."
Lucy's face went blank in a way that frightened Ethan more than tears.
"You said he couldn't be with us."
"I did."
"You let me think I wasn't good enough."
"Oh, Lucy."
"I got all A's once. I thought maybe you'd tell him."
Olivia covered her mouth. Ethan's chair scraped the floor as he leaned forward.
"You never had to earn me," he said.
Lucy looked at him.
"Then why didn't you look harder for her?"
He could have blamed the obituary. His father. Victoria. All true, and none a complete answer.
"I was hurt. I believed people who made it easier to stop asking. I should have checked for myself."
"So everybody made a mistake, and I didn't get a dad."
Ethan nodded.
"You have every right to be angry."
Lucy stood.
"I don't want to make you feel better."
"You don't have to," Olivia said.
Mrs. Alvarez walked with her to the family lounge.
After the door closed, Olivia wept quietly.
Ethan handed her a tissue. He didn't tell her it was all right.
It wasn't.
"I don't expect you to forgive me," she said.
"Good. Because I'm not ready. But I can be angry and still show up."
That evening, Dana called with an update. The board had found invoices for services nobody could verify. Investigators were seeking the underlying banking records.
Victoria had requested a meeting through her attorney.
Ethan looked through the lounge window at Lucy, who was drawing alone.
May you like
"What's she offering?"
"A settlement," Dana said. "In exchange for the originals and everyone's silence."
