Chapter 12 - THE CHILDREN’S VISIT
Margaret looked at the tote.
“You need to correct that.”
“Mom, they’re upset.”
“Then help them understand. Don’t promise them something I haven’t agreed to.”
Daniel’s hand stayed on the bag.
“I didn’t know what else to say.”
“Start with what happened.”
He looked away.
Margaret took the tote.
Two days later, Daniel brought Emily and Jack to her apartment.
Rebecca did not come.
Jack entered cautiously, then spotted the living room sofa.
“Grandma! Our couch!”
Margaret smiled.
“The couch you watched movies on.”
Emily ran her fingers along the dining table.
“It smells like your house.”
“That’s because I burned toast this morning.”
Emily laughed.
Daniel stood near the door.
He seemed too large for the apartment, or perhaps simply uncomfortable somewhere he did not control.
Margaret offered coffee.
He accepted.
The children explored.
Jack found Arthur’s photograph and moved it two inches to the left because, he announced, Grandpa needed a better view of the television.
Margaret let him.
They made cookies.
Emily measured flour. Jack cracked an egg badly and looked alarmed.
“Still not a crisis,” Margaret assured him.
For an hour, she forgot to be careful.
Then Emily asked the question.
“Are you coming home after Christmas?”
Daniel stiffened.
Margaret set down the spoon.
“This is my home now.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“Forever?”
“I hope for a long time.”
“Then where do we fit?”
Margaret knelt carefully in front of her.
“Right here.”
She opened her arms.
Emily leaned into her. Jack joined them, warm and flour-dusted.
Behind the children, Daniel watched.
Margaret looked directly at him over Emily’s shoulder.
This was what he had put at risk.
Not a refrigerator.
Not curtains.
A place where his children knew they were wanted.
Later, while the cookies cooled, Daniel quietly said, “I told them we chose to go without you.”
Margaret turned.
“I said it was wrong.”
“What did they say?”
“Jack asked why.”
“And?”
“I didn’t have a good answer.”
“That may be the most honest answer you can give him.”
Before leaving, Emily handed Margaret a folded drawing.
It showed three people beside a little house.
Grandma.
Emily.
Jack.
At the bottom, she had written:
We can have two homes that love us.
Margaret held it to her chest.
After they left, she saw Daniel had also placed an envelope beside the coffee cup.
Inside was his first payment.
May you like
And a handwritten request.
Please don’t deposit this until Friday.
