Chapter 2
Celeste stared at Dad as though she hadn’t heard him.
Then she laughed once.
“You’re angry,” she said. “I understand. But surely you haven’t done something this reckless because of a dinner argument.”
Dad took off his coat and hung it by the door.
“This decision was made before dinner.”
“Then it can be undone.”
I held the folder against my chest. Brianna had gone back to the dining-room entrance. Her wineglass was still in her hand, but she wasn’t drinking from it.
Dad looked at Celeste.
“We’re going to talk about what happened here. Emma doesn’t need to stand in the foyer while you question her place in this house.”
He guided me into the sitting room. I chose the chair closest to the door. Celeste and Brianna followed, though neither sat.
Dad asked Celeste to tell him exactly what had happened.
“She arrived upset,” Celeste said. “She criticized the dinner. She’s been hostile for weeks, Richard. I tried to settle things privately.”
I felt the old urge to defend myself in a dozen different ways. Dad had always asked me to be fair to Celeste. I had worked so hard at it that I’d begun doubting my own memory after every visit.
He turned to Brianna.
“Did Emma criticize the dinner?”
Brianna stared into her glass.
“She didn’t like what Mom said.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No,” Brianna said at last.
Celeste shot her a look.
Dad’s voice remained calm. “Who broke the plate?”
“Mom did.”
I breathed in slowly.
Celeste put her hand over her heart.
“Brianna, you know I didn’t mean to.”
“You pushed it,” Brianna said.
“Enough,” Celeste snapped.
Dad stood.
“I’ve heard enough for tonight. Emma, come into my study.”
He picked up his bag. Celeste followed him halfway across the room.
“Richard, I’m your wife. Whatever papers she’s holding affect me too.”
“They do,” he said. “My attorney has prepared copies for you. I’ll give them to you tomorrow.”
He shut the study door behind us.
For the first time that evening, his face showed how tired he was.
“Let me see your arm.”
I rolled up my sleeve. There were red marks where Celeste’s fingers had pressed.
Dad looked at them for a long moment.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“She’s never grabbed me before.”
“How long has she been treating you like this?”
I sat down. I wanted to say it hadn’t been that bad. Then I pictured the plate breaking and heard her call me a stranger.
“Since last winter,” I said. “Maybe earlier. I kept thinking it would get better.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried, once. You said she was having a hard time adjusting after Brianna moved home.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“I remember.”
“You were worried about her. I didn’t want to sound like I was asking you to choose.”
“You’re my daughter. I should have listened.”
He sat across from me and opened the folder to a page marked with a blue tab.
He explained the transfer slowly. The house had belonged to him outright since before he married Celeste. He had transferred it to a trust for my benefit. He had also transferred a controlling interest in his company to me, with a staged plan for the remaining shares.
“What about your money?” I asked.
“I kept enough for my own needs. I’m not giving away my ability to live.”
“Why now?”
Dad studied me.
“I was diagnosed with a heart condition in March. It’s being treated. The doctor expects me to do well, but it made me finish plans I’d delayed for years.”
“You didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t want to frighten you before I understood it myself. I should have told you once I did.”
I reached across the desk and took his hand. I was angry that he had carried it alone, but I was more afraid of what might have happened.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I have a procedure scheduled next month. You can come to the appointment with me if you want.”
“I want to.”
He squeezed my hand.
“The company transfer isn’t only about my health,” he said. “You’ve earned more responsibility there. I’ve watched you lead people who once thought of you only as my daughter.”
I looked down at the folder.
“I didn’t know you noticed.”
“I did.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Celeste opened it without waiting.
“If Emma is staying, I need to know whether she plans to apologize for accusing me of hurting her.”
Dad rose.
“She’ll stay as long as she chooses. We can discuss everything else tomorrow.”
Celeste looked past him at me.
I had spent months stepping aside whenever she looked at me like that. This time, I held her gaze.
“I’m going home,” I said. “Because I want to. Not because you told me to leave.”
Dad offered to drive me. I said I was steady enough to drive myself, and he walked me to my car.
As I opened the door, he touched my shoulder.
“There’s something else,” he said. “My attorney found irregularities while we prepared the transfer.”
“What kind?”
“Payments from the company. I don’t know yet who approved them.”
I thought of Celeste’s sudden fear when she saw the folder.
“Do you think she’s involved?”
“I’m going to find out,” he said.
May you like
Inside the house, a light came on in Dad’s study.
Through the window, I saw Celeste standing at his desk with her phone in her hand.
