Chapter 6
Oliver was sitting upright in bed when we reached him.
Ella stood beside the lamp, holding his hand. She said he had woken from a dream about the playroom. He could not bear having the bedroom door closed.
Daniel sat on the edge of the bed.
“You can leave it open,” he said.
Oliver studied him.
“Will you be here when I wake up?”
“Yes.”
“You said that when Mommy got sick.”
Daniel’s face changed. I remembered that week. Lily had gone to the hospital, and Daniel had promised to be home for breakfast. He had stayed there all night with her. No one had explained the change well enough to a little boy.
“I said it,” Daniel whispered. “And I wasn’t here. I’m sorry.”
Oliver climbed into his lap. Daniel held him until his breathing eased.
I took Ella to her room. She paused at the door and looked back down the hall.
“Is Dad going to send Bianca away?”
“He’s asking her to stay elsewhere.”
“What if she comes back?”
“We’ll make sure you know what’s happening,” I said. “And we’ll listen if you’re afraid.”
Ella nodded, though she kept her lamp on after I tucked her in.
The next morning, Daniel canceled two work meetings. He called the school and asked to speak with the children’s counselor. Nora arranged for someone trained to talk with children to meet Ella and Oliver, with their father’s consent.
I watched Daniel write down every appointment.
Then the front gate intercom sounded.
Bianca had arrived with her sister, Vanessa, to collect clothes.
Daniel told the guard to let them in and asked me to take the children to the greenhouse. He had arranged for Nora to be present. I could see the effort it cost him to plan instead of hoping the visit would be easy.
Ella helped Oliver carry a tray of seedlings outside. I stayed with them while Bianca’s car came up the drive.
She got out and saw us through the glass. Oliver stepped behind me.
“Keep planting,” I told him.
A few minutes later, raised voices carried from the house. I could not hear the words. I took the children farther into the orchard, where Lily’s apple trees stood in two neat rows.
When we returned, Bianca’s car was gone.
Daniel met us at the kitchen door. He looked exhausted.
“She wanted to speak to you,” he told the children. “I said we’d wait until you were ready and someone could help us do it safely.”
Ella asked, “Was she mad?”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s for her to handle.”
Oliver reached for Daniel’s hand.
Later, Nora told me what had happened. Bianca had asked for Lily’s green notebook back, claiming it contained her own notes. Daniel refused. Vanessa had taken Bianca upstairs for her clothes, while Nora stayed in the hall. Bianca had tried to enter the children’s rooms. Daniel stopped her.
It sounded simple when Nora told it. I knew how difficult it had been for him.
Over the next several days, the house changed in small ways.
Ella stopped hiding her glass when she wanted water. Oliver asked for the playroom door to be taken off its latch. Daniel did it himself and let Oliver help hold the screws.
At night, Daniel read aloud from one of Lily’s old books. I heard him stumbling over a voice he had not used in years, then starting again when the children asked.
My shoulder healed slowly. I still startled whenever I passed the terrace.
One afternoon, Daniel found me standing just inside the kitchen, unable to make myself go out for a basket of herbs.
“I can get them,” he said.
“I want to go.”
He stayed beside me while I crossed the terrace. We did not speak about the pool. When I reached the herb pots, I picked rosemary for supper and walked back under my own strength.
That evening, Nora called.
The developer had sent her copies of messages Bianca had written. She had represented herself as acting for the family, though she had no authority to sell trust land. Nora had also found household expenses that needed review.
“How bad?” I asked.
“We don’t know yet. The trustee is arranging an independent accountant.”
Daniel heard enough to understand. He took the phone and spoke with Nora for a long time.
Afterward, he told me Bianca had used a household account to pay for surveys and consultants. There were transfers he did not recognize.
“I signed some of the statements without reading them,” he said.
I wanted to be angry. I was angry. But Ella appeared in the doorway with her schoolbag, and Daniel set the papers aside to help her find a missing library book.
I watched him search every shelf with her.
The next week, Ella met with the counselor. When she came home, she was quiet. I sat beside her on the stairs without asking questions.
After a while she said, “I told her I was scared you would die in the pool.”
I put my arm around her.
“I was scared too.”
“She said I don’t have to decide whose fault it is that I’m scared.”
“You don’t.”
Ella leaned against me.
“Sometimes I miss when Bianca was nice.”
I remembered Bianca helping her choose a dress for a school concert, back when I thought we could all learn to live together.
“You can remember those times,” I said. “You can tell the truth about what happened later too.”
She let out a long breath.
That night, Daniel received a letter from Bianca’s attorney. Bianca wanted access to the house and asked him to stop what she called false accusations. She also requested time with the children.
He read it at the kitchen table while Nora listened on speakerphone. Then he looked at me.
“I want to respond carefully,” he said. “I don’t want the children caught in another fight.”
Nora agreed. She would address the letter and the financial questions.
When the call ended, Daniel stayed at the table. The children were upstairs, and the house was quiet.
“I believed her when she said you were making it hard for her to belong here,” he said.
I sat across from him.
“She may have felt that. I tried to make room for her. I could have told you sooner how frightened the children were becoming.”
“You did tell me things. I dismissed them.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“I need them to know I won’t do that again.”
The following morning, Ella came into the kitchen carrying a folded sheet of paper. She had drawn the four of us standing in front of the greenhouse.
She handed it to Daniel.
“I made this before you listened,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if I should give it to you.”
Daniel looked at the picture for a long time.
May you like
“Can I keep it?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ella said. “If you keep listening.”
