Chapter 42 - One Empty ChairAdrian hosted Thanksgiving.
Emma arrived late.
She found fifteen people around the table: Rachel Pike, Dr. Bell's daughter, Henry Cole's grandson, Rebecca, former students from the contaminated schools, and several of Emma's old friends.
One chair remained empty.
Beside it sat a photograph of Julianne.
Emma looked at Adrian.
“That's dangerously sentimental.”
“I've been accused of worse.”
She sat beside the empty chair.
After dinner Adrian brought out a pie.
Emma stared.
“You made that?”
“No.”
“Good. I was worried.”
They laughed.
At the end of the evening, Emma noticed something.
For decades Adrian had lived in a house designed around absence.
Now coats crowded the hallway.
Glasses covered tables.
Someone was arguing about music in the kitchen.
Children were running upstairs.
The house was messy.
Loud.
Alive.
Emma realized this might be the most satisfying revenge against the people who had tried to destroy her family.
Not money.
Not headlines.
May you like
Not prison.
A home filled with the life they had tried to erase.
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