Chapter 8 - WHAT MARGARET LEFT HIM
After Helen finished reading the amendment, Vanessa paced across the living room.
“This cannot be legal,” she said. “Margaret was on medication.”
“A physician evaluated her capacity,” Helen replied. “The amendment was witnessed, recorded, and executed according to Virginia law.”
“She was manipulated.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Did you pressure her?”
I stood so quickly that the chair behind me struck the wall.
Helen raised one hand.
“Robert.”
I forced myself to breathe.
“Your mother made the decision,” I said. “I asked her whether she was certain. She said she had never been more certain of anything.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with anger.
“She was emotional.”
“She was dying.”
“That is what I mean.”
“No. You mean she finally stopped protecting you.”
Vanessa pointed at the cedar-box key.
“So he receives childhood papers while strangers receive the company?”
“The employees are not strangers,” I said. “Some of them spent more time visiting your mother than you did.”
Daniel sank back into Margaret’s chair.
“I was coming home.”
“When?”
“After the trip.”
“She did not have after.”
He covered his face.
Vanessa remained standing.
“What about our house payments?”
I stared at her.
“What about them?”
“Daniel’s salary supports our mortgage.”
“Then you should have considered that before billing your vacations to the company.”
She turned on him.
“You told me your father would never investigate.”
Daniel rose again.
“I told you to stop talking.”
“No. You said the company would be yours after they were gone.”
The room became still.
Vanessa seemed to realize what she had revealed.
I looked at my son.
“Is that how you discussed us?”
Daniel shook his head.
“She’s upset.”
“Did you tell her the company would be yours after we were gone?”
“It was supposed to be.”
There it was.
Not grief.
Not shame.
Expectation.
Helen closed the folders.
“Daniel, the board will meet tomorrow morning. You will be given an opportunity to respond to the findings. Until then, your access to all company systems and accounts has been suspended.”
Vanessa grabbed her coat.
“We need our own attorney.”
“That would be wise,” Helen said.
Daniel remained beside the table.
I handed him the brass key.
For several seconds, he did not take it.
Then his fingers closed around it.
“Where is the box?”
“In the bedroom closet.”
He walked upstairs alone.
When he returned, he carried the cedar box against his chest.
His face looked different.
Older.
Inside, he had found every birthday card, school photograph, and drawing Margaret had saved.
On top lay his college letter.
Beneath it was Margaret’s final message.
Daniel did not show it to us.
He placed the box beneath his arm and walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he turned back.
“Did she ask for me at the end?”
I could have lied.
Margaret had asked me not to become cruel.
“Yes,” I said.
His face crumpled.
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
Vanessa called his name from outside.
May you like
Daniel stepped onto the porch.
For the first time in years, he looked completely alone.
