Chapter 3 - The Empty Chair
At exactly two o’clock, the dining room doors opened.
The Easter table had been prepared for fourteen guests.
There were fifteen chairs.
One chair at the head of the table remained empty.
Arthur’s chair.
No place setting had been arranged in front of it, but his silver napkin ring rested on the polished wood.
Lenora saw Evelyn looking at it.
“That chair is not to be touched.”
“I wasn’t going to touch it.”
“You always wanted his place.”
Evelyn pulled out Lily’s chair.
“I wanted him to live.”
Lenora’s lips tightened.
The family seated themselves.
Evelyn and Lily were placed at the far end, closest to the service door.
Cassandra sat beside Lenora and whispered something that made them both smile.
Lily placed Captain on her lap.
A servant carried in the first course.
For several minutes, the only sounds were silverware, quiet conversation, and the ticking of the grandfather clock.
Then Lenora raised her glass.
“To family,” she said.
Everyone repeated the words.
Evelyn did not.
Lenora looked directly at her.
“You’re not drinking.”
“I’m driving later.”
“You arrived with a driver.”
“I may leave another way.”
Cassandra laughed.
“That apartment has made you suspicious.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “Experience did that.”
Mr. Hale watched her from across the table.
He looked increasingly nervous.
The second course arrived.
Lily ate quietly until she noticed a silver bowl filled with jeweled Easter eggs.
Each egg was decorated with gemstones and tiny painted scenes.
Arthur had collected them during his travels.
Lily pointed to a blue egg.
“Mommy, that one has Grandpa’s lighthouse.”
Evelyn followed her gaze.
The egg showed a lighthouse standing above three silver waves.
The same symbol from the card.
“Don’t point,” Lenora said.
Lily quickly lowered her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Cassandra reached for the blue egg and turned it over.
“It’s strange. I don’t remember seeing this one.”
Lenora took it from her.
“Arthur purchased hundreds of useless objects.”
“There’s a tiny keyhole,” Cassandra said.
Lenora examined the base.
For a fraction of a second, fear crossed her face.
Then she placed the egg back into the bowl.
“It is decorative.”
Evelyn noticed Mr. Hale staring at it.
“Did Arthur ever show you that egg?” she asked him.
“No.”
His answer came too quickly.
Lily leaned toward Evelyn.
“Can I look closer?”
“Stay seated.”
“I won’t touch.”
Lenora set down her fork.
“Why is she whispering?”
“She asked about the egg.”
“She has no reason to ask about things that don’t belong to her.”
Lily lowered her eyes.
The tension at the table grew heavier.
Evelyn tried to change the subject.
“How is the company doing?”
Cassandra smiled.
“Better than ever.”
Mr. Hale coughed into his napkin.
Lenora’s gaze snapped toward him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Evelyn remembered the public report she had read two weeks earlier. Ashford Maritime had lost three major contracts. Its debt had increased sharply.
“Are the northern ports still operating?” she asked.
Cassandra’s smile faded.
“That is not your concern.”
“It was Nathan’s division.”
“Nathan has been dead for five years.”
Lily’s hand tightened around the rabbit.
Evelyn kept her voice calm.
“That doesn’t erase his work.”
Lenora leaned back.
“Your husband was sentimental and weak. Arthur spent years repairing his mistakes.”
Mr. Hale looked down.
Evelyn felt anger rise, but Lily was listening.
“Nathan built the company’s safest shipping program.”
“And what did it earn him?” Lenora asked. “A broken car on a wet road.”
The words were cruel enough to silence the entire table.
Evelyn’s hand froze beside her plate.
“Do not speak about his death that way.”
Lenora lifted one shoulder.
“You brought him into the conversation.”
“No. I asked about his division.”
Lily began rubbing the rabbit’s ear.
Under the table, Evelyn placed a comforting hand on her knee.
Cassandra reached for more wine.
“Perhaps we should discuss why Evelyn was invited.”
Mr. Hale looked up sharply.
Lenora turned to her sister.
“Not yet.”
“Why not? Everyone is here.”
Evelyn looked between them.
“Discuss what?”
Cassandra opened her handbag and removed a folded document.
“This.”
She slid it down the table.
The paper stopped beside Evelyn’s plate.
It was an agreement.
By signing it, Evelyn would waive any future claims against the Ashford estate on behalf of herself and Lily.
In exchange, Lenora would provide a one-time payment of twenty thousand dollars.
Evelyn read the first page.
Then the second.
A clause near the bottom caught her attention.
It stated that Lily had no biological, legal, or hereditary claim to the Ashford family.
Evelyn looked up.
“What is this?”
“A practical solution,” Lenora said.
“To what?”
“To your repeated attempts to involve yourself in family affairs.”
“I have made no claims.”
“Not yet.”
“Then why do you need my signature?”
Cassandra tapped the table impatiently.
“Because your daughter’s name is creating problems.”
“What problems?”
Lenora nodded toward Mr. Hale.
He remained silent.
“Tell her,” Lenora ordered.
The lawyer swallowed.
“A dormant trust was recently reactivated.”
Evelyn’s pulse quickened.
“Lighthouse Three?”
Lenora stared at her.
“How do you know that name?”
Before Evelyn could answer, the grandfather clock began to strike three.
On the third chime, the empty chair at the head of the table moved.
Only an inch.
But everyone saw it.
Lily whispered, “Grandpa?”
A small envelope slid from beneath Arthur’s silver napkin ring and fell onto the floor.
May you like
Written across the front were three words.
FOR LILY ONLY.
