Chapter 5 - The Night Before the Birthday)
By six in the evening, the lodge looked ready for a magazine photograph.
Candles glowed along the mantel.
A fourteen seat table had been set for the birthday dinner.
Wrapped gifts stood beneath a cedar tree decorated with small white lights.
The wooden airplane was nowhere among them.
Mark kept it in his suitcase.
Noah asked for it twice.
The first time, Mark ignored him.
The second time, he said, "Later."
At seven, Claudia dressed Noah in a clean sweater for dinner.
Noah looked toward the bedroom door.
"Can I show Grandpa my airplane when he comes?"
"If you behave."
"When is he coming?"
"Morning."
"Early?"
"I don't know."
Noah smiled slightly.
Claudia studied him.
"Why do you love that toy so much?"
"It's not a toy."
"What is it?"
"A present."
She sighed.
"You think he will look at that airplane and suddenly love you more?"
Noah frowned.
"I didn't say that."
"Then what do you think?"
"I think he'll know I remembered."
Claudia paused.
Something about the answer unsettled her.
Noah sat on the bed.
"Grandpa remembers things too."
"Like what?"
"My birthday."
"Of course he remembers your birthday."
"He called me before Dad did."
Claudia turned.
"What?"
Noah realized he had said too much again.
"Nothing."
"When?"
"My birthday."
"Your father was at breakfast with you."
"He was on his phone."
Claudia looked away.
For a moment, guilt almost appeared.
Then Mark entered.
"We need to talk."
Claudia looked at Noah.
"Go downstairs."
Noah climbed from the bed.
Mark blocked the door.
"Actually, no."
He looked toward his son.
"Sit."
Noah sat again.
Mark closed the door.
"There are going to be people here tomorrow."
Noah nodded.
"Grandpa's friends."
"Some. Business people. Family."
"Okay."
Mark sat in a chair opposite him.
"You will stay near your mother or me."
Noah nodded.
"If Grandpa asks you to go somewhere alone, you tell us first."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
Noah stopped asking.
Mark continued.
"You will not talk about home."
Nod.
"You will not talk about punishment."
Nod.
"You will not talk about the trust."
Nod.
"You will not tell Grandpa you want to live with him."
Noah's eyes lowered.
Mark leaned forward.
"You understand?"
"Yes."
"And if you forget?"
Noah glanced at Claudia.
She did not answer for him.
Noah whispered, "I lose the airplane."
Mark nodded.
"Maybe."
Noah looked frightened.
"What else?"
Mark stared.
"Don't find out."
That night Noah could not sleep.
Wind pressed against the windows.
Tree branches scraped the glass.
At eleven forty, he heard voices downstairs.
He climbed out of bed.
This time he did not go near the study.
He stayed behind the upstairs railing.
Mark and Claudia were in the living room.
Mark held a drink.
Claudia paced.
"What if he already changed the trust?"
"He can't remove me from money that was originally mine."
"It was never yours."
Mark glared.
"It came from this family."
"It belongs to Noah."
"He is four."
"That's not the point."
Mark slammed the glass down.
"I spent fifteen years building the western division. My father still treats me like an employee."
"And stealing from Noah fixed that?"
"I borrowed."
"You bought a Mercedes."
"For business."
"You renovated the house."
"An asset."
"You paid your club dues."
"Networking."
Claudia stared.
"Do you hear yourself?"
Mark lowered his voice.
"You enjoyed that house."
"Don't put this on me."
"You signed two reimbursement forms."
"Because you told me Richard approved them."
Mark looked away.
Claudia's face changed.
"He didn't."
Mark said nothing.
"He never approved any of it."
Still nothing.
Claudia sat down.
"Oh God."
"It's manageable."
"Forgery isn't manageable."
Noah's foot slipped against the railing.
A faint wooden knock echoed through the room.
Mark looked up.
Noah ran.
Again.
This time Mark reached the bedroom before he could get under the covers.
He grabbed Noah's arm.
"What did you hear?"
"Nothing."
"Stop lying."
"I don't know what it means."
Mark pulled him toward the hallway.
Claudia stepped into the doorway.
"Mark."
"Stay out of it."
"He is four."
"And he keeps listening."
Noah began crying.
"Please."
Mark led him downstairs.
The lodge mudroom was dark and cold.
He opened the outside door.
Snow swirled across the stone patio.
Claudia's eyes widened.
"What are you doing?"
"He wants to act like rules don't matter."
"It's freezing."
"He'll stand outside for one minute."
Noah stared at the open door.
"No."
Mark pointed.
"Outside."
Noah backed away.
Mark picked him up and set him on the covered patio.
The cold hit him immediately.
Noah screamed.
"Dad."
"One minute."
Mark closed the glass door.
Noah pounded on it.
Claudia turned toward Mark.
"This is too much."
Mark checked his watch.
"It's sixty seconds."
"Look at him."
"He needs to learn."
Noah cried behind the glass.
Thirty seconds.
Forty.
Forty five.
Claudia reached for the handle.
Mark stopped her.
"Don't."
At fifty two seconds, Noah slipped.
His knee hit the patio.
Claudia opened the door anyway.
"Enough."
She pulled him inside.
Mark looked furious, but said nothing.
Noah shook violently.
Claudia wrapped a towel around him.
For a moment, she looked like a mother again.
Then Noah whispered:
"I'm telling Grandpa."
Claudia froze.
Mark heard.
The towel slipped from her hands.
Noah saw both of their expressions.
He began backing away.
Mark spoke first.
"No. You're not."
Noah ran upstairs.
Claudia turned toward Mark.
"What now?"
He looked toward the window.
Snow fell harder.
Then he looked at his watch.
"My father arrives tomorrow morning."
May you like
Claudia followed his gaze.
And both of them knew Noah had just changed what the next morning would become.
