Chapter 2 - THE CURSE)
Margaret thought she had misunderstood.
"What did you say?"
Vanessa shut the door behind her.
Her breathing was shallow.
She had always been anxious when exhausted, but this was different.
This was fear fed carefully over time.
Margaret knew the difference.
"Richard said your accident changed something."
Margaret stared at her daughter-in-law.
"In my leg?"
"In the family."
Vanessa wrapped both arms around herself.
"He said sometimes tragedy attaches itself to people."
Margaret almost laughed.
Then she saw Vanessa's face.
The laugh disappeared.
"Come here."
Vanessa hesitated.
Margaret softened her voice.
"Sit down."
Vanessa lowered herself into a chair beside the checkout counter.
Margaret positioned the wheelchair opposite her.
"Did Richard tell you I caused Daniel's death?"
"No."
"Did he imply it?"
Vanessa looked away.
Margaret's jaw tightened.
"Vanessa."
"He said Daniel died because our family had moved away from obedience."
"Obedience to what?"
"God."
"No. That's not what he means."
Vanessa began crying.
Margaret reached for her hand.
Vanessa pulled away.
That hurt more than Margaret expected.
Richard had already put distance between them.
"He said your refusal to release the store keeps us trapped in the same pride that brought judgment."
Margaret whispered, "That bastard."
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Talk about him that way."
"He's terrifying a pregnant widow."
"He helped me."
"So did your obstetrician. Did she ask for the store?"
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
"You're making fun of me."
"No. I'm trying to wake you up."
Vanessa rose too quickly and grabbed the counter.
Margaret immediately moved closer.
"Sit."
"I'm fine."
"Then breathe."
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Margaret waited.
After a moment the tension eased.
Vanessa placed a protective hand over her stomach.
"The baby kicked."
"Good."
Margaret's voice broke slightly.
Her first grandchild.
Daniel's daughter, according to the ultrasound.
The baby he had never gotten to hold.
"Richard says this baby is our chance to end what Daniel couldn't."
Margaret looked at her carefully.
"What does that mean?"
Vanessa did not answer.
Margaret understood anyway.
"The store."
Vanessa swallowed.
"He thinks it should become part of Covenant Community Holdings."
"So he already gave you the name."
"It isn't his company."
"What is it?"
"A nonprofit."
"Who runs it?"
"I don't know."
"Richard?"
"Maybe the church board."
"Maybe?"
Vanessa became defensive.
"Why do you always assume everyone wants something from you?"
Margaret's answer was immediate.
"Because somebody removed seventy-eight hundred dollars from my business account today."
Vanessa froze.
"What?"
Margaret watched her face.
The surprise looked genuine.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
"Did Richard?"
"I don't know."
"Did Harold?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"Margaret, what are you suggesting?"
"I don't know yet."
The worst sentence in any betrayal was often I don't know yet.
Margaret had learned that when Walter became ill.
The unknown created spaces where fear could grow.
Richard seemed to understand that too.
But he used fear as a tool.
Vanessa picked up her purse.
"I shouldn't have come."
"You should have."
"No."
"You came because part of you knows something is wrong."
Vanessa walked toward the door.
Margaret called after her.
"Did Richard ask you to sign anything?"
Vanessa stopped.
Her shoulders stiffened.
Margaret felt cold.
"Vanessa."
"No."
"You hesitated."
"He gave me paperwork about church counseling."
"What paperwork?"
"I don't remember."
"Bring it to me."
"It's private."
"Then bring it to a lawyer."
Vanessa opened the door.
"You're paranoid."
"Maybe."
Margaret rolled forward.
"But if I'm wrong, a lawyer tells you I'm wrong. If he's lying, a lawyer tells you something else."
Vanessa looked back.
The rain behind her had become heavier.
"For once, Margaret, can you admit that maybe Daniel's death changed more than your body?"
Margaret's face hardened.
"Daniel's death changed everything."
"Then why are you still pretending the store matters more than people?"
Margaret absorbed the accusation.
Then answered quietly.
"Because the store is feeding twenty-six families, including yours."
Vanessa flinched.
Margaret continued.
"Because Daniel's health insurance came through that business. Your house was paid from that business. The trust account waiting for your daughter comes from that business. And because your husband worked twelve years to protect something his father and I built."
She pointed toward the rows of shelves.
"The store isn't more important than people. It matters because of people."
Vanessa said nothing.
Margaret watched her disappear into the rain.
Then locked the door.
She should have gone home.
Instead she returned to the office.
The reversed deposit still glowed on the screen.
Margaret printed the transaction record.
Then she pulled the previous thirty days.
A second discrepancy appeared.
Nine thousand two hundred dollars.
Five days earlier.
She printed that too.
Her stomach tightened.
She searched deeper.
A third deposit had never reached the account.
Eleven thousand five hundred dollars.
Total missing money.
Twenty-eight thousand five hundred dollars.
She called Harold.
No answer.
She called again.
Voicemail.
Margaret rolled toward the filing cabinet where copies of deposit slips were stored.
The drawer was unlocked.
The folder for the previous month was gone.
Margaret sat completely still.
Then the store phone rang.
She answered.
"Hayes Family Market."
Nobody spoke.
Margaret heard breathing.
Then a man's voice.
"Stop digging."
The call ended.
Margaret looked toward the dark front windows.
Someone stood across the street beneath the church billboard.
A shadow beside a parked sedan.
By the time Margaret reached the door, the figure was gone.
But on the glass, tucked beneath the door handle, was a folded church bulletin.
Margaret opened it.
May you like
A handwritten sentence had been added beneath the Christmas gathering announcement.
Some families are saved only when one person finally lets go.
