I tried.
The breath caught halfway.
Then a child’s voice called from the sidewalk.
“Grandma?”
I turned.
My granddaughter, Ellie, stood beneath an umbrella with her younger brother, Noah. Their mother was behind them, pale and crying.
Ellie ran to me.
I dropped to my knees, and she collided with my chest so hard that the air left me.
“You left,” she sobbed.
“I know.”
“Dad said you didn’t want to live with us anymore.”
I held her tighter.
“That wasn’t true.”
Noah clung to my coat.
“Are you coming back?”
I looked at their mother.
She had not spoken to me since the morning Bradley sent me away.
Her face folded.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered. “He told me the trust was gone. He said Charles had wasted everything and you were angry at him. I believed him because I was afraid of losing the house.”
I rose slowly, still holding Ellie’s hand.
“You let me sleep on the sofa while you knew I had nowhere to go.”
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“I know.”
The honesty did not erase it, but it gave the wound an edge I could touch.
“I need time,” I said.
She nodded.
“I’ll give you time.”
Ellie looked at Daniel.
“Is this your house?”
“For now,” he said.
