“They love you.”
“I don’t know if they’re allowed to.”
“Children know when love is being rationed by adults.”
I looked down at my hands.
“Daniel, I don’t know how to begin.”
He answered without hesitation.
“Begin by sleeping somewhere no one can evict you from.”
That night, he made up the blue room at the end of the hall. The bed was narrow, and the quilt smelled of lavender. On the dresser stood a framed photograph of a young woman with Daniel’s eyes.
“Your daughter?” I asked.
“Myra. She died seven years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She used to ask why I never married.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That I had already met the person I was supposed to marry.”
Daniel turned down the quilt.
“Did she know it was me?”
“She knew your name.”
He left the door open a hand’s width.
I lay awake until dawn, Charles’s scarf folded beneath my cheek. For the first time since the funeral, I did not hear anyone sigh when I breathed.
CHAPTER 2 – The Papers in the Box
The bank manager led us into a private room just after opening.
Daniel carried the key. I carried Charles’s letter.
The box contained three bundles tied with blue ribbon, a small cassette tape, and a red folder marked MARGARET—READ FIRST.
My hands froze over the folder.
“Do you want me to open it?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
The word came out too quickly.
He waited.
I took a breath.
“Yes. But stay.”
