“He says he doesn’t want to see her. But we think he’s lying, mostly to himself. He’s stubborn and proud, and he’s carried something for years that he won’t tell us. We think he wants her but can’t forgive himself.”
“So you’re doing this behind his back.”
“Yes. And she’s our niece. We want to know her too.”
“You let the time slip away.”
“I know. We should have stood up to Dad. We didn’t.”
I crossed my arms. “Are you trying to take her?”
“What? No.”
“Rich family. Lawyers. And me with a leaking roof.”
“Nobody’s taking anyone. I swear.”
“Swearing is cheap.”
He took a velvet pouch from his coat. “Tabitha gave me this. It’s Poppy’s.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Then hold it for her. Please.” He walked back to the SUV.
I locked the door and sat at the kitchen table with the pouch in front of me. They had money and lawyers. I had a leaking roof and a weak heart. What if they wanted to take her?
Poppy came downstairs in her socks, hugging her stuffed rabbit. “Who was at the door, Grandma?”
“They had the wrong house.”
She slid a drawing across the table. Four stick figures: me, Poppy, and two stars above us.
“That’s Mommy and Daddy. They’re watching.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Grandma? Sometimes I wish our family was bigger. All my friends have aunts and uncles and cousins. I love you, but sometimes it’s lonely with just the two of us.”
“I know, baby.” I pulled her close. “I wish things were different too.”
“Do you think I’ll ever have a big family?”
I couldn’t answer. I kissed her hair and looked at the pouch. Could I keep her from a grandfather with only weeks left? But what if he broke her heart?
My phone buzzed. Unknown number.
“Hi, this is Tabitha. We met at Walmart.”
“What do you want?”
“Please don’t judge us by what Spencer told you. He doesn’t know everything. I’m at St. Luke’s cafeteria. There’s something about Lorna and your son you deserve to hear in person.”
My son.
I left Poppy with my neighbor Dottie and drove to St. Luke’s. Tabitha sat in a corner with a coffee she hadn’t touched.
“You came.”
“Have you been following my granddaughter?”
“For three days. I couldn’t make myself approach you. What was I supposed to say?”
“Then what happened at Walmart?”
“I was about to talk to you in the candy aisle when I saw Dad’s driver at the entrance. Dad had discovered the ring was gone and guessed what I was doing. He sent Otis to bring me home before I reached you. I panicked, hid the ring behind the candy, let Otis take me to the car, then begged him to let me run back for my wallet.”
“And Poppy found it.”
“Yes. The call was Dad, furious. And you were right to wonder about what I told you. Your granddaughter saved something I could never replace. That ring was Mom’s last wish for Lorna’s child. And I had already failed Lorna.”
“How?”
“She wrote me a year before she died. I never answered. Dad threatened to cut off anyone who contacted her: the house, the company, my kids’ tuition.”
“So you chose the money.”
“I chose the easy thing. I regret it every day.”
“Spencer says your father doesn’t want Poppy.”
“That’s what he says. But he’s kept Mom’s ring beside his bed for nine years.”
“What did Lorna do that was so terrible?”
“She married your son. Dad wanted someone wealthy. Gavin fixed school buses. Dad called him a mechanic with no future, right in front of Lorna.”
“Gavin was the best man I ever raised.”
“I know. Lorna said so in her letter.” She hesitated. “There’s something else. When I told Dad she was dead, he just said, ‘I know.’”
“He knew?”
“Apparently.”
“I buried them with eleven people there,” I said. “Not one from her side. Where is he?”
“Room 412.”
PART 3
A thin, gray old man lay in the hospital bed with an oxygen tube under his nose. He looked at me once, and then he knew.
“You’re Gavin’s mother.”
“I am.”
“My children had no right to send you. Get out. You’ll get nothing from me.”
“They didn’t send me, and I don’t want anything from you.” I dropped the velvet pouch on his blanket. “You can choke on that ring, but you’ll never see Poppy. Your daughter and my son died on Route 9, and you didn’t even come to the funeral.”
“I know.”
“You knew they were dead?”
