My phone buzzed. Unknown number.
“Hi, this is Meredith. We met at Walmart yesterday.”
“What do you want?”
“Please don’t judge us by what Nate told you.”
“Was he lying?”
“Not exactly. But he doesn’t know everything.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’d rather do it in person. I’m at St. Luke’s cafeteria.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t. Not yet. But there’s something about Claire and your son you deserve to know.”
My son.
I left Ellie with my neighbor Pat and drove to St. Luke’s.
Meredith sat in the corner with a coffee she hadn’t touched.
“You came,” she said.
“Have you been following my granddaughter?”
“Yes. For three days.”
“Why?”
“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. Then I saw Dad’s driver at the entrance.”
“His driver?”
“Dad discovered the ring was gone. He guessed what I was doing.”
“And sent someone after you?”
“Frank. To bring me home before I reached you.”
“So?”
“I panicked. I hid the ring behind the candy and let Frank take me to the car. Then I begged him to let me go back for my wallet.”
“And Ellie found it.”
“Yes.”
“The phone call?”
“Dad. He was furious.”
“You told me Ellie saved your life.”
“She saved something I could never replace. That ring was Mom’s last wish for Claire’s child.” Her eyes filled. “And I’d already failed Claire.”
“How?”
“She wrote me a year before she died. I never answered.”
“Why not?”
“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.”
“Nate says your father doesn’t want Ellie.”
“That’s what he says.”
“You don’t believe him?”
“He’s kept Mom’s ring beside his bed for nine years. I think he wants to make things right, but something stops him.”
“What did Claire do that was so terrible?”
“She married your son.”
“Daniel?”
“Dad wanted someone wealthy. Daniel fixed school buses. Dad called him a mechanic with no future, right in front of Claire.”
“Daniel was the best man I ever raised.”
“I know. Claire said so in her letter.” Meredith hesitated. “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“When I told Dad that Claire was dead, he just said, ‘I know.’”
“He knew?”
“Apparently.”
“I buried them with eleven people there. Not one from her side.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Where is he?”
“Room 412.”
“Stay here.”
A thin, gray old man lay in the hospital bed with an oxygen tube under his nose.
Richard. Claire’s father.
He looked at me once. Then he knew.
“You’re Daniel’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 Ellie.”
He didn’t touch it.
“Your daughter and my son died on Route 9. You didn’t even come to the funeral.”
“I know.”
“You knew they were dead?”
“The state police called the next morning.”
“Why you?”
“I was the last person Claire called.”
I stopped.
“She called you?”
“She left a voicemail that afternoon.”
“Saying what?”
“‘Dad, we’re coming through Riverton at nine. I want you to meet your granddaughter.’ I still have it.”
My knees went weak.
“That night, they left Ellie with me. Claire said they were going on a date. Ninety miles for a date?”
“It wasn’t a date.”
“Then what was it?”
“She was coming home.”
“Then why didn’t she come in?”
He closed his eyes.
“I watched them on the doorbell camera. Claire rang twice. Daniel held her hand. They waited.”
“And you?”
“I stood inside with my hand on the lock.”
“You didn’t open it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Pride. I’d told her never to come back. I couldn’t bring myself to take it back.”
“They were on that road forty minutes later.”
“If I’d opened the door, maybe they’d be alive.”
“So that’s what you can’t forgive yourself for.”
He looked away.
“That’s why you missed the funeral?”
“I couldn’t face you. Or her grave.”
“And Ellie?”
His jaw tightened.
“You knew about her?”
“I knew where you lived.”
“Excuse me?”
“I drove past your house three times.”
“Three times?”
“I saw the roof. A little girl in a coat too small for her.”
I stared at him.
“I’d sit in the car and think, what do I say? ‘I’m the man who didn’t open the door’?”
“You say, ‘I’m her grandfather.’”
“I couldn’t.”
“Then why send your driver after Meredith?”
“I knew she’d bring the ring to you. I was afraid you’d look at me like I killed them.”
“You didn’t,” I said. “You just left them standing on your porch.”
He flinched.
“For three years, you let Ellie think nobody else wanted her.”
“I wanted her. I just didn’t know how.”
“You never tried.”
Silence.
“Nate says you don’t want to meet her.”
“I told them that.”
“Was it true?”
“No.” His voice broke. “Please. I don’t have much time. Let me see her.”
I wanted to say no.
Then I thought of Ellie’s drawing. Her wish for a bigger family.
“I’m not forgiving you.”
“I’m not asking.”
“I’ll bring her tomorrow. For her, not for you.”
The next day, I brought Ellie to St. Luke’s.
In the elevator, I explained.
“Mama had a daddy. He’s very sick. He wants to meet you.”
“Is he nice?”
“He’s very sad.”
“Is he sad because he lost somebody?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
Meredith and Nate waited outside room 412.
Ellie stopped at the foot of the bed.
“Hi.”
Richard couldn’t speak. He cried without a sound.
After a while, he picked up the velvet pouch.
“This was your grandmother’s ring. It’s yours.”
“The treasure,” Ellie whispered.
“Yes.”
“It stays safe until she’s older,” I said.
“Of course.”
Richard handed me an envelope.
“I’ve arranged a trust fund for Ellie’s education. It’s Claire’s share of her mother’s money. I should’ve done it years ago.”
I looked at him.
“I still don’t understand you.”
“I know.”
“But I’ll bring Ellie on Sundays. For her sake.”
He nodded, his eyes filling.
That night, Ellie held the ring box up to the lamp.
“Grandma, was the treasure from Mama?”
“In a way, sweetheart.”
She smiled.
“I think she wanted me to find it.”
We’ve been back to see Richard every Sunday since. And her aunt and uncle.
Ellie finally has more family in her life.
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