Chapter 24: Pearls

My father was waiting on the steps of the Beacon Hill house on Sunday morning with his hat in his hands.

I had changed the locks myself on Saturday, after the gala.

The key he had pushed under the ballroom door fit nothing now, and he hadn't tried it.

"I won't stay," Franklin said. "I came to hear you say it."

"Say what?"

"Whatever you decided."

I stopped two steps below him and looked at his face.

He had not slept either.

"I'm keeping the house," I said. "It was my mother's before it was yours."

"Yes."

"I'm keeping the Wharf in a trust that you can't touch, and Rosemary will run the Foundation, and you aren't coming to dinner."

He nodded.

"I'm not forgiving you today," I said. "I don't know about next year. I'm not going to say I will, and I'm not going to say I won't."

"That's fair."

"It's not fair. It's what I have."

His mouth worked.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"You can write Cosimo the letter you promised. And you can send Brianna's doctor a check."

"Done."

"And when the baby comes, you can send a card with no money in it."

He laughed, a short wet sound.

"A card," he said.

"A plain one. With your name."

He put his hat on, took it off again, and I watched him decide not to touch me.

Then he walked down the steps and went away along the brick sidewalk, and I stood in my own doorway and let him.

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