The Daughter They Abandoned Is the Doctor They Can't Reach novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Envelope

I got Faye into the shop and sat her on the stool by the register with Mabel's afghan around her shoulders.

Mabel came down in her robe and put a mug of tea in her hands without asking a single question.

Faye held it and did not drink.

The envelope lay on the counter between us.

"Tell me how you got it," I said.

"It was in the bottom drawer of the study, in my blue folder." She had stopped shaking, but her voice was thin. "I'm not supposed to open that drawer. I went in because my therapist asked me to."

"Asked you what?"

"To get my mom's account statement." She stared into the mug. "She said I should know what my mom left me. She said it would help to see it in writing. I asked Uncle Dennis on Tuesday and he said it was too complicated, and I should just trust him."

"And you didn't."

"I did," Faye said. "I always do. But on Thanksgiving, when you stood up..."

She stopped and pressed her lips together.

"He told me the education fund was from Mom," she said. "In October. He sat me down and said her insurance money had been set aside for school, and he'd been keeping it safe, and the family would add to it. When he made that toast, I thought, that's my mom's money, and he's saying it's a gift."

I felt my skin go cold.

"It was my fund," I said. "It had my name on it for eighteen years. My parents opened it the week I was born."

Faye looked up very slowly.

All the color left her face at once.

"No," she said.

"Faye."

"He said it was Mom's." She was whispering. "He said I should be grateful it was safe. Ingrid, I swear to you, I thought that was mine. I thought he was giving me my own money and calling it a present."

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