Chapter 9: The Letter

I kept reading.

"I opened an account for you the week you were born, and I put money in it every Christmas.

"I never told your father how much.

"He found out anyway, because he is a man who finds out where the money is.

"He asked me for it three times, and three times I said no.

"If you are reading this, I am gone, and he has taken it, and he has told you it never existed."

Nobody on the patio moved.

Dad's hand closed on my arm, and I stepped out of it.

"Elena, stop," he said through his teeth. "This is private."

"You asked me to say it in front of everyone," I said. "I'm saying it."

I looked down at the page again.

"You are the smartest one of my grandchildren, and that is not a kindness to the others.

"It is only a fact.

"Do not let anyone tell you to be smaller so that someone else can feel bigger.

"Your mother will say it is for the family.

"Your father will say it is for the family.

"Ask them which family they mean."

A woman at the front of the crowd put her hand to her chest.

Someone near the grill muttered, "Oh, my God."

Dad took a step toward me.

"That's an old woman's confusion," he said, loud enough for the whole yard. "She was sick at the end, and she wrote all kinds of things."

"Then I'll show you what else I have."

I turned to the drinks table.

Luca had already moved the speaker out of its corner and was holding a cable.

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