Five Years a Fool, A Lifetime Apart novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Forty at the Table

On Sunday the Dunning dining room held forty people.

Lorna had pushed three tables together under the chandelier.

Aunts in pearls, uncles in blazers and cousins with their phones face down by their plates.

Dexter sat at Camille's left in a new suit.

Jasper sat between them, kicking the leg of his chair.

I took the empty seat across from Lorna, with the folder in front of me.

The contract lay on top, the pen beside it.

"We have a guest of honor," Lorna said, standing, her glass raised. "Our son-in-law has done a great and generous thing."

Applause went around the room.

I stood.

"Lorna, may I say something before you finish?"

She smiled the smile she used on waiters.

"Of course, dear."

"Thank you," I said. "For sixty years of life, and for five years of keeping a grandson from me."

The applause stopped.

"I'd like to thank everyone here, too," I went on. "There are forty-one of you in the family chat. Raise your hand if you knew about Jasper before Saturday."

Nobody moved.

An aunt in a gray dress looked at her plate.

A cousin near the end of the table slowly raised two fingers.

Then an uncle.

Then three more.

Within seconds, more than half of the room had a hand in the air, and none of them could look at me.

Twenty-six hands.

"For five years," I said, "I sat at this table and passed you the salt."

"Caleb," Camille said, her voice thin. "Please sit down."

"Not yet."

I took the cream envelope from my jacket and held it up.

REFUSED. RETURN TO SENDER.

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