Chapter 14: Say What the Bowl Was

Annabel's POV

Sheldon rang the bell at eight on Saturday morning.

He had no driver and no suit, only a banker's box in his arms.

The woman from room four opened the green door and looked at him for a long moment.

"Colter," she called over her shoulder. "It's him."

Colter came down the hall and stood beside her.

He didn't say anything.

I came down the stairs with my daughter on my hip.

Sheldon looked at the baby before he looked at me.

"Annabel."

"You came alone," I said.

"I didn't tell anyone where I was going."

"How did you find us?"

"My assistant ran the plate on Colter's car." He swallowed. "I know what that sounds like."

"It sounds like you."

"Please. I have something you need to see."

I thought about telling him to leave it on the step.

But he had a gray look under his eyes that I had never seen on him, and the box was shaking a little in his arms.

"Not the porch," I said. "The kitchen."

The kitchen was full.

Six women sat at the long table with oatmeal and toast, and a girl of about twenty was feeding her toddler under the window.

They all went quiet when Sheldon walked in.

He stood in the doorway in his good shoes and looked at them.

"Sit," I said.

"Annabel, I'd rather we talk in private."

"You didn't want to be private at Brooke's party. Tell them what the bowl was."

He set the box down on the counter.

"It was a silver bowl," he said. "I put folded envelopes in it."

"With what in them?" said the woman from room four.

He didn't look at her.

"Dollar amounts. Different ones. On the first of every month, my wife drew one, and that was what she lived on."

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