The Men Who Walked Out novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Balcony

Daphne's POV

On Wednesday evening Dad asked me to drive him to Newport for the rest of his things.

"Your mother called the house," he said. "She asked if I would come up to the balcony first."

"You don't have to."

"I know. I'd like to."

The housekeeper let us in, and she took Dad's coat from him gently.

I stayed in the upstairs hall, where the carpet ran out to the balcony door, and I told myself I wasn't listening.

The door was open an inch.

The saucer from that night was still on the floor by the rail, washed and empty.

My mother stood beside it in her dark suit with no coat, in the cold.

"Gerard," she said.

"Rosalind."

"Thank you for coming."

"You asked."

"I did."

He went and stood at the rail, a few feet from her, looking at the lawn and the east wing.

The windows there were dark.

"Gordon's gone," Mom said. "He left a note with the housekeeper. It's two lines. He says he's sorry about the forty million."

"I heard about the forty million."

"I would have liked to be the sort of woman who could have told it was a lie." She turned her bandaged hand over on the rail. "I wanted it so much that I didn't check."

Dad didn't answer.

"Come home," she said.

I stood very still, and I couldn't tell which answer I was hoping for.

"Rose."

"The east wing is empty. The papers can be torn up, and the lawyers will say what they're told."

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