Ruling with a New Frame novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The New Book
I walked down the drive alone, with my mother's stethoscope bumping against my knees.
The iron gate stood shut.
On the far side of it, on the gravel, stood my grandmother.
She was thinner, and her black coat hung from her.
She leaned on a cane, with one small suitcase at her feet.
Up the road, a car idled with a nurse at the wheel.
"I did not come through," said Marguerite. "That was the term."
"I know," I said.
She had been told to stay beyond the gate, and she stood exactly on the line.
"I gave the state attorney every pill and every night," she said. "It took four days. It is written down."
"I know that too."
She bent, slowly, and untied a handkerchief from the top of the suitcase.
She held it through the bars.
In it lay a small brass music box, the lid black and warped, the comb a little crooked.
"I took it from the ashes with the tongs, that same night," she said. "I told myself I was keeping evidence."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Ruling with a New Frame are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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