Chapter 17: To the Family

The Hadfields arrived on Friday at six, in two cars, with a cake.

Davis came up the steps first with the box in both hands, smiling the Rotary smile.

"Eden," he said. "My girl."

He kissed my forehead.

I let him.

Cormick stood at my shoulder and shook his hand, and neither of them said a word about the court order.

Russell carried the bags. He did not look at me.

Colette swept in behind him in a camel coat, glowing, and went straight to the glass wall.

"Oh, it's even more beautiful than I remembered," she said. "Isn't it, Dad?"

Then she turned to the staircase.

She looked at the walnut treads and the steel posts.

She looked along the open side, where the drop was.

The glass panels had gone in at noon, and the foreman had polished them himself.

Colette saw only air.

"They still haven't finished the rail," she said, with a little frown. "Eden, you must be careful on those."

"I stay on the wall side," I said.

"Good girl."

Behind her, Pierce came in last, in his hoodie, pale and hunched.

He gave me one look and dropped his eyes to the floor.

Dinner was in the great room, with the lake black behind the glass.

Davis sat at one end and Cormick at the other, and the housekeeper carried in a roast.

For an hour I played the part I had been given.

I passed the potatoes.

I said, "Of course, Dad," when Davis apologized for the misunderstanding about the paperwork.

I let Colette squeeze my hand and call me brave.

"Cormick's lawyers do these things," I said. "They file first and read after. I told him I was upset."

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