Chapter 14: Both Doors

Dad opened the bay door and stood in it.

He didn't step aside, and Mom didn't ask him to.

"I'm not here to be forgiven," she said. "I'm here to show you something. Then you can say whatever you want."

"Say it out here."

"All right."

She held up the manila envelope.

"Fifteen years ago, the week after Dennis's wedding, I opened a savings account in my name only."

Dad said nothing.

"Whenever I found out you'd handed money to your mother or your brother, I put the same amount in it."

"You counted my money."

"I counted it because you wouldn't."

She took out the statement and held it toward him.

He didn't take it. I did.

The paper was folded soft at the edges, as if she had carried it around for weeks.

I read down the column and felt my stomach go cold.

There was a deposit of nine thousand and another of thirty-one thousand.

They were the same numbers I had heard Dad read at our dinner table.

At the bottom was a withdrawal dated three weeks ago, for a hundred and seventy-six thousand dollars.

"Overtime, double shifts, and what my mother left me," Mom said. "I meant to hand it back to you someday, in one piece."

"Instead you bought a mortgage," I said.

"I bought the note on Dennis's house. Caleb put in the rest."

Dad finally took the paper out of my hand.

He looked at it for a long time.

"You let me stand in that kitchen," he said. "You let her clap for me."

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