Chapter 14 - The First Time Grant Called Her Mom
The house had grown unnaturally quiet by evening.
Vanessa had been told to remain in the west sitting room until Grant decided whether his lawyers or his uncle would hear from him first. She did not fight anymore. There are moments when people finally recognize that their panic has reached the end of its usefulness.
Helen sat in the library now, wrapped in a clean shawl Maya had brought her. The mop water was washed from her face, but not from the memory of what had been done.
Grant stood by the windows for a long time before turning back to her.
“I keep replaying my childhood,” he said. “Every time I was sick, you were there. Every time I got in trouble, you were the one who already knew. Every Christmas morning, you were somehow in the kitchen before everyone else and in the family room before the gifts were opened.” He gave a humorless exhale. “I thought you were just… everywhere.”
Helen smiled through tears. “I tried not to be too obvious.”
“That was a terrible strategy.”
She laughed once, brokenly.
Grant crossed the room and knelt in front of her the way he had in the morning room, only now there was nothing left between them except time.
“Why didn’t you ever hate me?” he asked quietly.
Helen’s hand rose to his face before she seemed to realize she was doing it. “Because you were never the thief.”
His eyes closed for a second at the touch.
And when he opened them again, the word came out before he could overthink it.
“Mom.”
Helen broke.
So did something inside Grant, though his tears came silently. Helen pulled him into her arms as if forty-two years had folded down to one impossible moment. Maya stepped quietly toward the door and left them that privacy.
When Grant finally pulled back, Helen wiped at her face and said, “There’s one more thing.”
He almost laughed. “Of course there is.”
She looked toward the closed library doors. “Steven didn’t just help Vanessa because of the trust.”
Grant frowned. “Then why?”
Helen’s voice dropped to a whisper.
May you like
“Because on the night your father died, I saw your uncle come out of Theodore’s room carrying his medicine case.”
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