Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BENCH
Daniel took me into the library.
Claudia followed.
The gala continued beyond the closed doors.
Daniel placed Lily’s drawing on his desk.
“Tell me.”
I looked at Claudia.
“This is private.”
“I’m his fiancée.”
Daniel didn't look at her.
“Stay.”
So she did.
I took a breath.
“A year ago, before I worked here, I cleaned rooms at Bellweather House.”
Daniel froze.
Bellweather House was a private hospice.
Eleanor had spent her final weeks there under another name.
Almost nobody knew.
“I worked evenings,” I continued. “Your mother was in room fourteen.”
Daniel lowered himself into a chair.
“You knew my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she asked me not to.”
His eyes snapped up.
“She knew you would work here?”
“She suggested it.”
That surprised him even more.
Eleanor had known my marriage was collapsing.
She knew I needed stable work.
But she had never offered charity.
Instead, she told me the Hartwell estate would soon need additional household staff.
“She told me to apply normally.”
“And you did?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Lily's picture.
“How did Lily know her?”
“I sometimes had to bring her to Bellweather.”
Just like I brought her to Hartwell.
Lily had been two.
Eleanor adored her.
They sat beneath the apple tree whenever the weather was warm enough.
Lily called her Grandma Ellie because Eleanor had laughed the first time and never corrected her.
Daniel touched the blue heart in the drawing.
“That necklace belonged to my grandmother.”
“I didn't know.”
“What else did she tell you?”
“About you?”
He nodded.
“A lot.”
His eyes filled with something dangerously close to grief.
“What?”
“That you worked too much.”
A faint smile.
“That you hated mushrooms.”
Another.
“That when you were eight, you tried to run away but only made it to the greenhouse because you forgot to pack food.”
Daniel actually laughed.
One sound.
Broken almost immediately by silence.
Then I remembered the harder things.
“She said you blamed yourself.”
The smile disappeared.
“For what?”
“For not answering.”
Claudia shifted.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I looked between them.
“What happened?”
Daniel stood.
“The night before my mother lost consciousness, she called me.”
His voice became mechanical.
“11:38 p.m.”
He remembered the exact minute.
“I was negotiating a deal. I saw her name and silenced my phone.”
His jaw tightened.
“I told myself I'd call her back in ten minutes.”
“How long?”
“Forty-seven.”
Nobody spoke.
“When I finally called, a nurse answered. Mom had suffered a stroke.”
His eyes were wet now.
“She never woke up.”
For a year Daniel had believed the final thing his mother knew was that her son was too busy to answer.
Then Lily spoke from beside me.
“But Grandma Ellie said he did.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
Lily hugged Mr. Buttons.
“She said Daniel answered.”
Claudia went completely still.
And I noticed.
May you like
So did Daniel.
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