Chapter 5 - Twenty-Five Christmases
No one knew where to sit.
It was ridiculous.
Evelyn’s living room had three chairs, two couches and a window seat large enough for four people.
Yet the four adults stood awkwardly as though furniture itself had become political.
Ruby solved the problem.
She sat beside Jacob on the rug.
“Sit.”
She pointed at the couch.
Apparently that settled it.
Margaret sat at one end.
Evelyn sat at the other.
Laura and Claire took the chairs opposite them.
For nearly a minute, nobody spoke.
Then Ruby asked Jacob, “Do you like dinosaurs?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
They disappeared into Ruby’s toy bag.
Claire exhaled.
“Well. That was easier for them.”
Margaret looked at her daughter.
“Children have no history.”
Evelyn answered quietly.
“Maybe that’s lucky.”
Margaret’s eyes moved toward her.
“You always did like statements that sounded wiser than they were.”
There it was.
The old rhythm.
Immediate.
Effortless.
Laura almost laughed from sheer disbelief.
Instead she said, “Can somebody please explain what actually happened?”
Both sisters spoke at once.
“She knows.”
“She has no idea.”
They stopped.
Claire rubbed her forehead.
“This is going wonderfully.”
Margaret leaned back.
“Your mother got the property.”
Evelyn stiffened.
“Our father left it to me.”
“You knew beforehand.”
“Yes.”
“You kept that from me.”
“Yes.”
“You told him I couldn’t be trusted.”
Evelyn sat forward.
“I did not.”
Margaret laughed.
“Still lying.”
“I never told him that.”
“You told him Peter was irresponsible.”
“He was.”
“He was my husband.”
“He lost forty thousand dollars investing in a company run out of someone’s basement.”
“Which I knew about.”
“Dad didn’t.”
“He knew because you told him.”
“Yes, I told him Peter had debts. That is not the same as telling him to change his will.”
Margaret’s face flushed.
“You knew what Dad was like.”
“So did you.”
“Then you knew exactly what would happen.”
Evelyn fell silent.
Laura watched her mother.
That silence contained guilt.
Not the guilt Margaret accused her of.
Something smaller.
More believable.
And perhaps more painful.
Claire spoke.
“My mother always thought you convinced him she would lose the lake house.”
Evelyn looked at her niece.
“I didn’t convince him. But I didn’t defend her either.”
Margaret’s face changed.
It was tiny.
A crack.
“You never said that.”
“You never gave me much chance.”
“I wrote you five letters.”
Evelyn looked down.
Margaret continued.
“You answered none.”
“I know.”
“I invited you to Claire’s wedding.”
“I know.”
“I called when Mom’s sister died.”
“I know.”
“I sent Laura a birthday card once.”
Laura looked up sharply.
“What?”
Evelyn froze.
Margaret stared at her sister.
“You never gave it to her?”
Laura slowly turned toward her mother.
“Mom?”
Evelyn looked genuinely ashamed.
“I was angry.”
Laura’s voice dropped.
“You threw away my birthday card from my aunt?”
“I didn’t throw it away.”
“Then where is it?”
Another silence.
“The box.”
Laura stood.
“You kept it?”
“Yes.”
“You kept a card addressed to me and never let me have it?”
“I told myself you were too young.”
“How old was I?”
“Ten.”
“I was old enough to read.”
Margaret looked toward the floor.
Her anger seemed to lose some of its sharpness.
“I stopped after that.”
Laura looked at her aunt.
“Why?”
“Because your mother sent it back unopened.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret stared at her.
“Yes.”
“I kept it.”
“What?”
They both stopped.
Claire leaned forward.
“What are you talking about?”
Evelyn stood and left the room.
She returned several minutes later holding a pale blue envelope.
It had Laura’s childhood address written across the front.
The stamp was canceled.
The envelope had clearly been opened.
Inside was a birthday card.
Laura removed it.
Happy 10th Birthday, Laura.
You probably don’t remember me. I’m your Aunt Margaret.
I hope someday we get to meet properly.
Love,
Aunt Maggie and Claire.
Laura read the final line twice.
Then looked at her mother.
“You opened it.”
“Yes.”
“And kept it.”
“Yes.”
“But never told me.”
“No.”
Evelyn sat down.
“I was afraid.”
“Of a birthday card?”
“Of questions.”
That answer was brutally simple.
Laura’s anger returned.
“You were afraid I’d ask why I had an aunt you never mentioned.”
“Yes.”
“And then you’d have to explain.”
“Yes.”
Ruby suddenly looked over from the rug.
“Why is everybody sad?”
No one answered.
Jacob whispered something to her.
Ruby nodded.
Then returned to arranging plastic dinosaurs.
Claire looked toward the children.
“My son asked me last night why that lady at the market looked scared of him.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Margaret gave her a hard look.
“He’s seven.”
“I know.”
“You made him think he’d done something wrong.”
“I know.”
Evelyn’s voice cracked.
Margaret stopped.
That apology did something the arguments had not.
It forced her to look at her sister as she was now.
Not the thirty-nine-year-old woman in the lawyer’s office.
Not the rival child beside her at the dinner table.
A sixty-four-year-old woman with tears in her eyes.
Margaret’s expression softened.
Only slightly.
Claire spoke.
“We should probably tell you why Jacob didn’t have a coat.”
Evelyn looked concerned.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes. Mostly.”
Claire smiled weakly.
“His zipper broke on the subway. He got upset because it was his favorite. I went into a shop to buy another one. He was supposed to wait with my mother.”
Margaret rolled her eyes.
“I turned around for ten seconds.”
Jacob called from the floor.
“You were looking at ornaments.”
“I was looking for ten seconds.”
“Twenty.”
Margaret stared at him.
Ruby giggled.
Something inside the room loosened.
Just a little.
Margaret looked toward Evelyn again.
“I did not come here to fix twenty-five years in an afternoon.”
“I know.”
“And I still think what happened was wrong.”
“So do I.”
Margaret frowned.
“That’s new.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“I should have challenged Dad about the lake house.”
Margaret’s face went still.
“I should have told you what he was planning.”
Still nothing.
“And I should have answered your letters.”
Margaret swallowed.
Evelyn continued.
“I was angry. And embarrassed. And after enough years, I didn’t know how to come back without admitting I had wasted all that time.”
Margaret stared at her hands.
Then said quietly, “I wasn’t innocent either.”
Evelyn looked surprised.
“You weren’t?”
A faint, reluctant smile crossed Margaret’s face.
“There. Still annoying.”
Evelyn almost smiled too.
Margaret sighed.
“I told Claire you stole everything.”
Claire nodded.
“For years.”
“I made you the villain because it was easier than explaining why our father didn’t trust my husband.”
She paused.
“Peter did have debts.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“He hid more than I knew.”
Claire turned toward her mother.
“You never told me that.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Why?”
Margaret looked at Evelyn.
“Because then she might have been right about something.”
This time Evelyn laughed.
A real laugh.
Short.
Unexpected.
Margaret’s mouth twitched.
Then Ruby appeared between them holding two plastic dinosaurs.
“One for you.”
She gave one to Evelyn.
“One for you.”
She gave the other to Margaret.
The sisters stared at the toys.
Ruby explained.
“They’re sisters.”
Jacob corrected her.
“Those are both T-Rexes.”
“They can still be sisters.”
Nobody argued.
Then Ruby looked from Evelyn to Margaret.
“Are you sisters?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Yes.”
Ruby considered this.
“Do you live together?”
“No.”
“Why?”
The room went quiet again.
Evelyn said, “We had a fight.”
Ruby nodded.
“I fight with Emma at school.”
Margaret smiled despite herself.
“What do you fight about?”
“She said purple is better than pink.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It was.”
Ruby pointed between them.
“What did you fight about?”
Laura nearly intervened.
She didn’t.
Margaret answered.
“Money.”
Ruby frowned.
“That’s boring.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Laura looked down.
Even Evelyn laughed.
Ruby remained puzzled.
“So who won?”
No one answered.
That was the problem.
May you like
After twenty-five years, neither of them knew.
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