Chapter 2: Seven Years of Silence
“Seven,” Rosa said.
“One every Thanksgiving since your son married her.”
My daughter-in-law stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
“She’s confused.
You know how forgetful she’s become.”
Rosa’s hands began to shake.
“You told me he no longer wanted me at the table.
You said the envelopes were goodbye payments.”
“That’s a lie!” my daughter-in-law snapped.
I looked at Rosa’s cardboard box.
Beneath the cold food was a folded note bearing my name.
“Give me that.”
My daughter-in-law reached for it, but Rosa pulled the box away.
I opened the note.
It thanked me for twenty-two years of employment and said Rosa had accepted my “decision” to replace her after Christmas.
“I never wrote this.”
Rosa stared at me.
“Then who did?”
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed.
It was a message from my bank confirming that a check from Rosa’s envelope had just been deposited.
The room went silent.
I turned the screen toward my daughter-in-law.
Her hand flew to her pearls again.
Then my son slowly rose from the table.
“Dad,” he said, unable to meet my eyes.
“There’s something you need to know about those other six checks.”
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What did my son know—and why had Rosa been deceived for seven years?
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