Chapter 3

Joyce's body trembled.

"You said you've been looking for me for over twenty years," I said and stood up. "But twenty-three years ago, someone came to your door. What did you say?"

I looked at Joyce. "Ma'am, what did you say?"

Joyce's lips shook, but no words came out.

I said, "You said you never lost a child. You said you only had one grandson and he was precious. You told her to leave and stop scaring the child."

Tears streamed down Joyce's face again. "Emily," Joyce said, her voice breaking. "I was foolish back then."

"A mistake?" I crouched down and looked her in the eye.

"Ma'am, you weren't foolish. You were scared. You were scared my adoptive mother would bring me back.

"You were scared there'd be another mouth to feed. You were scared your precious grandson would have to share everything with a girl. Isn't that right?"

Joyce stopped talking. She just cried.

I stood up.

"I don't blame you," I said. "You made your choice. You picked your grandson and threw away your granddaughter. That's your right. But you don't get to show up twenty-three years later and demand my forgiveness."

I added, "And you definitely don't get to make me call you Grandma."

I looked around the room at everyone.

"You've been searching for me for over twenty years? Fine. Let me ask you something." I paused and looked at the young man still glued to his phone. "Are you looking for me because you feel guilty, or because you need my help?"

The young man finally looked up. His eyes held no guilt, no warmth—just irritation.

"Emily, you're overthinking this," he said. "We found you because you're family. You're a Carter, and that's not changing."

He paused. "Of course, if you can help the family out, even better."

I smiled. Of course. I knew it.

*****

I spent the afternoon at Willow Village, but not because I wanted to. Madeline wouldn't let me leave.

She said, "Emily, you haven't been home in so long. Stay for dinner. I already fixed up your room. You can spend the night. And look how happy your grandmother is. Keep her company a little longer."

I had no choice but to stay.

Dinner was elaborate. The table was covered with dishes—roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, pot roast, and a bottle of expensive wine.

Helen said, "Emily, try the pot roast. It's Madeline's specialty."

Daniel said, "Emily, have some soup. Your mom made it."

Madeline added, "Emily, try this."

They kept piling food onto my plate until it looked like a mountain.

I didn't eat them.

"Emily, why aren't you eating? Don't you like it?" Helen asked.

"It's not that," I said. "I'm not hungry."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." I put down my fork.

"I have some questions," I said.

"Like what?" Daniel asked.

I looked at him. "Mr. Carter, how old is my brother?"

"Twenty-three."

"How far did he get in school?"

"College. He has his bachelor's degree."

"Who paid for it?"

"We did."

"And what's he doing now?"

"Working in the city."

"Does he own a place?"

Daniel hesitated. "Yeah. We covered the down payment."

I asked, "How much?"

"A hundred thousand dollars."

A hundred thousand dollars. I nodded. "Is he married?"

"Not yet." Helen jumped in. "He's got a girlfriend though. They're getting married next spring."

"How much are you giving him for the wedding?"

"A hundred thousand."

"What about renovating the place?"

"That's another fifty thousand, at least."

A hundred thousand for the down payment. A hundred thousand for the wedding. Fifty thousand for renovations.

Nearly three hundred thousand total.

I nodded again. "One more question. When I was two years old, what was our financial situation like?"

The room went quiet.

Daniel said, "We were poor. Really poor. We couldn't even put food on the table back then."

"Oh," I said. "And now?"

"Things are better now. Your brother William has a job and earns money, and your mom and I worked for decades and saved up some."

"How much did you save?"

Daniel hesitated.

"Just a rough number," I said.

Daniel glanced at Helen.

Helen cleared her throat. "Emily, why are you asking about this?"

"Just curious," I said. "You said the family was too poor back then to raise two kids. So how poor are we talking? Poor enough to abandon one of your children?"

No one spoke.

"Let me do the math for you." I counted on my fingers. "William's education—elementary through college—tuition, living expenses, tutoring. That's at least 30 thousand dollars.

"He bought a house, and you covered the down payment of 100 thousand dollars. His wedding cost 100 thousand dollars, and the renovations were over 50 thousand dollars.

"Add it up, and that's nearly 300 thousand dollars.

"Oh right, and this house." I looked around at the three-story building. "Nice place, decent renovations. That had to cost at least 200 thousand dollars. So we're up to over 400 thousand dollars total."

I stared at them. "You spent over 400 thousand dollars on William. You spent zero on me."

I kept going. "You said you were too poor to raise two kids back then. But twenty-three years later, you had over 400 thousand dollars to spend on your son.

"So which is it? You couldn't afford it, or you just didn't want to?"

The room fell into dead silence.

Joyce's lips trembled even harder.

My brother, William Carter, finally put down his phone and looked at me with a frown. "Emily, what do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" I laughed. "Exactly what I said."

"So what do you want?"

"I don't want anything." I stood up. "I just wanted you to know that what you owe me can't be fixed with a sorry. And I don't need your apology anyway.

"I wanted to see how the people who abandoned me turned out. I wanted to see it with my own eyes."

I smiled, "And now I have. Three-story house, sixty-inch TV, leather couch, marble coffee table, expensive liquor. Pretty nice. Much better than my foster parents' place."

I headed for the door.

"Emily." Madeline rushed after me. "Don't leave. We can talk about this."

"Madeline." I stopped. "Why did you really want to find me?"

Madeline froze.

I asked, "William needs money for his wedding, doesn't he?"

Madeline's face changed.

"I guessed right." I smiled. "You didn't spend twenty years looking for me. You found me because William's getting married and you need my money. Isn't that right?"

Madeline opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

I said, "Madeline, let me ask you one thing. If William wasn't getting married, would you guys have looked for me at all?"

Madeline said nothing.

I turned and pushed open the door and walked into the night.

Behind me, I heard Helen's voice. "That girl. How could she be like this? Ungrateful brat."

I didn't look back.