Chapter 4 - THE PRAYER ROOM
They gave Leo and me Nathan’s old bedroom.
I knew before anyone told me.
There were marks on the doorframe where someone had measured height with a pocketknife. A cracked baseball sat on the bookshelf. Inside the closet, carved into the wood, were the initials N.S.
Leo touched them.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
He grew quiet.
I wanted to let him sleep.
I wanted to lock the door, hold him, and leave before sunrise.
But the note was still in my pocket.
At midnight, when the estate finally quieted, I tucked Leo under the blanket and told him I was getting water.
The hallway smelled of rain and candle wax.
I followed voices.
Not to the study.
Not to the dining room.
To a small prayer room near the back of the house.
The door was open just a crack.
Inside stood Julian, Martha, and Arthur.
Julian’s voice was low but furious.
“Without her signature, we can’t touch the shares.”
Arthur pushed a document away so hard it slid across the table.
“I won’t do this.”
Martha was crying.
Not softly.
Angrily.
“You waited too long, Arthur.”
Julian snapped, “Claire leaves tomorrow with nothing if she doesn’t sign.”
Arthur looked at him with open disgust.
“You sound like your mother.”
Martha flinched.
Julian stepped closer.
“No. I sound like the only person trying to keep this family from collapsing.”
I stopped breathing.
On the table beside an old family photograph sat a sealed envelope.
Leo’s name was written across it.
I waited until they left through another doorway.
Then I slipped inside.
My hands shook as I opened the envelope.
The will was old.
The paper smelled like dust.
I didn’t understand the legal language at first.
Then I found Nathan’s name.
Leo’s name.
My name.
And a percentage large enough to make my knees weaken.
Behind the will was a photograph.
A younger Arthur stood beside Nathan and another man.
The man from the bus.
All three were standing in front of the courthouse.
Nathan was holding a newborn baby.
Leo.
On the back, written in Nathan’s handwriting, was one sentence:
If I disappear before this is filed, Claire signs nothing without Henry Whitaker.
A floorboard creaked outside.
The door handle turned.
May you like
I clutched the will to my chest.
And then Arthur Sterling stepped into the room.
