Chapter 3 - THE SECOND FAMILY
Caroline met me at the mansion door.
She looked enough like Thomas that I knew instantly who she was.
Same eyes.
Same narrow mouth when irritated.
“You’re Susan.”
“Yes.”
She glanced at my coat as if checking whether I had brought legal papers inside it.
“I’m Caroline.”
“I figured.”
That annoyed her.
Good.
The mansion was enormous.
Stone exterior.
Two staircases.
Art that looked expensive without being beautiful.
A woman carried fresh flowers through the foyer.
Another polished silver.
I thought about my mother sewing my winter coat because buying another one would have meant delaying the electric bill.
Caroline walked ahead of me.
“He doesn’t have much energy.”
“I didn’t ask for much.”
“He’s been confused sometimes.”
That stopped me.
“Is he competent?”
Her eyes sharpened.
“What?”
“You’re already warning me not to believe him.”
“I’m telling you he’s dying.”
“Those are different things.”
She opened the bedroom door.
Thomas looked shockingly small inside the bed.
The last photograph I had seen showed him giving a speech six months earlier.
Broad shoulders.
Silver hair.
Expensive tuxedo.
The man in front of me looked fifteen years older.
He stared at me.
“Susan.”
I remained near the door.
Caroline said:
“I’ll stay.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“Dad.”
“Out.”
She did not move.
He gathered enough strength to say it again.
“Caroline. Out.”
She left.
Barely.
The door remained open several inches.
I knew she was listening.
Thomas looked at me for a long time.
“You look like Anne.”
“Don’t.”
His eyes filled.
“Right.”
I took the photograph from my purse.
Placed it on his blanket.
Then asked the only question I had come to ask.
“You knew how old I was.”
His face changed.
“You knew I was six when you left.”
“Susan.”
“Did you know?”
He closed his eyes.
I wanted him to say no.
That surprised me.
Some humiliating child-sized part of me still wanted a misunderstanding.
A forged letter.
An evil lawyer.
A mother who had secretly blocked him.
Anything that would make abandonment less deliberate.
Instead Thomas opened his eyes.
“I knew.”
That was when I slammed the photograph down.
May you like
That was when the key came out.
That was when Caroline stopped pretending my arrival meant nothing.
