Chapter 2 - The Money Behind The Candles.
Daniel did not turn around immediately.
The sentence from the dining room followed him into the hallway like a draft beneath a locked door.
Lily's small hand was wrapped around two of his fingers.
Rachel stood beside them holding their coats.
"What money?" Daniel asked.
The dining room went quiet again.
Claire appeared in the doorway, her expression suddenly cautious.
She was Daniel's younger sister by three years, and she had spent most of the evening defending Eleanor's obsession with tradition.
"It's nothing," Claire said too quickly.
Eleanor stepped behind her.
"Go home, Daniel."
Daniel looked from his mother to his sister.
"Claire asked whether you moved the money."
Eleanor's face hardened.
"This is Christmas."
"It stopped being Christmas when my daughter was seated at a storage bin."
Lily flinched at the word daughter, as if she still needed proof that he meant it.
Daniel immediately crouched beside her.
"You are coming home with us, okay?"
Lily nodded.
Rachel pressed the elevator button at the end of the hall.
They were staying in Eleanor's downtown condominium because the family house outside Hartford was being renovated after a burst pipe.
The elevator doors opened.
Daniel stepped inside with his wife and daughter.
Eleanor called after him.
"Do not embarrass this family over one seating decision."
Daniel turned before the doors closed.
"You embarrassed yourself."
The ride down was silent.
In the parking garage, Lily finally released the green present.
"Daddy, should I throw it away?"
Daniel looked at the box.
"Absolutely not."
"Grandma doesn't want it."
Rachel knelt beside Lily and adjusted the collar of her coat.
"Something being rejected does not make it worthless."
Lily stared at the floor.
"Is that true for people too?"
Rachel's eyes filled immediately.
Daniel had no answer that could fit inside one breath.
He pulled Lily into his arms instead.
At home, they changed into pajamas and tried to rescue the night with hot chocolate and an old Christmas movie.
Lily fell asleep between them on the couch before the opening credits finished.
Daniel carried her upstairs.
When he returned, Rachel was standing at the kitchen island with her phone.
"Your mother has already started calling people," she said.
Daniel took the phone.
There were messages from two cousins, an uncle, and Claire.
The family version of the story was already changing.
According to Eleanor, Lily had become upset because she wanted the adults' table, Rachel had accused Eleanor of prejudice, and Daniel had threatened to abandon his widowed mother financially.
Daniel read the messages twice.
"She planned this explanation before we even got home."
Rachel nodded.
"And Claire knows something about the money."
Daniel opened his banking app.
Every month, he transferred Eleanor enough to cover the mortgage, utilities, insurance, groceries, and a generous cushion.
The condominium had no mortgage because Daniel had purchased it after his father's death and placed it in a family holding company.
Eleanor only paid personal expenses.
Yet three weeks earlier, she had asked him for an additional twenty thousand dollars for what she called emergency repairs.
Daniel opened the invoice she had sent.
The contractor name looked familiar.
Rachel leaned closer.
"That's Claire's boyfriend's company."
Daniel searched his email.
The attached invoice listed plumbing work, electrical work, and mold treatment.
But the building manager had told Daniel only two days earlier that no major repairs had been performed inside the unit that year.
Rachel looked at him.
"Daniel, where did that twenty thousand dollars go?"
His phone buzzed.
It was Claire.
May you like
One sentence appeared on the screen.
"Please don't ask Mom about the transfer until I can explain."
