Chapter 8 - A New Beginning at Grandma's House
The investigators questioned my parents separately.
The financial inquiry had begun before I arrived.
An independent trustee had reported irregular invoices; Toby’s counselor had supplied the missing reason to act urgently.
No one was sentenced that afternoon.
No fortune changed hands with the strike of a gavel.
There were statements, signatures, telephone calls, and long stretches of waiting.
Vance left without looking at me.
My father left with the investigators.
My mother remained on a hallway bench, holding a tissue she had twisted into a rope.
“Maya.”
I stopped.
Toby stood beside Grandma a few feet away.
“Tell him I love him,” my mother said.
“He can hear you.”
Her eyes flicked toward him.
“Toby, sweetheart—”
He pressed closer to Grandma.
My mother looked back at me.
“I didn’t know it was this serious.”
“Elena called you three times.”
“Your father said—”
“You saw the bruise.”
She folded the tissue smaller.
“I thought keeping us together was the right thing.”
Behind me, Toby spoke.
“You let him lock my door.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“The key was on your necklace,” he said.
“I could hear it when you walked past.”
Nothing in that hallway moved.
Then Grandma put a hand on his shoulder.
“Come along, darling.”
My mother reached toward him.
He stepped away.
It was the smallest distance anyone had crossed that day.
It felt enormous.
That night, Toby stood in Grandma’s guest room and studied the bed.
Clean sheets.
A reading lamp.
A dresser with one drawer slightly crooked.
“You can change anything you like,” Grandma told him.
“Can I shut the door?”
“Of course.”
He hesitated.
“And open it again?”
Grandma’s face crumpled for half a second.
“Yes.”
After she left, I sat on the floor beside the bed.
Toby remained standing.
“You don’t have to stay up,” he said.
“I’m comfortable.”
“You’re wearing boots.”
I took them off.
He almost smiled.
At two in the morning, he finally climbed under the blanket.
At three, he woke shouting.
I stayed on the floor while he checked the door.
At four, he fell asleep again.
May you like
By sunrise, my back ached worse than it had after any operation I could remember.
I had never been more grateful for pain.
