Chapter 2 - The Christmas Dinner Nobody Finished
Eleanor did not confront Vanessa immediately.
Age had taught her that angry people often confessed less than
frightened people.
She took Grace by the hand and walked into the kitchen.
The dining room beyond looked like a magazine advertisement. Crystal
glasses. Gold chargers. Evergreen garlands. Candles reflected in
polished silver.
Madison sat beneath the tree holding a new tablet.
Vanessa’s brother, Curtis Hale, poured himself wine.
Two neighbors Eleanor barely knew were eating dessert.
Everyone stopped when Grace entered.
Madison frowned.
“Why is she in here?”
Eleanor turned slowly.
“What did you say?”
Madison looked toward her mother.
Vanessa rushed in.
“Mother, this is becoming ridiculous.”
“Don’t call me Mother.”
Daniel had been married to Vanessa for eighteen months. Eleanor had
tolerated the intimacy for his sake.
Tonight it irritated her.
She pulled out the chair beside her own.
“Grace, sit.”
Grace hesitated.
Vanessa said, “She already had dinner.”
Eleanor picked up Grace’s paper plate and placed it on the white
tablecloth.
The cold scraps looked obscene beside the roast and glazed carrots.
“This?”
Nobody spoke.
Curtis cleared his throat.
“Kids need consequences.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“And grown men need invitations before drinking my wine.”
Curtis put down his glass.
Madison muttered, “She always causes drama.”
Grace’s face burned.
Eleanor asked, “What did Grace receive for Christmas?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“We’re teaching her that gifts are earned.”
Madison’s opened presents covered half the rug.
Eleanor noticed one box labeled with Grace’s name. The label had been
peeled off and another tag placed over it.
“Grace,” she said, “come here.”
Vanessa moved first.
“It’s nothing.”
Eleanor picked up the box.
Under Madison’s tag, the torn paper still showed GRACE in Daniel’s
handwriting.
Inside was a pair of white ice skates.
Grace gasped.
“Dad got those for me.”
Madison shouted, “Mom said they were mine!”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Eleanor looked at her.
“You gave one child the other child’s Christmas present?”
“Daniel buys Grace everything she wants.”
“Apparently not if you intercept it.”
Grace touched the skates.
“I asked Dad for these because Mom used to skate with me.”
Vanessa grabbed the box.
“That is enough.”
Eleanor did not release it.
Their eyes met.
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“You walk in here after months away and think you understand this
family?”
“No. I walked into my garage and found my granddaughter eating garbage
in the cold. That was remarkably educational.”
One neighbor quietly stood.
“We should go.”
“Yes,” Eleanor said. “You should.”
Within five minutes the guests were gone.
Curtis remained.
Eleanor noticed that.
“Why are you still here?”
“My sister may need me.”
“So may Grace.”
He looked away.
The basement knocked again.
Three sounds.
Curtis’s face tightened.
Eleanor saw it.
“What is downstairs?”
“Old pipes,” Vanessa said.
Grace shook her head.
“Pipes don’t whisper.”
Madison looked frightened now.
“Mom?”
Vanessa snapped, “Go upstairs.”
Madison obeyed.
Grace did not move.
Eleanor asked, “What do you hear?”
“Sometimes somebody walking.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you tell your father?”
Grace nodded.
“Vanessa said I was having nightmares.”
Eleanor turned to Vanessa.
“I want the basement key.”
“No.”
It was the first honest answer Vanessa had given all evening.
Eleanor took out her phone.
Vanessa laughed.
“You’re calling your attorney because a child heard noises?”
“I’m calling the police because a child told me she is afraid of a
locked room in a house I own.”
Curtis stepped forward.
“Eleanor, don’t turn family discipline into a circus.”
She looked at him.
“Get out.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“Then leave.”
He did not.
That was when the front door opened.
“Mom?”
Daniel stood in the foyer with snow on his coat and a suitcase behind
him.
His canceled flight had been rerouted through Milwaukee.
He smiled when he saw Eleanor.
Then he noticed Grace’s plate.
His smile disappeared.
“What is that?”
Nobody answered.
Grace ran to him.
“Daddy!”
Daniel hugged her.
She held on too tightly.
He looked at Eleanor over her head.
“What happened?”
Eleanor said, “Ask your wife why your daughter was eating leftovers
beside the snow tires.”
Daniel slowly turned toward Vanessa.
Vanessa started crying instantly.
“Daniel, thank God. Your mother has been attacking me since she
arrived.”
Grace’s grip tightened.
Daniel felt it.
“Grace?”
She whispered into his coat.
“Don’t leave again.”
His face changed.
“Why?”
Before she could answer, Curtis’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
Eleanor saw the message before he hid it.
BASEMENT CAMERA OFFLINE.
She stared at him.
“Give me your phone.”
Curtis backed away.
Daniel stepped between them.
“What is going on?”
Curtis ran.
He made it three steps.
Then the basement door opened by itself.
A woman’s voice floated up the stairs.
“Daniel?”
Grace screamed.
Daniel went completely still.
May you like
The voice belonged to Claire.
His dead wife.
