Chapter 6 - What Her Mother Knew|
Helen arrived at Mara's office on Tuesday wearing the pearl earrings Naomi had given her for Christmas.
Naomi hated that she noticed.
She hated more that part of her still wanted to cross the room and be somebody's child for five minutes.
Her mother carried a large handbag against her stomach.
“You look tired,” Helen said.
“I am.”
“Are you eating?”
“Mom.”
The familiar word brought tears into Helen's eyes.
Naomi remained beside her chair.
Mara had offered to leave them alone.
Naomi had asked her to stay.
Helen sat and carefully arranged her coat over her knees.
“Your father says this has become a misunderstanding.”
“Which part?”
Her mother looked toward Mara.
“Perhaps family matters would be easier in private.”
“That's where we've been discussing them my whole life,” Naomi said.
Helen lowered her eyes.
For a while, the only sound was a delivery truck reversing outside.
Then Naomi put the forged resolution on the table.
“Did you know about this?”
Her mother's fingers tightened on her handbag.
“I saw a copy in his study.”
“Did you think I had signed it?”
“He said you had approved everything.”
“Did you ask me?”
Helen shook her head.
The movement was so slight it might have been missed by someone who wanted to miss it.
Naomi sat down.
“Did you know why he wanted me to marry Duly?”
“I knew the company needed help.”
“So you helped him convince me.”
Her mother began to say that marriage could become many things with patience.
The words failed before she finished them.
Naomi watched the effort it took her to stop repeating an answer she no longer believed.
Helen opened her handbag and removed a plain envelope.
“I handled the wedding deposits.”
Inside were copies of invoices and the account confirmations she had kept for the household records.
Several payments had come from Bridgehouse Advisory.
The florist was one of them.
Naomi stared at the amount.
She remembered choosing white roses because her father said red looked theatrical.
Mara examined the pages and began recording where each copy had come from.
She explained that the source of the money would need to be traced.
The company name alone did not establish which funds had paid which bill.
Naomi understood.
Understanding did not make it easier to look at the florist's receipt.
“Why did you bring these?” she asked.
Helen pressed a tissue between her palms.
“Your father asked me to destroy the duplicates.”
“And that was when you became worried?”
Her mother's face changed.
Naomi had never watched a question land without rushing to soften it.
She let this one remain.
“No,” Helen said finally.
“I have been worried for years.”
She looked directly at her daughter.
“I decided that keeping you comfortable would make up for keeping you quiet.”
Naomi's throat tightened.
There was an apology in the room now, but it could not reach backward and dress the child she had been in a different life.
“I needed you on Sunday,” she said.
Helen began crying.
“I know.”
They sat with that for a long time.
Before leaving, Helen asked what would happen if the investigation found what Naomi suspected.
Mara answered carefully.
There could be civil claims, criminal charges, and consequences for anyone who had knowingly helped.
“Including Edmund?”
“Including anyone the evidence supports.”
Helen looked at the envelope as though she had only just understood that handing it over was an action.
“I can't promise to be brave about all of this,” she told Naomi.
“Then don't promise.”
Naomi stood and returned her mother's coat.
“Tell the truth when somebody asks you.”
Helen nodded.
At the door, she turned back.
“Will you ever come home?”
Naomi thought of the bedroom where every object had been chosen to suggest a girl who required nothing.
“I'll visit you somewhere else,” she said.
May you like
Her mother left with her handbag lighter.
The envelope stayed on the table.
