Chapter 13 - Ashbourne House
The invitation arrived by courier.
Sunday Dinner. Immediate Family Only. Ashbourne House.
Marcus laughed when he saw it.
“She’s staging a hostage negotiation with table settings.”
Maya almost declined.
Then Amara said, “I want to go.”
“No.”
“I want to see her.”
“No.”
“Mom.”
“Absolutely not.”
Amara’s expression hardened.
“You keep saying I should have a voice.”
“You do.”
“Only when I agree with you?”
The sentence struck.
Maya sat down.
“Tell me why.”
Amara twisted one braid around her finger.
“Because I’m tired of imagining her.”
“What does that mean?”
“When I don’t see her, she gets bigger in my head.”
Maya understood too well.
Marcus agreed to attend.
Nia strongly recommended recording no conversations secretly because Illinois privacy law could complicate matters depending on circumstances.
Instead, they set rules.
No private contact.
No discussion of the criminal case with Amara.
They could leave immediately.
Ashbourne House glowed beneath winter lights when they arrived.
Amara had spent birthdays there.
Christmases.
Summer afternoons beside the pool.
Now the stone mansion looked different.
Not haunted.
Owned.
Gloria stood in the foyer wearing navy.
No diamonds.
No dramatic entrance.
“Thank you for coming.”
Maya said nothing.
Dinner was set for four.
Gloria had dismissed household staff from the dining room.
Marcus noticed.
“No witnesses?”
Gloria’s mouth tightened.
“No employees dragged into family business.”
Amara sat opposite her grandmother.
For several minutes, no one mentioned the gala.
Then Gloria spoke.
“I want to say something.”
Maya put down her fork.
“To Amara.”
Amara looked up.
Gloria’s hands rested perfectly still beside her plate.
“I was wrong to strike you.”
Amara waited.
“No explanation?”
Gloria blinked.
“What?”
“Usually there’s a ‘but.’”
Marcus coughed into his napkin to hide a laugh.
Gloria ignored him.
“No but.”
Amara studied her.
“Okay.”
Gloria looked unsettled.
“I’m sorry.”
“Okay.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
Maya immediately said, “Mother.”
Amara answered herself.
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I apologized.”
“I heard you.”
Gloria’s old impatience returned.
“An apology is supposed to begin healing.”
Amara frowned.
“I thought it was supposed to say you were sorry.”
Marcus looked down.
Maya almost smiled.
Gloria inhaled.
“I am trying.”
Amara nodded.
“Then keep trying.”
The room became silent.
Gloria looked toward Maya.
“You’ve taught her to speak to me like this.”
Maya’s eyes hardened.
“There’s the but.”
Gloria pushed back slightly from the table.
“I invited you here to repair this family.”
Marcus said, “Repair generally happens after someone stops swinging the hammer.”
Gloria glared.
“I did not invite commentary from you.”
“You invited immediate family.”
“And you’ve made your position obvious.”
“Yes.”
Gloria looked at Amara.
“Your mother and uncle have decided I am a monster.”
Maya stood.
“No.”
Amara said quietly, “You’re doing it again.”
Everyone turned.
Gloria frowned.
“Doing what?”
“Making me responsible for making you feel better.”
Gloria stared.
“I didn’t call you a monster.”
Amara continued.
“I said you hit me.”
Her voice trembled, but she kept going.
“You keep changing the subject.”
Gloria’s face reddened.
“I am your grandmother.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
Amara looked down.
“Then why is it so hard to just say what you did was wrong?”
“I did say that.”
“Then why are you angry at me because I’m still hurt?”
Gloria stood.
Maya immediately moved.
Marcus did too.
Gloria saw them and froze.
The sight of both adult children reacting as though she might become dangerous shocked her more than any accusation.
“I was standing up.”
Marcus replied, “We know.”
Something cracked in Gloria’s face.
For one second, she looked old.
Then she became furious.
“This is intolerable.”
Maya took Amara’s hand.
“We’re leaving.”
“No.”
Gloria pointed toward the chair.
“Sit down.”
Maya stared at her.
“I’m thirty-five.”
“And still behaving like a petulant teenager.”
Marcus stood.
“Enough.”
Gloria turned.
“This house, your education, your career, every opportunity either of you had came through me.”
Marcus laughed.
“You really only know one speech.”
Gloria slammed her palm on the table.
Amara flinched.
Everyone stopped.
Gloria saw it.
The terror in Amara’s eyes.
Not anger.
Not defiance.
Fear.
For one long second, no one moved.
Gloria’s hand slowly left the table.
Maya gathered Amara’s coat.
“We’re done.”
As they crossed the foyer, Gloria called after them.
“Maya.”
Maya turned.
Gloria’s voice was lower.
“If you continue helping investigators with the foundation, there will be consequences beyond this family.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Is that a threat?”
“It is a fact.”
Maya looked at her mother.
“Then put it in writing.”
Gloria’s expression hardened.
They left.
Outside, snow had begun falling.
Amara breathed as though she had been holding her breath for the entire meal.
Marcus opened the car door.
Then Maya noticed another vehicle parked beyond the trees.
A black sedan.
Its headlights turned on.
Marcus frowned.
The sedan pulled away.
“Did you see the driver?”
“No.”
But Maya had seen the passenger.
Daniel Price.
He had been at Ashbourne House while Gloria claimed the dinner was immediate family only.
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And if Daniel was still meeting Gloria secretly, then the investigation had not frightened them apart.
It had driven them closer.
