“Your sister is getting married, Cathy,” she said. “Her future is settled now, thanks to Ben.”
“But two thousand five hundred dollars is a fortune,” I said, my voice rising with that familiar question mark at the end. “Who actually gets the check?”
“We need to select the table linens for the reception,” she said, deflecting my question with a sharp wave of her hand. “The white damask or the cream lace.”
“Mother, answer me,” I said.
“You are letting your own loneliness twist what should be a happy time for your sister,” she said, her eyes narrowing as she looked at me.
The words felt like a physical blow, cold and precise.
“I want you to go down to the basement and bring up the laundry baskets,” she added, her voice returning to its normal, domestic hum.
I stood there for a long moment, my silver ring biting into my skin, before I turned and walked out the back door.
The air on Elm Street was damp and smelled of decaying oak leaves as the streetlights began to flicker on. Ben was sitting on the wooden steps of the yellow house porch, his old work boots dusty from a long day at the lumber yard.
He was holding a small piece of sandpaper, smoothing the edge of a pine molding block.
“You’re late getting home,” I said, sitting on the step below him.
“Had to finish a delivery in Marion,” he said, his voice quiet and low.
He set the block down and pressed his palms flat against his thighs, a gesture that made me freeze.
“Ben,” I said, looking at his profile in the twilight. “Is my father helping you buy this house?”
He stopped moving, his shoulders rising as he took a slow breath.
“What makes you ask that?” he said, his voice dropping even lower.
“I saw his ledger today,” I said. “There are monthly withdrawals. Exactly two thousand five hundred dollars, every single month since you and Rosie got engaged.”
Ben turned his head to look at me, his face turning a deep, dark red under the porch light.
“I am paying for every shingle on this roof myself,” he said, each word distinct and hard.
“Then why is my father writing those checks?” I asked.
