Chapter 8 - The Book Beneath the Bed
The fork hitting the plate sounded louder than it should have. Every guest turned toward Oliver, who had gone white beneath the freckles on his nose.
Daniel pushed his chair back. “That’s enough for tonight.”
Sloane held her glass steady. “I was trying to include him in the announcement.”
“You were talking about sending him away again.”
“I was talking about support.”
Oliver slid off his chair and ran from the dining room. Rosa followed immediately. Daniel started after them, but Sloane caught his wrist.
“If you chase him every time he has a feeling, he’ll never learn to manage one.”
Daniel looked down at her hand until she released him.
“I’m not chasing him because he has a feeling,” he said. “I’m going because he’s my son.”
Upstairs, Oliver hid beneath his bed with Julia’s favorite picture book, a story about a lighthouse keeper guiding lost boats home. Rosa sat nearby, speaking softly.
Daniel lowered himself beside her.
“Buddy, can I see the book?”
Oliver hugged it tighter. “She wants the key.”
“I know.”
“She said if I give it to her, she’ll let you be happy again.”
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment. “That isn’t your job. You don’t have to make me happy. You don’t have to fix anything between grown-ups.”
Oliver’s chin trembled. “Mom said the lighthouse always showed the truth. She said if I ever got scared, I should remember where the light was.”
He opened the book to a page where Julia had drawn a tiny star beside the lighthouse. The paper was thicker than the other pages. Daniel noticed the edge of an envelope tucked inside the back cover.
Oliver pulled it out and handed it to him.
The envelope held copied invoices, dates, and Julia’s note: “Compare Brightwater invoices with the original Harbor Light ledger. The same service appears twice under different names.”
Daniel read it again, then looked at his son.
“Where did you find this?”
“In the desk. I put it in the book after Sloane came into Mommy’s room. She was looking in all the drawers. She said she needed to find the papers before the wedding.”
“Did she see you?”
Oliver shook his head. “I heard her talking to Uncle Calvin. He said the building had to be sold before the audit. She said you’d sign anything if she told you it was for the family.”
Daniel understood now: Oliver might have seen more than Sloane realized, and the child she wanted to send away could expose her.
May you like
A knock sounded at the bedroom door.
“Daniel?” Sloane called. “We need to talk about Oliver’s future.”
