The key stuck in the lock.
I pulled it out and tried again.
“What comes next?” Joshua asked behind me.
I looked over my shoulder.
“What comes next?”
“We try again.”
The lock opened.
I gripped the metal handle and pulled.
The garage door groaned upward.
Dust drifted through a band of sunlight.
“We try again.”
At first, I saw only large shapes beneath pale covers.
Then the light reached the wood.
A handmade crib stood beside a changing table, a chest of drawers, and a rocking chair.
Moons curved along the crib rails. Stars covered the drawers. Small wooden clouds rested beneath the chair arms.
Aunt Sandy covered her mouth.
“Oh, Byron.”
Moons curved along the crib rails.
I stepped inside while everyone else stayed behind the threshold.
I pulled the cover from the rocking chair.
My name had been carved beneath one arm.
Not across the front, where everyone could see it.
Underneath, where only someone holding the chair would find it.
“He made this for me.”
“He made this for me.”
Joshua spoke from the doorway.
“He knew we wanted children someday.”
I turned. “You told him?”
“He asked what kind of future we pictured.”
I looked at the crib.
Dad had built it for a child who didn’t exist. He’d built it for a future he might never see.
“You told him?”
Greg spoke behind Joshua.
“That’s what he hid for five years? Baby furniture?”
His voice sounded too light.
Sadie pointed past me.
“What’s behind the crib, Chloe?”
Greg spoke behind Joshua.
An old television stood beside rows of tapes. I crossed the garage and read the first two labels: “FOR CHLOE – WITH EVERYONE PRESENT” and “GREG’S PROMISES.”
Something struck the concrete.
Greg’s phone had fallen from his hand.
The screen shattered.
All the color drained from his face.
“Greg?” Aunt Sandy said.
The screen shattered.
He stared at the tapes.
“I don’t know why Dad used my name.”
Ms. Richards entered. “Byron instructed me to play the first recording.”
Greg backed away.
“Why are you frightened?” I asked.
“I’m not. But Dad died, Chloe. We’re standing in his garage, looking at baby furniture. I’m allowed to react.”
“Why are you frightened?”
Greg had always been good at sounding reasonable.
I stepped aside.
“Play it.”
The television flickered.
Dad appeared on the screen, seated at his workbench. The crib behind him was still unfinished.
He looked older.
“Play it.”
“Chloe,” he said, “I’m sorry this is happening while I’m no longer there to answer for my part in it.”
My throat tightened.
Greg stared at the floor.
Dad leaned closer to the camera.
“Greg, I asked you three times to tell your sister the truth. You promised me you would.”
“Turn it off,” Greg said.
Greg stared at the floor.
I looked at him. “Why?”
He shook his head. “Chloe, please.”
“No. I want to hear him.”
Ms. Richards kept the recording playing.
“Since you chose silence,” Dad said, “I’ve chosen witnesses.”
Greg covered his face with both hands.
“I’ve chosen witnesses.”
Dad continued.
“Chloe didn’t abandon this family or ignore your invitations.”
Aunt Sandy stepped closer. “What does he mean?”
“Greg changed messages,” Dad said. “He told Chloe you wanted distance. Then he told you Chloe did.”
Aunt Sandy turned to me.
“I called you three times on my birthday, before we sat down to dinner.”
“What does he mean?”
“Greg said you’d gone away for your birthday. He told me that Dad told him.”
“I never left home, honey.”
Sadie moved beside her.
“He told me you didn’t want to attend my wedding.”
I faced Greg. “You said she wanted immediate family only.”
Sadie’s voice broke. “You are immediate family, Chloe. You’re the closest thing I have to a sister.”
I turned to Uncle Nolan. “Greg said Thanksgiving was canceled because you were ill.”
“I never left home, honey.”
“We waited for you.”
“I made a pie,” I told Greg. “I sat at home eating it in my dinner dress because you told me everyone wanted to be with their families.”
“Chloe, I can explain.”
“Then explain Aunt Sandy’s birthday. Explain Sadie’s wedding. Explain why everyone thought I stayed away.”
Dad’s voice filled the silence.
“We waited for you.”
“I believed Greg at first because he made every lie sound like kindness.”
I stared at Greg. He hadn’t pushed me out. He’d convinced me I was helping everyone by leaving.
“Don’t call Sandy. She needs rest.”
“Don’t bother Sadie. She’s overwhelmed.”
Every lie had arrived wrapped in concern.
Dad kept talking.
He hadn’t pushed me out.
“Chloe, Greg borrowed money from Sandy, Nolan, and Sadie. He gave them different reasons.”
Uncle Nolan’s face hardened.
Greg moved toward the driveway.
I stepped in front of him.
“You’re staying.”
“Chloe, not here.”
“Dad chose here.”
“You’re staying.”
His eyes moved toward the relatives.
Then I understood.
He wasn’t afraid of me learning the truth.
He was afraid of everyone learning it at once.
I looked at Aunt Sandy.
“What did he tell you?”
Then I understood.
“That his roof was leaking.”
Uncle Nolan answered next.
“He said he had medical bills.”
Sadie wiped her cheek.
“He told me he was behind on his home payments.”
I knew Greg owned his house. I also knew he’d replaced the roof two years earlier.
“He said he had medical bills.”
“You kept me away because I would’ve compared the stories.”
Greg’s jaw tightened.
“You handled Dad’s accounts. You always checked everything.”
“That was why?”
“It started that way.”
Dad’s voice filled the garage again.
“You handled Dad’s accounts.”
“Money wasn’t the only reason. Greg was afraid of being replaced.”
Aunt Sandy frowned. “By whom?”
“Joshua.”
Every face turned toward him.
Joshua stayed beside the garage door.
“By whom?”
Dad explained that Greg resented Joshua helping with repairs.
The furniture made it worse. Dad had asked Greg first, but Greg refused.