Chapter 3 - THE SILVER WATCH
David stood frozen in the living room, staring at the tarnished silver casing in my hand.
“You told me he lost this,” I said, my voice breaking. “Dad said Annie took the cash from the register and his watch from the back office.”
“He lied,” David said softly.
“And you knew? You let me believe my sister was a thief for twenty-six years?”
David took a step toward me, his hands raised in a calming gesture that only made my stomach twist tighter. “Margaret, it wasn’t what you think. Your father gave me that watch. It was collateral.”
“Collateral for what?”
David rubbed his eyes, suddenly looking every bit of his sixty years. “Your parents were bankrupt, Maggie. The diner was failing. Your mother had taken out secret loans to keep the doors open, and they were drowning. I had just inherited some money from my uncle. I bought the apartment upstairs to inject cash into the business without hurting your father’s pride.”
I stared at him. “You didn’t know them then. We were barely dating.”
“I knew them,” David corrected quietly. “I did their books. That’s how I found out about the debt.”
He walked over to the mantle and leaned heavily against it.
“The night the money went missing,” David continued, “Annie didn’t steal it. Your father took the cash to pay off a loan shark your mother had borrowed from. He was desperate.”
“So he blamed his own daughter?”
“Annie volunteered,” David said.
The words hit me like a physical blow. “What?”
“Annie found out what your father did. She knew if word got out, they’d lose the diner and their house. She told your father she would leave. She would take the blame, and I would deposit the rest of my inheritance into the business account to cover the spread.”
I looked at the silver watch in my hand. My vision blurred with hot tears. My wild, vibrant, impulsive younger sister. She hadn’t run away because she was guilty. She had run away to save our family.
“Then why did she never come back?” I yelled. “Why didn’t she call me?”
“She couldn’t,” David said. “Because of what else was in the watch.”
He walked over, gently took the silver timepiece from my hand, and pressed a small latch on the side. The back casing popped open.
Folded tightly inside was a faded Polaroid photograph.
David handed it to me.
It was a picture of Annie, standing in front of the diner. But she wasn’t alone. She was holding a baby. And standing next to her, looking terrified, was my mother.
“Annie was pregnant,” I whispered.
“With Lucy’s mother. Sarah,” David confirmed. “Annie wasn’t just running from the theft. She was running because the man who got her pregnant was the same man your mother owed money to.”
I dropped the photograph onto the floor.
“You knew everything,” I said, stepping back from him. “You let me send birthday cards to an empty house. You let my sister die thinking I hated her.”
“I protected you!” David pleaded, his voice finally breaking.
“You managed me,” I snapped.
I grabbed my purse from the counter. “I am going to the hospital. And you are not going to stop me.”
“Margaret, wait,” David called out as I reached the door. “If you go to Sarah now, you need to know the truth about the hospital. She isn’t there for a routine scan.”
I turned the knob. “I don’t care what she’s there for. She’s my blood.”
“She’s dying, Margaret,” David said.
May you like
I stopped.
“She has a congenital heart defect,” David said, pointing to the photograph on the floor. “The same one your mother had. The one your mother took those secret loans to treat.”
