Chapter 6 - Forty Invitations
Richard survived.
The bullet had passed through his upper shoulder without striking a major artery.
At three-thirty in the morning, Walter sat beside his hospital bed.
Neither spoke.
Richard stared at the ceiling.
Walter stared at his son.
Finally Richard said, “I burned them in the fireplace.”
Walter knew immediately what he meant.
“The invitations.”
“All except Anna’s.”
Walter frowned.
“Why?”
Richard closed his eyes.
“I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That she hadn’t stolen the bracelet.”
Walter felt the answer like a blade.
“You framed her?”
“No. Graham did.”
“But you let it happen.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew about the accounts.”
Walter stood and walked toward the window.
Chicago’s northern suburbs slept beneath snow.
“An innocent woman lost her job, her reputation, everything.”
“I know.”
“No, Richard. You know the sentence. She lived the consequences.”
Richard said nothing.
Walter turned.
“Why deliver her invitation?”
Richard looked genuinely confused.
“I didn’t.”
“Someone did.”
“It wasn’t me.”
That mystery stayed with Walter until morning.
At seven, Margaret Flynn appeared at the hospital carrying coffee.
Walter stared.
“How did you know?”
“Maria called me.”
Walter looked embarrassed.
“Margaret, about last night—”
“I know.”
“You thought I didn’t invite you?”
“I thought you were mad at me.”
Walter laughed sadly.
“Apparently forty people thought that.”
By nine, Charlie Dawson arrived.
Then Dr. Ellis.
Then three former employees.
News of Walter’s empty birthday had traveled among people who cared about him.
The humiliation Richard had designed became something else.
People came.
Not to the ballroom.
To the hospital.
Charlie carried a birthday card signed by nineteen retired factory workers.
“You should’ve called us, boss.”
Walter stared at the signatures.
“I thought I had.”
Charlie squeezed his shoulder.
By noon, the hospital waiting room contained more people than Walter’s ballroom had the night before.
Nobody asked about his fortune.
Nobody asked about the scandal.
They asked whether Richard would recover.
They brought soup.
Coffee.
A chessboard.
Margaret even brought the ridiculous paper crown from her grandson’s birthday supplies and forced Walter to wear it.
For the first time in years, Walter laughed until his stomach hurt.
Then the elevator opened.
Anna appeared in a wheelchair.
Lily pushed from behind, despite a nurse repeatedly telling her to slow down.
Walter stood.
“You’re supposed to be receiving treatment.”
“I am.”
Anna nodded toward Richard’s room.
“How is he?”
Walter was surprised.
“You’re asking after him?”
“I don’t forgive him.”
She paused.
“But I don’t want Lily learning that refusing to forgive requires wishing someone dead.”
Walter absorbed that.
“You’re a better person than I was.”
“No.”
Anna smiled faintly.
“I just had less money to distract me.”
Lily ran toward Walter.
She carried another envelope.
Walter laughed nervously.
“Every time you bring me paper, my life gets worse.”
Lily giggled.
“This one’s good.”
“What is it?”
“A card.”
She handed it over.
It had been made from folded construction paper.
On the front, Lily had drawn a cake surrounded by people.
Inside were three words.
Nobody Eats Alone.
Walter looked at her.
“My mom says that’s our rule.”
Anna smiled.
“It started when Lily noticed an elderly neighbor eating canned soup alone every Thanksgiving.”
“So we invited him,” Lily explained. “Then he invited his friend. Then his friend had a sister.”
Anna laughed.
“We had eleven people in a two-bedroom apartment.”
Walter stared at the card.
Nobody eats alone.
He thought of his forty empty chairs.
Then something occurred to him.
“Anna, who gave you my invitation?”
She looked confused.
“No one.”
“Lily found it in your Bible.”
Anna’s expression changed.
“I never saw it.”
Lily interrupted.
“I put it there.”
Both adults turned.
“What?”
Lily looked nervous.
“I found it under our door.”
“When?” Anna asked.
“Two weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you saw Mr. Bennett’s name and threw it in the trash.”
Walter blinked.
Anna looked mortified.
“I was angry.”
Lily continued.
“So I took it out.”
Walter crouched.
“Did you see who delivered it?”
Lily nodded.
“A lady.”
“What lady?”
“She was old.”
“How old?”
Lily shrugged.
“Like… fifty?”
Anna burst out laughing despite herself.
Walter frowned.
“Careful.”
Lily thought.
“She had red glasses. And she said, ‘Sometimes stubborn people need help finding each other.’”
Anna went completely still.
“What?”
Walter noticed.
“You know her?”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears.
“I think so.”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Bennett’s sister.”
Walter stared.
“Catherine?”
He had not spoken to Catherine Monroe in eleven years.
She blamed him for Eleanor working herself exhausted during the early years of the company.
After Eleanor died, Catherine disappeared from his life.
“She knew about the letters,” Anna said.
Walter reached for his phone.
His fingers stopped.
For eighty years, he had expected people to come to him.
Employees.
Friends.
Family.
Perhaps that was part of the problem.
He handed the phone back to Maria.
“Find Catherine’s address.”
“What are you doing?” Anna asked.
Walter smiled.
“Something I should have learned fifty years ago.”
May you like
He picked up his cane.
“I’m going to her.”
