Chapter 4 - Christmas Wasn’t the First Time They Lost EverythingThe police had called Lily’s parents’ deaths tragic.
A drunk driver crossed the center line on Route 9.
Rose and Daniel Bennett died instantly.
The driver survived.
He pleaded guilty.
Eleanor had never questioned it.
Not until now.
Richard spread the documents across the kitchen table.
“There are no conclusions here,” he said. “Only questions.”
Lily stared at the photograph of her mother beside Victoria Whitmore.
“When was this taken?”
“Six days before the crash.”
“Why was Mom meeting her?”
“I don’t know.”
Eleanor looked at Richard.
“Your sister knew Rose was Henry’s daughter.”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“Victoria handled many of my father’s private accounts.”
Eleanor’s voice hardened.
“And if Rose was recognized as Henry’s child?”
“She could potentially challenge certain estate plans.”
Lily’s face twisted.
“You think your sister killed my mom for money?”
“No.”
Richard answered immediately.
“I’m saying my father suspected Victoria of hiding information.”
“That isn’t the same thing,” Eleanor said.
“No.”
Richard pulled out another sheet.
“A payment of fifty thousand dollars was made from a company connected to Victoria three weeks after the accident.”
“To who?”
“The driver’s brother.”
Eleanor gripped the table.
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
Lily stood.
“I want to go to the police.”
“We should.”
Eleanor looked at her granddaughter.
“You are staying out of this.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Grandma.”
“No.”
“That was my mom.”
“And you are my granddaughter.”
“You can’t hide everything from me!”
The words struck Eleanor harder than Lily intended.
Silence filled the room.
Lily’s face crumpled.
“I’m sorry.”
Eleanor looked away.
“No. You’re right.”
Richard quietly gathered the papers.
“I’ll contact the detective who handled my father’s concerns.”
Eleanor nodded.
Then she coughed.
At first, Lily barely noticed.
Then Eleanor coughed again.
Harder.
Her whole body shook.
“Grandma?”
Eleanor covered her mouth with a tissue.
When she lowered it, there was blood.
Lily screamed.
The next hour became lights.
Sirens.
Hospital corridors.
Lily sat outside an emergency room wearing the same oversized coat she had found the day before.
Richard sat beside her.
Neither spoke.
Finally Lily whispered, “She made me a promise.”
Richard looked at her.
“She said she’d stay.”
“She intends to.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
Lily wiped her eyes angrily.
“I hate when adults say things because they think kids can’t handle the truth.”
Richard looked toward the floor.
“You’re right.”
Lily stared at him.
“What do you know?”
“About what?”
“My grandma’s illness.”
“Nothing.”
“That’s a lie.”
Richard shook his head.
“I swear.”
A nurse approached.
“Lily Bennett?”
Lily jumped up.
The doctor met them inside a consultation room.
Dr. Patel spoke gently.
“Your grandmother is stable.”
Lily exhaled.
“But she is very ill.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
The doctor hesitated.
Eleanor had asked that her condition be kept private.
But Lily was her only dependent family member.
Richard remained outside.
Dr. Patel sat opposite Lily.
“Your grandmother has lymphoma.”
Lily knew the word cancer.
She had heard lymphoma less often.
“Is she going to die?”
“That depends on treatment.”
“What treatment?”
“Chemotherapy, possibly immunotherapy.”
“Then do it.”
“We want to.”
“So do it.”
“Your grandmother has declined the recommended treatment.”
Lily stared.
“What?”
“She has been receiving only limited supportive care.”
“Why?”
Dr. Patel spoke carefully.
“Financial concerns appear to be part of it.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“She didn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“How much does it cost?”
“That is something our financial office can discuss.”
“How much?”
“Potentially many thousands of dollars.”
Lily looked down at her scratched hands.
All those cans.
All those bottles.
All that copper wire.
It suddenly felt absurd.
“I can pay some.”
The doctor’s expression broke Lily’s heart.
“I have money,” Lily insisted. “I have almost three hundred dollars.”
Dr. Patel leaned closer.
“Your grandmother’s care is not your burden to carry alone.”
“But there is no one else.”
For three years, that sentence had been true.
Then Richard Whitmore stepped into the doorway.
“There is now.”
Lily turned.
Richard looked at Dr. Patel.
“Whatever treatment Eleanor needs, I’ll cover it.”
Lily stared.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“She won’t take it.”
“Then don’t tell her it’s mine.”
Eleanor’s voice came weakly from behind them.
“I heard that.”
They turned.
A nurse pushed her wheelchair into the hallway.
Eleanor looked exhausted.
“I am not taking Whitmore money.”
Richard sighed.
“You are impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Lily rushed toward her.
“Grandma, you lied to me.”
Eleanor flinched.
“About being sick.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You hid it.”
“Yes.”
“That’s lying with extra steps.”
Richard almost smiled.
Eleanor took Lily’s hands.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You’re all I have.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t!”
Lily began sobbing.
“You let me go outside every day thinking cans were enough. You let me think if I just worked harder, everything would be okay.”
Eleanor cried too.
“I’m sorry.”
“You promised.”
“I know.”
“Then fight.”
Eleanor looked at her granddaughter.
Lily squeezed her hands.
“Take the treatment.”
“I don’t want you owing these people anything.”
Richard stepped closer.
“She won’t.”
Eleanor glared.
“What?”
“I’m not giving Lily a loan.”
“Then what?”
“My father left her a trust worth over thirty million dollars.”
Lily’s mouth opened.
Eleanor looked stunned.
Richard continued.
“That money is currently frozen because Victoria is contesting the will.”
“Then it doesn’t exist.”
“It exists.”
“And until the court releases it?”
Richard looked directly at Eleanor.
“I will personally pay every medical bill.”
“Why?”
“Because my father spent fifty years wishing he had protected you.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“And because if Rose was my sister, then Lily is my family.”
For once, Eleanor had no answer.
Two floors above them, a woman in a camel-colored coat stepped away from the nurses’ station.
She had heard enough.
Victoria Whitmore walked quickly toward the elevator.
She took out her phone.
When someone answered, she said:
“They found Eleanor.”
A man asked something.
Victoria looked back toward the hospital corridor.
“And the girl knows about Rose.”
Pause.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
May you like
Her voice dropped.
“Then we need the original documents before Richard gets them to the police.”
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