Chapter 6
The kitchen felt too small to breathe in. My mom was holding that envelope like it might burn her and she still wouldn't put it down. Her thumb was pressed right over the dark wax seal, and the string had gone loose around the edge where she'd pulled at it without meaning to.
Daniel hadn't moved from the other side of the island. His hands were flat on the granite now, not reaching for anything.
"Before you open it, there's something you need to know," he said.
He said it exactly like he had before, quiet, not trying to sound dramatic. My mom looked up sharp, like he'd cut her off.
"What?" she said. "What's inside?"
He shook his head once. "Not what's inside. What it means if you open it."
I was standing between them and neither of them was really looking at me. The fridge hummed and the light over the island was too bright on all of us. I could see the tiny shake in my mom's wrist. She kept glancing at me and then back at him, fast, like she was trying to decide something without saying it out loud.
"If you open it tonight, you can't go back," Daniel said to her, but then he looked straight at me. "Either of you. It changes what he believes about his dad. About this family."
My chest got tight. My dad wasn't here. He hadn't been here in two years. My mom never talked about him except to say he worked out of state and it was complicated. I didn't know what this envelope had to do with that.
My mom swallowed. "That's not your call to make."
"I know," Daniel said. "But I told him I'd make sure you heard it before the seal was broken. He was very clear about that."
Her fingers tightened again. For a second I thought she was going to open it anyway, just to stop the talking.
Then she turned to me. Her face tried to go soft but it didn't work. "Ethan, honey, go to your room for a few minutes. Let me talk to Mr. Reyes alone. Okay?"
That was how she said it when she didn't want me to hear a fight. The same voice she used when the school called or when the bills came.
I didn't move. My feet felt stuck to the wood floor.
"No," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted it to. I cleared my throat. "No. I'm not going."
She blinked. "Ethan —"
"I live here too," I said. I could hear my own breathing now. "You said this is for this family. He said it's for this family. I'm part of this family."
The words hung there. My mom's mouth opened and then closed. She looked at Daniel like she wanted him to say I should go, like adults usually did.
Daniel didn't.
He looked at me and gave a short nod, then looked back at my mom.
"He's right," he said. "It wasn't addressed to just you, Claire. The instructions were specific. It's for the whole family. That includes him."
My mom stared at him. "You don't get to decide that."
"I'm not deciding," Daniel said. His voice stayed even. "The man who sealed it did. He said if Ethan was in the house, he should be in the room when it's opened. He said he was old enough to choose what to do with what he learns."
My mom's eyes went wet but she didn't cry. She just held that envelope closer to her chest, like she was shielding it or shielding me from it, I couldn't tell.
"Ethan, you don't understand what you're asking to hear," she whispered to me. "Once you hear it, I can't make it not true."
"I know," I said. I didn't really know, but I knew I didn't want to be sent down the hall to sit on my bed and listen to them murmur through the wall. I'd done that too many times. "I want to stay. Please."
She looked down at the envelope in her hands, at the dark seal, at the string I'd watched her twist. She was breathing faster now. Then she looked at Daniel, and he just waited, his hands still on the counter.
After a long second she gave a tiny, sharp nod. Not like she agreed, more like she gave up on arguing.
"Fine," she said to me, her voice low. "You stay. But we do this together. You don't open it alone, you don't read it alone. Do you understand me?"
I nodded. "Yes."
Daniel exhaled, just enough that I saw his shoulders drop a fraction.
"Thank you," he said to both of us. "That's all I was asked to make sure of. That everyone who needs to hear it is in the room, and that you know once that string comes off, there isn't a way to pretend it didn't happen."
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My mom didn't answer. She set the envelope back down on the island, right in the middle where the light hit the wax. She kept one hand on it, and with the other she reached for my hand. Her fingers were cold.
We all stood there around that envelope without touching the seal, and for the first time that night nobody was telling anyone to leave.
