Chapter 7 - The Uninvited Apology
On Thursday evening, the doorbell rang.
I checked the security monitor and saw Emily standing on the porch alone. I signaled to Rachel, who walked to the foyer, and together we opened the door.
Emily looked exhausted. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, and her hair was pulled back into a hasty, messy bun.
"Daniel. Rachel. Please," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I only have ten minutes. Madison is in the car with my sister."
Rachel stepped aside. "Come inside, Emily."
Emily stepped into the hallway, refusing a seat. She wrung her hands nervously. "I didn't know. Daniel, I swear on everything I hold sacred, I had no idea about the money. I thought Jason had savings. I thought Harold had a family trust from his mother. I had no idea you were paying for Madison's tennis."
"And the cake?" Rachel asked, her tone even but piercing. "Did you know they were going to do that?"
"No!" Tears spilled over Emily's cheeks. "Jason told me to take Madison to the car before the cake was served because she was being cranky. The next thing I knew, Harold had given her that bucket from the garden bed. Jason told her, 'Go give your cousin a present he won't forget, and Grandpa will get you that phone.' I thought it was a toy! I didn't see the mud until she had already tipped it!"
She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve.
"I made Jason move out yesterday," Emily continued. "He’s staying on a cot in his garage. And Madison... Madison has been crying for three days straight. She realizes now. She knows what she threw away."
"Madison is eleven, Emily," I said gently. "She’s young enough to learn, but she’s old enough to know that cruelty has consequences."
"I know," Emily said. "I'm not asking you to pay for the tennis. We’ve withdrawn her. She’s going to play at the public park district courts this year, and she’s working off the cost of her school clothes by doing chores for my sister. But I wanted... I needed Noah to hear an apology."
She reached into her purse and pulled out a handwritten letter on lined notebook paper, accompanied by a small, hand-painted wooden space shuttle.
May you like
"She made this for him yesterday," Emily said, holding it out with trembling hands. "She spent six hours sanding it in my brother-in-law’s garage. It’s not a three-tier cake. But she wanted him to have it."
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