She was folding laundry on the couch.
“Because money can make complicated things feel simple,” she said.
“I don’t understand.”
She folded one of Annie’s shirts.
“Mr. Whitmore thought helping us financially would fix what happened with Dad.”
“Wouldn’t it have helped?”
“Yes.”
Her answer surprised me.
“It would have helped a lot.”
“Then why say no?”
Grace stopped folding.
“Because I was angry.”
“At Arthur?”
“At everyone.”
She looked toward the bedroom where Annie slept.
“Mom and Dad were gone. I was seventeen. People kept telling me what I should do with you two. Some relatives said we should be split up because keeping us together would be too hard. A social worker said I needed a plan. A lawyer said I needed documents. Then a millionaire I had never met wrote saying he wanted to pay our expenses.”
“And you thought he wanted something.”
“I thought accepting meant admitting we couldn’t manage.”
