Part Four: The Family I Thought Had Rejected Me
The television flickered.
Dad appeared seated at his workbench. Behind him, the crib was only partly finished.
He looked older than I remembered. Tired, too—as if the words he was about to speak had been weighing on him for years.
“Chloe,” he began, “I’m sorry you’re hearing this after I’m gone. I should have spoken while I was still there to answer your questions and accept my share of the blame.”
My throat tightened.
Beside the doorway, Greg stared at the floor.
Dad continued.
“Greg, I asked you three times to tell Chloe what you had done. Each time, you promised you would.”
“Turn it off,” Greg said.
I faced him.
“Why?”
“Chloe, please.”
Ms. Richards did not stop the recording.
“Since Greg chose silence,” Dad said, “I have chosen witnesses.”
Greg covered his face.
Then Dad revealed the first lie.
“Chloe did not abandon this family. She did not ignore your invitations. Greg changed messages, withheld information, and told each side that the other wanted distance.”
Aunt Sandy stepped forward.
“What is he talking about?”
Dad’s recorded voice answered her.
“Greg told Chloe that you wanted space. Then he told you that Chloe had decided not to come.”
Aunt Sandy looked at me, her eyes filling with confusion.
“I called you three times on my birthday. We waited before cutting the cake.”
My stomach dropped.
“Greg told me you had gone out of town. He said Dad was the one who told him.”
“I never went anywhere,” she whispered. “I stayed home all day.”
Sadie’s voice trembled.
“He told me you didn’t want to attend my wedding.”
I turned toward her.
“He said you were limiting the guest list to immediate family.”
“You are immediate family,” she said. “You’ve always been more like a sister than a cousin.”
I looked at Uncle Nolan.
“Greg told me Thanksgiving was canceled because you were sick.”
Uncle Nolan shook his head.
“We set a place for you.”
“I made a pie,” I said, looking at Greg. “I sat alone in my apartment wearing the dress I had bought for dinner because you told me everyone preferred to spend the holiday with their own households.”
Greg said nothing.
I remembered every careful explanation he had given me.
Don’t call Aunt Sandy. She needs rest.
Don’t bother Sadie. She’s overwhelmed with the wedding.
Uncle Nolan isn’t feeling well. Give him some privacy.
Each lie had been disguised as consideration.
He had not simply kept me away.
He had convinced me that staying away proved I cared.
Dad continued.
“I believed Greg at first because he presented every lie as an act of kindness.”
My chest tightened painfully.
For years, I had wondered why invitations stopped coming. I had blamed myself for being too quiet, too distant, or too difficult to include.
All that time, people had been waiting for me while I stayed home believing they were happier without me.
Then Dad exposed the money.
“Greg borrowed from Sandy, Nolan, and Sadie,” he said. “He gave each of them a different explanation.”
Uncle Nolan’s face hardened.
Greg moved toward the exit.
I stepped in front of him.
“You’re not leaving.”
“This isn’t the place, Chloe.”
“Dad decided this was exactly the place.”
That was when I finally understood what truly frightened him.
Greg was not afraid that I would learn the truth.
He was afraid we would all learn it together.
