“Okay.”
“Are you mad?”
“Yes.”
Ellie shrank.
“Not at you.”
He moved closer.
“I am not mad at you.”
“Are you mad at Marissa?”
Grant hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Is she going to be mad at me?”
The question was not will you punish her?
Not will she leave?
Ellie cared whether the adult she feared would blame her for telling.
Grant understood.
“No.”
“That’s not true.”
He blinked.
“What?”
“She will.”
Grant had no answer.
Ellie was probably right.
So he changed it.
“She may be angry.”
The girl watched him.
“But you will not be alone with her while she is angry.”
That was a promise he could keep.
Grant called his mother.
Evelyn Holloway answered on the second ring.
“You landed?”
“Yes.”
“You weren’t supposed to land until tomorrow.”
“I changed flights.”
“I told you to.”
“Mom.”
She heard his voice.
“What happened?”
Grant looked at Ellie.
“Come to the house.”
Silence.
“Is Ellie okay?”
“She’s with me.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Grant closed his eyes.
“No.”
“I’m leaving.”
Evelyn lived twenty minutes away.
She arrived in thirteen.
Grant did not ask how fast she drove.
At sixty-nine, Evelyn was a retired appellate judge with silver hair, sharp brown eyes, and an absolute refusal to pretend age had made her gentler.
She entered through the kitchen.
Ellie saw her.
“Grandma.”
Evelyn opened her arms.
Ellie ran.
The moment Evelyn felt how tightly the girl held her, her expression changed.
She looked over the child’s head at Grant.
He pointed toward the study.
“Later.”
Evelyn nodded.
No questions.
She crouched.
“Why are you in pajamas at almost four?”
Ellie looked embarrassed.
“Marissa said I couldn’t wear my gala dress until I behaved.”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened.
“Well.”
She smoothed the girl’s hair.
“I’m wearing slippers with an evening gown tonight, so apparently society has collapsed.”
Ellie smiled faintly.
Grant nearly cried from relief at seeing it.
Evelyn looked toward the shopping bags near the doorway.
“You bought half the airport?”
“Toy store.”
“You compensate terribly.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
She looked at Ellie.
“Want to see what guilt purchased?”
That earned a real smile.
They opened the bags in the family room.
An art kit.
A telescope.
A stuffed fox.
A pair of ridiculous glitter boots.
Ellie became absorbed enough that Grant could step into the study.
He called the first person he should have called months earlier.
Rosa Delgado.
Rosa had worked for the Holloway family for nine years.
House manager.
Part nanny.
Part grandmother when Evelyn was traveling.
She had resigned seven weeks earlier.
Marissa told Grant Rosa wanted to spend more time with her own family.
Grant sent a generous severance package.
Rosa never responded to his thank-you message.
He had assumed she was angry about leaving.