Chapter 13
Ava asked where Celeste went the next morning.
I gave her the simplest truth.
“She is staying somewhere else.”
“Why?”
“Because she scared you.”
Ava looked at the stairs.
Then at me.
“She wanted Grandpa bag.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because there was something inside she didn’t want me to see.”
Ava considered.
“The ring.”
“Yes.”
She touched my hand.
“Is Grandpa in ring?”
My chest tightened.
“No.”
Good question.
“What ring do?”
“Nothing by itself.”
She frowned.
Adults had nearly destroyed a family over something that apparently did nothing.
Reasonable confusion.
“Then why everybody mad?”
I smiled sadly.
“Because people pretended it could talk.”
She stared.
I tried again.
“They used it to make other people believe Grandpa wanted things.”
Ava looked horrified.
“Ring lied?”
“No.”
Important.
“People lied.”
She nodded slowly.
That made more sense.
Then:
“Coat man good?”
Arthur.
“He tried to help.”
“Why he wear Grandpa coat?”
“So people wouldn’t notice him.”
Ava frowned.
“But I noticed.”
Of course she did.
Children notice the thing adults classify as background.
Later Arthur came by openly.
His own coat.
Plain gray.
Ava stared.
“You’re coat man.”
He smiled.
“Yes.”
“Where Grandpa coat?”
“Back upstairs.”
She seemed satisfied.
Then she held out her velvet pouch.
“You forgot.”
Arthur shook his head.
“That’s yours.”
My expression changed.
The pouch had belonged to my father.
Arthur explained.
Domenico kept the ring inside it when traveling.
He had found it with the ring in Nolan’s office.
Ava looked at me.
“Can I keep bag?”
I thought.
“Yes.”
The ring did not belong in it anymore.
That mattered.
May you like
A child could keep the pouch.
The symbol no longer needed a secret container.
