Chapter 5 - WHAT THOMAS ACTUALLY SAID TO OWEN
Owen came to Anne’s house four days later.
Emily nearly sent him away.
Anne asked:
“Do you want me in the room?”
Emily nodded.
Owen accepted that without complaint.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Red-eyed.
Still wearing the black leather watch Thomas had given him years earlier.
“I should’ve told you sooner.”
Emily did not make it easier.
“Yes.”
Owen looked down.
“Dad and I talked about the baby’s name twice.”
“When?”
“First time was about six weeks before he died.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“What did he say?”
Owen took a breath.
“Ryan had brought up Raymond. Dad got angry.”
Emily stared.
“Angry how?”
“He said, ‘Leave Ray out of that boy’s life.’”
Anne sat very still.
Emily whispered:
“Exactly?”
“That is what I remember.”
“Anything else?”
“He said you and Ryan should choose the name together. He said the baby didn’t owe dead men anything.”
Emily covered her mouth.
All those weeks.
All that guilt.
“Did Margaret hear?”
“Not that conversation.”
“Ryan?”
“No.”
Emily looked at him.
“So maybe Dad changed his mind later.”
Owen nodded slowly.
“That’s what Mom claims.”
Emily’s anger hesitated.
“What does that mean?”
“About ten days before Dad died, Mom said he told her he wanted Raymond Thomas.”
“Was anyone else there?”
“No.”
“Was Dad still talking normally?”
Owen’s face changed.
“Sometimes.”
Not enough.
Emily leaned forward.
“Owen.”
“He had good hours and bad hours.”
“So you don’t know.”
“No.”
That was not the complete answer she wanted.
It was honest.
Owen continued.
“The second conversation I had with him was four days before he died.”
Emily froze.
“He could barely talk. I was changing his oxygen tubing and he grabbed my wrist.”
Owen swallowed.
“He said, ‘Don’t let them make that boy carry Ray.’”
Emily stared at him.
Anne whispered:
“Oh, God.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Owen rubbed both hands across his face.
“Because Mom told me I heard what I wanted to hear.”
“What does that even mean?”
“She said Dad was confused. She said earlier that day he told her the opposite.”
“Did Ryan know what you heard?”
“Yes.”
There.
Emily sat back.
“What did he say?”
“That Dad was medicated.”
“Was he?”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe Ryan believed—”
Owen interrupted.
“No.”
It came out hard.
He looked at Emily.
“I told Ryan I was not comfortable calling Raymond Dad’s dying wish. He told me to stay out of your marriage.”
Emily felt the room narrowing.
“Before the funeral?”
“Yes.”
“So Ryan knew you disputed the story.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know Dad had previously told you not to use Raymond?”
“Yes.”
Emily stood too quickly.
The baby pressed heavily beneath her ribs.
Anne rose with her.
Emily waved her off.
“I’m okay.”
She wasn’t.
Not emotionally.
For weeks Ryan had not merely repeated something he believed.
He had known there was contradictory information from the person who spent more time with Thomas than anyone.
He hid it.
Then pushed Emily into Thomas’s grave while claiming Thomas’s authority.
Owen stared at the floor.
“I thought after Dad died, none of it mattered enough to fight about.”
Emily looked at him.
“You thought my baby’s name didn’t matter enough?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I thought telling Ryan he was lying at Dad’s funeral would destroy everything.”
Emily’s voice became very quiet.
“And what did staying quiet protect?”
Owen didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
The funeral.
Margaret.
Ryan.
The Bennett family’s ability to complete one more public event without anyone admitting what was wrong.
May you like
Everybody had protected something.
Emily had simply been the person expected to absorb the cost.
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