Chapter 9 - WHEN THE FAMILY STORY BROKE OPEN
Diane came to Claire’s apartment the next morning without calling.
Claire opened the door but did not invite her in.
“You talked to Grant,” Diane said.
“He talked to me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“Not enough.”
Diane looked older than she had two weeks earlier.
“What are you doing to his company?”
Claire stared at her.
“Still his company.”
“Twenty-three people work there.”
“You keep saying that like I hired them.”
“You have enough money to help.”
“So that’s what this is?”
Diane glanced down the hallway.
“Can we not do this where people can hear?”
Claire stepped into the hall and pulled the door closed behind her.
“What did you give Grant before my wedding?”
Diane’s face emptied.
There was the answer.
Claire felt it before her mother spoke.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Mom.”
“Grant says things when he’s scared.”
“You do too.”
Diane’s lips pressed together.
Claire waited.
Finally Diane said, “Your father left financial problems.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I was trying to keep us afloat.”
“With what?”
Diane looked toward the stairwell.
Then she said, “Not here.”
Claire did not follow her.
“If you want to tell me, tell me now.”
Diane’s eyes filled.
Claire hated that the tears still worked on her.
“I made mistakes.”
“What did you give him?”
Diane swallowed.
“Money.”
“How much?”
No answer.
“How much, Mom?”
“One hundred and sixty thousand.”
Claire actually stepped backward.
“Where did you get one hundred and sixty thousand dollars?”
Diane began crying.
Claire understood before she heard the words.
“Dad.”
“His insurance.”
The hallway seemed too narrow.
“You told us there was barely anything left.”
“There wasn’t after the mortgage and bills.”
“That’s what you told us.”
“I was panicking.”
“So you gave Grant Dad’s life insurance?”
“He had an opportunity. He said if he could finish the townhouse project, he could repay me with interest.”
“Before we were married?”
“Yes.”
Claire remembered Grant arriving with solutions after Paul died.
The repaired roof.
The tax payment.
The grocery gift cards Diane pretended came from church friends.
The man who had rescued them.
Except the rescue had apparently been financed by money that belonged to Diane in the first place.
“Did he repay you?”
Diane’s silence stretched.
“Some.”
“The consulting payments.”
Diane wiped her face.
“Yes.”
Claire felt sick.
“Why call them consulting?”
“His accountant said the company couldn’t carry another personal obligation while refinancing.”
Claire stared at her.
“And you agreed?”
“I thought he would straighten it out.”
“You helped him hide debt.”
“I helped a man who was about to marry my daughter build a future.”
“No. You invested in him.”
Diane flinched.
Claire continued.
“And every time I wanted to leave him, you weren’t just protecting my marriage.”
Diane looked away.
“You were protecting your money.”
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Neither of them noticed Owen standing at the end of the hallway until he said, very quietly:
“You used Dad’s life insurance to finance Grant?”
