Chapter 5 - THE CARDS IN THE GARAGE
The answer began with a cardboard box.
Melissa asked Brooke to find old tax records in the garage while she prepared paperwork for Carla.
Brooke moved two storage tubs.
Behind them sat a box marked SCHOOL.
Inside were no school papers.
There were birthday cards.
Christmas cards.
Letters.
Small unopened envelopes addressed to Brooke and Ethan.
All from Lucas.
Some were six years old.
Some were only months old.
Brooke sat on the concrete floor.
The newest envelope had Ethan’s name written across it.
It had never been opened.
Melissa found her there.
Neither spoke immediately.
Brooke lifted the card.
“You told me he forgot Ethan’s birthday.”
Melissa looked exhausted.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From a birthday card?”
“You don’t understand how it was back then.”
“Then explain this year.”
Melissa had no answer.
Brooke pulled another envelope from the box.
Then another.
Lucas had not written constantly.
There were gaps.
Months when nothing arrived.
But the pattern was unmistakable.
He had continued reaching out.
Melissa had continued withholding at least some of it.
“Did Gary know?”
Melissa sat on the garage step.
“Some.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Brooke thought of Ethan’s green drawing.
Gary’s fury.
The belt.
The chair.
“Why would he care if Ethan drew Dad?”
Melissa looked away.
Because Lucas was no longer just history.
Two months earlier, Lucas’s attorney had contacted Melissa again requesting a structured reunification plan.
Gary knew.
He hated the idea.
“He thinks Lucas will disrupt Ethan.”
“And you?”
Melissa did not answer quickly enough.
Brooke understood.
Her mother had been allowing Gary’s fear to influence decisions that were not his to make.
Then Melissa said something Brooke had never expected.
“You have no idea what Gary has done for this family.”
There was something defensive beneath the sentence.
Financial.
Practical.
Heavy.
Brooke looked at the house.
The renovated kitchen.
Gary’s truck.
Her mother’s reduced work hours.
“What does that mean?”
Melissa stood.
“It means things are more complicated than you think.”
Again.
May you like
Complicated.
The word adults used when they wanted children to stop asking the question that mattered.
