For the first time all afternoon, he seemed to understand that being her son was not going to answer the question.<\/p>\n
Mom tried a different direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought Margaret still owned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma replied immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you thought I wouldn\u2019t find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
That landed harder than shouting would have.<\/p>\n
Rachel set her drink on the patio table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know about any documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew whose cello it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew Grandma let Lucy use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave it to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know that part.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou laughed when I said it belonged to Lucy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s eleven, Emily. I thought Mom and Dad could make that call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucy flinched beside me.<\/p>\n
Grandma noticed.<\/p>\n
So did Rachel.<\/p>\n
For once, Rachel did not keep talking.<\/p>\n
Andrew put the seller document back into his folder.<\/p>\n
Then he gave my father the first piece of news that actually changed the situation.<\/p>\n
The collector had been contacted.<\/p>\n
Dad stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou contacted my buyer?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma corrected him.<\/p>\n
\u201cLucy\u2019s cello\u2019s buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad ignored her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth,\u201d Andrew said.<\/p>\n
He had provided the identifying information for the cello and explained that ownership was disputed because Grandma had already documented the gift to Lucy before the sale.<\/p>\n
The collector had compared the information with the instrument he bought.<\/p>\n
It matched.<\/p>\n
He had not sold it again.<\/p>\n
Lucy\u2019s hand jerked in mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know where it is?\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
Andrew finally looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the first hopeful word Lucy had heard about the cello since she walked into that empty music room.<\/p>\n
She did not smile.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
She was too cautious for that now.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I get it back?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
Andrew paused before answering.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad exhaled through his nose.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what does the collector want?\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew looked back at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis $87,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom laughed once, but there was nothing amused in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone knew where.<\/p>\n
The bright blue water behind her made the sentence almost obscene.<\/p>\n
Dad pointed toward the house.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think we can just produce eighty-seven thousand dollars because Margaret decided to make some paperwork for a kid?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma\u2019s eyes sharpened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made the paperwork before you sold anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad stopped.<\/p>\n
She continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd no, I do not think money appears because you need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glanced toward the pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou apparently believed that once already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, but my children had nothing to do with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither Grandma nor I answered immediately.<\/p>\n
Lucy did.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither did I.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rachel looked at her niece.<\/p>\n
Lucy\u2019s voice had been quiet.<\/p>\n
It was still quiet.<\/p>\n
That was why everyone heard it.<\/p>\n
Rachel sat down in one of the patio chairs.<\/p>\n
Mom pressed both palms against the edge of the grill station.<\/p>\n
Dad looked at Andrew.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what are you threatening?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not threatening you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou show up with a lawyer at my house and demand $87,000?\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew closed the folder halfway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m explaining the choice in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma stepped in before Dad could answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the cello returned to Lucy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad gave a bitter laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if we can\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked at him for a long moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you can explain to her why keeping your new pool mattered more than correcting what you did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad glanced toward Lucy.<\/p>\n
She lowered her eyes.<\/p>\n
That hurt him more than anything Grandma had said.<\/p>\n
I could tell because his anger suddenly had nowhere clean to go.<\/p>\n
For six weeks, my parents had treated the situation like a finished transaction.<\/p>\n
Cello sold.<\/p>\n
Money received.<\/p>\n
Pool built.<\/p>\n
Problem over.<\/p>\n
Now the order had reversed.<\/p>\n
The pool was finished.<\/p>\n
The transaction wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Grandma asked Andrew to put the papers away.<\/p>\n
Mom looked surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou humiliate us in front of everybody and then walk out?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked around the backyard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not invite everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s face reddened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was supposed to be a family celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked toward Lucy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo was giving my great-granddaughter something I loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody had a good answer to that.<\/p>\n
Grandma walked over to Lucy and held out her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome with me for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucy looked at me.<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
They walked through the back door together.<\/p>\n
I followed a few steps behind and stopped when I realized where Grandma was taking her.<\/p>\n
The music room.<\/p>\n
The empty stand was still there.<\/p>\n
Mom had apparently decided moving the stand would make things look worse, which meant she had left behind the one object that made the missing cello impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
Grandma touched its wooden edge.<\/p>\n
Lucy stood beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have made sure you had the papers too,\u201d Grandma said.<\/p>\n
Lucy shook her head quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words sounded painfully familiar.<\/p>\n
They were the same words I had said to Lucy when she asked whether losing the cello was somehow her fault.<\/p>\n
Grandma smiled at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we agree neither of us did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucy finally smiled back.<\/p>\n
A little.<\/p>\n
She asked whether the collector had played the cello.<\/p>\n
Grandma said she didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Lucy asked whether it had been damaged.<\/p>\n
Grandma said Andrew had been told it was safe.<\/p>\n
Then Lucy asked the question that had apparently been bothering her more than the money.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he take the picture out of the case?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grandma looked confused.<\/p>\n