Chapter 1
I came home from a business trip one day early and found my disabled mother sitting alone in the freezing rain. When I saw my wife watching from behind the window, I knew this wasn’t an accident.
My name is Michael, and I live outside Boston with my wife, Rachel, and my seventy-year-old mother, Evelyn.
Mom had been using a wheelchair since a bad fall the year before.
I was supposed to be in Chicago until Friday night.
But my last meeting was canceled, so I took an earlier flight home.
The rain was coming down hard when my car turned into the driveway.
Then I saw something near the front gate.
A wheelchair.
My mother was sitting in it.
Her clothes were soaked through.
She was curled forward, trembling so badly she could barely lift her head.
“Mom!”
I jumped out of the car and ran to her.
She grabbed my hand with freezing fingers.
“Michael…”
“What happened?”
Her lips shook.
“Rachel said I was ruining her afternoon.”
I looked toward the house.
Rachel was standing behind the living room window.
The second she saw me looking, she stepped away.
I pushed Mom toward the porch as fast as I could.
The front door was locked.
“Rachel!”
No answer.
I slammed my shoulder into the door until it burst open.
Rachel came running from the kitchen.
“You’re home early.”
I stared at her.
“You left my mother outside in this weather?”
“She wanted fresh air.”
Mom cried behind me, “She pushed me out and locked the door.”
Rachel rolled her eyes.
“She’s confused.”
I lost control.
I grabbed Rachel by the hair and pulled her away from the doorway before slapping her across the face.
“You could have killed her!”
Rachel screamed and shoved me back.
Then she pointed at my mother.
“Ask her why I wanted her out of this house!”
I froze.
Mom suddenly looked terrified.
Rachel grabbed an envelope from the kitchen counter and threw it at my feet.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
May you like
It belonged to my father.
The problem was, my father had been dead for twelve years.
