Hanna ignored my calls.
“Dad is gone.”
***
The next afternoon, she called.
“You can’t come to the funeral.”
I gripped the kitchen counter.
“He was my husband.”
“He stopped being your husband.”
“He was still part of my life for 39 years.”
“Dad is gone.”
“Steven and I agreed that you being there would upset everyone.”
“I didn’t leave your father, Hanna.”
“I’m not having this argument again.”
The line went dead.
***
I spent the day of Robert’s funeral alone.
I cleaned until three in the afternoon, when I took Robert’s mug from the cupboard.
“I didn’t leave your father, Hanna.”
I almost threw it away.
Instead, I washed it and set it on the drying rack.
***
The next morning, Claire came to my door.
I let her into the kitchen but didn’t offer coffee.
“You have five minutes,” I said.
She placed the blue tie on the table.
I almost threw it away.
Then she removed three papers from her purse.
The first was a letter.
The second showed that the rest of Robert’s business money had been assigned to me.
The third was an old bank statement.
I picked it up.
My mother’s name appeared near the top.
