Sophie let out a short, bitter laugh.
“So that’s it.”
“What?”
“She wants us to know she paid.”
Emma’s jaw hardened. “She didn’t.”
I looked up at her.
“Not for us,” Emma said. “You did.”
What the Money Never Bought
She was right, and it landed in me like a stone dropped down a well.
I had never known that account existed. Not one dollar of it had ever touched our lives.
Vanessa’s money hadn’t bought a single diaper. It hadn’t covered the mortgage the year I worked nights at the warehouse and slept four hours between shifts. It hadn’t paid for braces or school uniforms or groceries in the lean months, or three prom dresses bought on the same credit card.
She had saved money for them.
She had not raised them with it.
Claire stared at the boxes on the table. “Why would she keep it all this time? Why not just send it?”
