“Henry, if you’re listening to this, one of two things has happened. Either I finally told you everything and you’re annoyed that I made a recording anyway, or I lost my courage and left you to untangle the mess.”
Henry closed his eyes.
Her voice was warm and slightly breathless. Nora moved against him, reacting to a sound she had once heard from inside her mother.
Claire continued.
“Mason may be with you. If he is, please tell him I’m sorry I missed his final winter recital.”
Mason lowered his head.
“I know both of you,” Claire said. “You will be standing in the same room, each pretending you need less than you do. Henry will try to solve everything before breakfast. Mason will prepare to leave before anyone can ask him to stay.”
Mason let out a quiet, broken laugh.
“So I’m asking you both to do something difficult.
“Henry, listen before you fix.
“Mason, give him the chance to stay when staying becomes uncomfortable.
“You are not replacements for the people you lost. You do not owe each other perfect answers. But there is more kindness in both of you than either of you knows what to do with.
“Start there.”
The recording paused.
In the background, Claire spoke to someone away from the phone.
“No, I’m not crying. Pregnancy makes people sound emotional.”
A man’s distant voice answered, too muffled to understand.
Claire laughed.
Henry gripped the edge of the table.
“I also arranged for Mason and Grace to receive financial support from a family trust,” she continued. “That support is theirs whether Mason chooses Henry as guardian, remains with his grandmother, or decides never to speak to another Whitman again.
“Mason, this is not charity. It is part of what should have belonged to your mother.
“And Henry, please do not buy him a building.”
Mason glanced at Henry’s suit.
“Were you going to buy me a building?”
“No.”
“A piano?”
Henry hesitated.
Mason almost smiled.
Claire’s voice softened.
“There is one more truth I hoped to confirm in Zurich. Anna will know where to find it.
“Whatever it is, remember that adults sometimes hide the truth because they are afraid of losing the people they love. That does not make the hiding harmless. But it may help explain the fear.
“Take care of each other.
“And tell Nora that her mother loved her before she knew the color of her eyes.”
