Chapter 10 - The Price of a HomeNathan stood in Eli's bedroom that night, looking at the paper stars hanging above the bed.
Hannah had made them.
She used to cut little stars from colored paper whenever Eli accomplished something difficult.
His first steps.
His first complete sentence.
His first day of preschool.
The last star Hannah had hung was red.
On the back, she'd written:
Eli learned to ride without training wheels.
Nathan had never taken it down.
Now he wondered how close he'd come to allowing someone else to decide that everything Hannah left behind was inconvenient.
Eli appeared beside him.
“Daddy, are we moving?”
Nathan turned.
“Why do you keep asking that?”
Eli pointed toward his closet.
“Because Audrey measured my room.”
Nathan went still.
“When?”
“Before the wedding. When you were working.”
“What did she measure?”
“The walls. And my bed.”
Nathan crouched.
“Did she tell you why?”
“She said she needed to know how much stuff would fit in a smaller room.”
Nathan's chest tightened.
“Did she say where the smaller room would be?”
Eli nodded.
“At Aunt Brooke's house.”
Nathan stared at him.
“Brooke's?”
“She said I could stay there while you and Audrey started your marriage.”
Nathan remembered Audrey's complaints about Eli's bedtime routine.
She wanted uninterrupted evenings.
More trips.
More privacy.
She frequently said a married couple needed time to develop their own identity.
Nathan had agreed that couples needed time together.
But he had never agreed that his son should live somewhere else.
“When did Audrey tell you that?” he asked.
Eli rubbed his nose.
“Lots of times.”
The answer devastated him.
Nathan sat on the floor.
His son lowered himself beside him.
“I thought if I was really good at the wedding, she'd let me stay.”
Nathan couldn't speak.
Eli continued.
“I practiced saying congratulations.”
Nathan reached for him.
“I heard you practicing.”
“I practiced smiling, too.”
Nathan wrapped both arms around his son.
The house seemed painfully quiet.
Eventually Eli whispered, “I don't want a smaller room.”
“You don't have to leave your room.”
“What if Audrey comes back?”
“She won't be living here.”
The boy looked up.
“Because you don't love her anymore?”
Nathan considered the question.
“I thought I knew her. But loving someone doesn't mean you can ignore the harm they're causing.”
Eli pressed his face against Nathan's shoulder.
“Can you still love somebody if they scare you?”
Nathan held him tighter.
“Sometimes people have complicated feelings. But you never have to accept being frightened or hurt just to keep someone else's love.”
After Eli fell asleep, Nathan went downstairs.
He opened a folder containing the financial documents Dina had helped him request.
A preliminary property valuation placed his home at approximately four hundred and seventy thousand dollars.
The proposed loan was for two hundred and eighty thousand.
Nathan owned the house outright.
He had finished paying the mortgage shortly before Hannah died.
Years of overtime, missed vacations, and careful saving had given him the financial stability he wanted for his son.
Celeste knew that.
Audrey knew that.
And both had known Nathan was reluctant to risk the property.
He called Dina.
“There's something I haven't told you.”
“What is it?”
“Audrey wanted us to sell the house.”
Dina was quiet.
“Did she say why?”
“She wanted a fresh start. That's what she called it.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said I wouldn't make any decisions before Eli was comfortable.”
Dina exhaled.
“That helps explain why they may have wanted Eli out of the way.”
Nathan stared at the property valuation.
“I kept trying to make everybody happy.”
“That's a difficult position for a parent.”
“No,” Nathan said. “I made it difficult by refusing to make a decision. I should have told Audrey from the beginning that Eli wasn't negotiable.”
Dina didn't interrupt.
Nathan continued.
“Every time she complained about him, I tried to find a compromise.”
“And now?”
“Now there isn't one.”
The next morning, Dina called with an update.
The lender had confirmed that no mortgage or other lien had been recorded against Nathan's house through its application.
The proposed guarantee had not been finalized.
No money had been disbursed.
Nathan exhaled in relief.
But Dina wasn't finished.
“The file also contains a projected repayment plan.”
“What does that mean?”
“The proposed loan wasn't intended for an expansion.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then what was it for?”
Dina paused.
“To pay existing overdue debts and prevent Rosehaven Hospitality from defaulting on its current obligations.”
Nathan stared at the kitchen wall.
Celeste hadn't been seeking an exciting investment opportunity.
May you like
She had been trying to rescue a failing business.
And she'd chosen his family home as the safety net.
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