Chapter 19 - The Price of a Quiet ChristmasI let Dad carry the tree inside, but I wouldn't let him hang the first ornament. That belonged to Grandma. She tied the chipped green star to a branch where every visitor could see it.
Our living room looked strangely small without the old tree's towering shape. We had no matching decorations. Ava brought paper cranes. Jackie supplied popcorn strings. Denise came with gingerbread stars she'd baked from a recipe Vanessa once borrowed from Mom.
Grandma accepted them. "I owe the church an apology in person," she said. "Destroying her house didn't make me right. It only made the night harder for Hannah."
"You already said sorry," I told her.
"I can mean it twice."
At the Christmas Eve service, Grandma gave a short apology without surrendering the truth. Denise announced that the church would arrange an independent audit and that gifts to the art fund would be kept separate until its governance was repaired. The pastor simply asked everyone to protect children and tell the truth even when it was uncomfortable.
Vanessa didn't attend. She'd sent Dad a message accusing him of betrayal, and a second threatening to make the divorce expensive if he cooperated with investigators. He showed both to Naomi and did not reply.
"What happens to her now?" I asked as we drove home.
"There will be lawyers," Dad said. "Maybe criminal charges. Maybe not. I don't control that. I only control whether I keep covering for her."
I looked out at houses glowing with holiday lights. I still loved my father. I didn't yet trust him. Both things could be true.
At home we found an envelope tucked beneath our new tree. It was addressed to Grandma in a child's uncertain handwriting.
Inside was a drawing of Willow House, a yellow bird in the window, and a question:
May you like
WILL YOU TEACH US AGAIN?
