Page 237 of The Holy Grail
“As you know, I’ve been going through everything in Dad’s penthouse, and behind one of his paintings was a wall safe. Anyway, the combination wasn’t written down anywhere and after trying everyone’s birthday and every other date I could think of, I finally had it drilled open this afternoon. The whole time it was being done, I kept thinking it would be funny if it turned out to be like Al Capone’s vault, with nothing of value in it after I paid to have it opened.”
“Was it empty?”
“No, but there wasn’t much in it, actually. Just his two marriage certificates and both of his wedding rings …” he trailed off, pulling a small envelope from a pocket in his jacket. “I thought your mother might want the ones pertaining to her for sentimental reasons, but if she doesn’t, she can dispose of them as she wishes.”
“I’ll give them to her,” Malcom said, taking the envelope with the certificate and ring inside. “Thank you.”
“I also found this.” Martin held out a stainless steel, Seiko Presage watch, with a deep blue face, the one Malcom had given Monroe on Father’s Day so many years ago. “I know you were looking for it that day.”
“I was.” Turning it over in his hand, Malcom remembered the day he bought it, letting himself feel the childish joy he’d experienced back in that moment. “Thank you.”
“There was also the copy ofTo Kill A MockingbirdI gave him.”
The sound of the back door opening turned their attention to Evan, who was coming out with a platter of steaks. After setting them on the grill, one by one, with the sound of sizzling meat filling the air, he called out to Martin, asking if he’d like to join them for dinner. When he looked rather stunned at the invitation, Evan—being Evan—couldn’t resist pretending to misinterpret the reaction, adding, “I promise I’m clean.”
Martin’s expression turned to one of mortification. “I’m sorry. I never meant for you to hear that.”
“I’m sure you didn’t,” Evan returned good-naturedly, with a grin. “And I’m just giving you shit because it’s what I do. I’ve heard much worse than that, so no need to think you hurt my feelings or anything.”
After shooting Evan aBe nicelook, Malcom gave Martin, who appeared to be having a case of whiplash, a pat on the shoulder. “So, dinner?” Malcom prompted.
Quickly regrouping, Martin nodded. “Actually … I would really like that.”
Chapter 81
And the winner is ... moonstone!
“How have you been?” Lauren asked.
“I’ve been good. Really good,” Malcom answered, then filled her in on everything that had happened since their last conversation after he’d vandalized Monroe’s headstone.
“How did it make you feel when Martin gave the watch to you? To realize Monroe had kept it?”
“I was pleased to know it hadn’t ended up in the garbage, but he only wore it a few times, so despite saying he loved it, I don’t trust that he did.”
“Then why would he have kept it in a safe? With other valuables?”
“I don’t know.”
Lauren leaned back against the loveseat. “You know, when I was a little girl, I gave my mom a pair of earrings for her birthday. They were dangly and sparkly, and the prettiest earrings I’d ever seen. I thought they were real gemstones—although they obviously weren’t—and my mom said she loved them, but they never got worn. A few years ago, I asked her why, and her response was that she could only wear sterling silver earrings, because anything else made her ears become irritated and sore. But she kept them in her nightstand until the day she died, because they were precious to her.”
“Are you trying to say my watch was precious to Monroe?”
“I’m just saying maybe he didn’t wear it very often because his expensive watches fit more with his image, which was clearly very important to him, but he kept your watchin a safe place, along with your brother’s book and his wedding bands. Who’s to say he didn’t take it out often, to look at it and hold it?”
“Or maybe he never did.”
“Or maybe he never did,” Lauren repeated. “But it’s not something you’ll ever definitively know, so this is an opportunity for you to choose to see it in a positive light, instead of a negative one. You can choose to think he kept it there because it was precious to him, even if he didn’t make it known to you.”
“I can, I guess. But, that doesn’t change how I feel about him. It doesn’t make me think he really loved me.”
“It’s okay for it to not really change anything—it’s only meant to give you a positive alternative in regard to the watch. And since you don’t know his reasons, or which scenario is true, why not believe the one that has better emotions attached to it?”
“Not a bad point.”
“So … what does your life look like going forward, without Monroe in it?”
He told her about wanting to go to culinary school, then opening a restaurant, but it was a big step and he was a little nervous about it, still.
