Chapter 10 - The People Who Still Needed Home
“Thirty days?”
Daniel read the notice twice.
Ada Flores stood beside the dining table, her hands trembling.
“Some of us have nowhere else to go.”
Luca pulled out a chair for her.
“Sit down, Mrs. Flores.”
“I don't need to sit. I need to know where I'm supposed to sleep next month.”
Her words silenced the room.
I'd watched Luca spend weeks fighting to expose the truth about Daniel.
Now that my husband was home, I could see another problem taking shape.
Clearing someone's name was one thing.
Repairing the damage done to an entire community was something else.
Daniel folded the notice carefully.
“How many residents are still living there?”
“Nine,” Ada answered. “Three have trouble walking. Mr. Rosen can't manage stairs anymore.”
“Does anyone have relatives nearby?”
“Some do. That doesn't mean their relatives have room.”
Luca nodded.
“I'll cover temporary accommodations.”
Ada looked at him.
“For how long?”
“As long as necessary.”
“And what happens when necessary becomes expensive?”
Luca fell silent.
She sighed.
“I'm not trying to insult you, Lucas. But your father made promises he meant to keep. Charles made promises he never intended to keep. From where we're sitting, we couldn't always tell the difference.”
Luca lowered his eyes.
“You're right.”
Daniel looked at me.
I knew what he was thinking.
For eighteen months, we'd both imagined that his return would fix everything.
But there were nine elderly people facing the same fear that had haunted our family.
Losing the place where they belonged.
The following morning, we returned to Maple Street House.
This time, Daniel came with us.
He stood on the front porch for a long moment.
“I used to deliver the payment summaries here,” he said.
“Do you want me to come inside with you?” I asked.
He took my hand.
“Yeah. I think I do.”
Inside, Ada had gathered the residents around the kitchen table.
Mr. Rosen, eighty-four, sat beside his walker.
Mrs. Finch worried about the cost of moving her furniture.
Another woman, seventy-seven-year-old Evelyn Price, kept asking whether her daughter could visit wherever she ended up.
They didn't want luxury.
They wanted ordinary things.
Their own pillows.
A place to make coffee.
A front door they recognized.
Mr. Rosen looked at Luca.
“I've got a cat.”
Luca nodded.
“What's his name?”
“Pepper.”
“Does Pepper like traveling?”
“Absolutely not.”
For the first time that morning, several people laughed.
Luca smiled.
“Then we'll make sure he only has to move once if we can.”
Ada shook her head.
“You're talking like you've already decided where we're going.”
He stopped.
She looked around the table.
“These are our homes. You should ask us what we want.”
Luca pulled up a chair.
“Then tell me.”
For the next two hours, he listened.
Some residents wanted private apartments.
Others wanted to remain together.
Nobody wanted to be placed in a facility where they couldn't choose when to eat dinner or have visitors.
Daniel wrote everything down.
Not in secret.
Not in a notebook nobody else could see.
He passed the pages around so everyone could check what he'd written.
When he reached Ada, she studied his handwriting.
“You didn't include what Mrs. Finch said about her photographs.”
Daniel looked embarrassed.
“I missed that.”
“Those are important.”
He picked up his pen.
“Then let's make sure they're included.”
I watched him.
The man who'd spent eighteen months in prison was helping people whose names had once appeared in the records used against him.
He wasn't trying to prove he was a hero.
He was doing what he'd always done.
Paying attention.
By afternoon, Helen Park joined us.
She had bad news.
The foundation's accounts were under restrictions while investigators traced the missing funds and reviewed its remaining obligations.
“Luca can contribute personal money,” she explained, “but we can't treat the foundation as though nothing happened.”
“Then I'll pay for the repairs myself,” Luca said.
“Repairs require permits, inspections, and a clear property title.”
She looked toward the building.
“Charles used part of the property as security for his financing arrangement. The legal situation is being unwound, but it hasn't been fully cleared.”
Ada folded her arms.
“So we can't stay and we can't fix it.”
“Not immediately,” Helen said.
Luca looked defeated.
It was the first time I'd seen him confront a problem he couldn't solve by making a decision.
I touched his arm.
“Maybe the first thing isn't saving the building.”
He turned.
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe it's making sure everyone has somewhere safe to sleep while the building is repaired.”
Ada nodded slowly.
“That's a beginning.”
That evening, Daniel and I returned to the mansion.
Molly ran toward him carrying a drawing.
“Daddy, look!”
It showed a little house surrounded by trees.
Nine tiny people stood in the windows.
She'd added a cat on the porch.
“That's Pepper,” she explained.
Daniel smiled.
“I can tell.”
“Are they going to lose their house?”
“We're working on it, peanut.”
She looked worried.
“Can they stay with us?”
Daniel pulled her onto his lap.
“We're going to find places that work for them.”
Molly thought about that.
“Pepper needs a place, too.”
“I know.”
I watched my husband kiss her hair.
For the first time since his return, his shoulders looked relaxed.
Then Luca entered the room.
His expression told me something was wrong.
“The city inspector just called Ada,” he said.
I stood.
“What happened?”
“The furnace stopped working completely.”
My stomach dropped.
“The whole building?”
“Yes.”
“The residents?”
“They're safe for now, but the temperature inside is falling.”
Luca held up a new notice.
The city had changed its order.
The building could no longer remain occupied through the coming cold weather.
Everyone had seventy-two hours to leave.
May you like
Thirty days had become three.
And nine elderly people were about to lose their homes before the first frost.
