He looked down at his wet shirt.
“She was cold, too. And she had to worry about herself and the baby. If I got sick, you’d make me soup, and I’d be fine.”
I pressed my fingers to my mouth.
How could I be mad?
“Eli…”
“I didn’t want to lose it,” he said. “I promise. But Dad always said you don’t wait to help.”
The words knocked the anger out of me.
Darren had said that all the time.
When a neighbor’s car wouldn’t start. When someone dropped groceries. Even when we were late.
“You don’t wait to help someone in need, Carina.”
I pulled Eli into my arms.
“Your dad would be proud of you,” I whispered.
He held still.
“Are you?”
That nearly broke me.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m proud of you too.”
***
I got him into dry clothes and made hot cocoa with too many marshmallows. He sat at the kitchen table, both hands around the mug.
“Do you think she’ll bring it back?” he asked.
“I told her where we live.”
“I don’t know, hon. But maybe she’ll surprise us.”
“Maybe,” he said softly.
Later, after he went to bed, I touched the empty hook by the door. It had held Darren’s keys, his cap, his coat, and, after he died, Eli’s umbrella.
“I know you’d be proud of him,” I whispered.
“But I still wanted that umbrella to come home.”
Three mornings later, I opened the door to grab the newspaper and dropped my coffee mug. It shattered on the porch.
Hot coffee splashed my ankle, but I barely felt it.
I only saw my lawn, covered in open umbrellas.
Forty-seven of them.
They stood in perfect rows from the mailbox to the maple tree. Under each umbrella sat a small white box with a number painted on the lid.
Numbered 1 to 47.
“Mom?” Eli called behind me.
He stepped onto the porch, barefoot, hair sticking up.
“Watch!” I warned.
“I dropped my mug. Don’t step on the glass.”
“What is this?” he asked.
“Why is Mrs. Sarah filming us, Mom?”
That snapped me awake.
Neighbors had gathered on the sidewalk, several with phones raised.
“Sarah!” I called.
“Put the phone down! You know I don’t like Eli being filmed.”
She lowered it halfway. “Carina, it’s beautiful!
Didn’t you see Facebook?”
My stomach turned. “What’s on Facebook?”
A man from two houses down shouted, “Carina, Eli’s famous!”
My son moved behind me.
I stepped in front of him completely. “Everybody put your phones down.
Now! He’s a child.”
A few people looked embarrassed. A few lowered their phones slowly.
I walked onto the wet grass, robe dragging at my ankles.
Eli stayed close beside me.
The first umbrella was dark blue. The box beneath it had a tag tied to the lid.
“For Eli.”
“Stay back, bud,” I told him.
“Mom, it has my name on it.”
“I know. But we don’t know who put it here.
So I’m going to open it first.”
He nodded.
I knelt and lifted the lid.
Then I screamed.
Inside was a tight bundle wrapped in blue fabric.
For one awful second, it looked strange and wrong.
Then I saw the wooden handle, the silver button, and Eli’s name in my husband’s handwriting.
Eli dropped beside me. “That’s Dad’s,” he whispered.
“How did it get here?”
He looked at the boxes, then at the neighbors. His face went pale.
“Mom, we need to call someone.
Maybe the police. This is scary.”
“I know. We’re not touching anything else until I know who did this.”
“Wait!
There’s a note,” Eli said.
I looked down. There was a folded piece of paper tucked under the umbrella strap.
“Read it,” he whispered.
My hands shook as I opened it.
“Eli,
I promised I would return this. I didn’t know it would come home with a crowd.
Thank you for covering me when I felt invisible.
Jenelle.”
“That’s the lady,” Eli said.
“She said her name was Jenelle.”
