Margaret finally sat. “Good. Now we begin from reality.”

Chapter 8 — Smaller Places

The family didn’t transform overnight. People like the Whitmores don’t turn kind because one old woman gives a speech and rewrites some documents. Some relatives stayed angry. Some behaved better only because consequences finally existed. A few disappeared once the money got harder to reach.

But the Callahans changed at once. Daniel stopped accepting invitations where Elena was treated like an accessory. Elena stopped shrinking in rooms where people mistook her silence for weakness. And Mia learned that adults could fail — but other adults could step in, and sometimes stepping in sounded like a cane striking stone.

Months later, Margaret hosted a smaller dinner. No photographers, no balloon arches, no gold-dusted desserts. Just roasted chicken, warm bread, salad, and a chocolate cake Mia decorated with uneven strawberries.

Parker arrived carrying the finished dinosaur puzzle, mounted on cardboard. “I finished it,” he told Mia.

She studied it seriously. “You put the volcano piece in the wrong place.”