“Yes,” I said.
His voice broke slightly.
“I spent seven years thinking she saved my business and didn’t want me to mention it.”
“She probably did save it.”
I paused.
“But she wanted you to know exactly what she had done.”
Claire unfolded the typed ledger.
“
Dad.”
“What?”
“There are employee names here.”
Dozens of them.
Some I recognized immediately.
Others had retired years earlier.
Small amounts appeared beside each name.
A mechanic certification course.
A plane ticket to Guatemala for a funeral.
Dental work.
Community college tuition.
A replacement refrigerator after an apartment flood.
Then Claire found Rosa.
ROSA MARTINEZ — CAMILA EDUCATION ACCOUNT.
We stared at it.
“What is that?” Daniel asked.
Claire kept reading.
Anne had set aside a modest annual amount for educational grants available to children of long-term household employees.
Camila had
been listed as one of the first eligible children.
The account had never been activated.
