help water their flowers.
The last time we counted it, the total was $1,651.26.
Sophie had announced she wanted to buy a beginner telescope and eventually attend a summer science camp.
Neil and I were planning to surprise her by contributing the difference when she reached her goal.
But that week, something had changed.
She had stopped mentioning her telescope.
Whenever I asked about her savings, she changed the subject.
I thought she was developing an interest in something new.
I was wrong.
At the barbecue, Vanessa passed a small wrapped package to Sophie.
“For my favorite niece,” she said brightly.
Sophie didn’t reach for it.
Vanessa’s smile tightened.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say thank you?”
“Thank you,” Sophie whispered.
She held the present without opening it.
My mother looked at me.
“Claire, tell her to be polite.”
I touched Sophie’s shoulder.
“Sweetheart, are you feeling okay?”
She nodded, but her eyes remained lowered.
Then Vanessa turned toward me.
“And what did my big sister bring for everybody?”
I held up the tray of homemade pasta salad I’d carried from our car.
“Food, drinks, and all the folding chairs Dad asked us to bring.”
Vanessa laughed.
“I meant actual presents.
Some of us believe in making family feel special.”
A few relatives looked uncomfortable.
My mother, however, smiled approvingly at Vanessa.
“She’s really turning over a new leaf.”
Something about that moment felt wrong.
Vanessa had been struggling financially only weeks earlier.
Now she was distributing gifts worth hundreds of dollars and making a public performance of my supposed selfishness.
Before I could respond, Sophie slid off her chair.
“Mommy, can I go inside?”
“Of course.”
I watched her disappear through the back door.
Then I set my lemonade on the table and followed her.
I found her in the laundry room beside a basket of clean towels.
She was crying silently.
The gift Vanessa had handed her lay unopened on the floor.
I knelt.
“Sophie, sweetheart, tell me what happened.”
She wiped her cheeks with her wrist.
“Please don’t get Aunt Vanessa in trouble.”
Those words frightened me more than the tears.
Children shouldn’t have to protect adults from the consequences of their own behavior.
“You can tell me anything,” I said.
“She took my jar.”
I frowned.
“What jar?”
“My moon jar.
The one Daddy painted with me.”
I felt something cold settle behind my ribs.
“When did she take it?”
Sophie stared at the floor.
“Tuesday.
When she came over and you were talking on the phone.”
I remembered that afternoon.
Vanessa had stopped by unexpectedly while I was finishing a work call.
She had brought Mia and Logan, and the children played in Sophie’s bedroom.
I thought nothing of it.
“Tell me what happened,” I said carefully.
Sophie took a ragged breath.
“She saw my money.
She said Logan needed shoes and Mia needed a tablet for school.
I told her I was saving it.”
“And then?”
“She said I was lucky because you and Daddy have money.
She said good girls share with family.”
Sophie’s lip trembled.
“I told her I didn’t want to.”
She paused and looked at me with an expression I would remember for years.
“Then she said if I didn’t hand it over, everybody would know I was a selfish
