Chapter 8 — The Table Had Its Own Story
Daniel looked toward the scratched hallway table.
“What does any of this have to do with that?”
Evelyn smiled.
“More than you think.”
The table had once been stage furniture.
Daniel laughed.
“What?”
During the original 1978 production of The Summer Window, Margaret and Evelyn needed a small writing table for the set.
Margaret’s father built one in his garage.
After the play closed, Margaret brought it home.
Years later, she refinished it.
Daniel had grown up seeing it in the hallway without knowing where it came from.
Evelyn walked toward the scratch.
“Look closely.”
Daniel crouched.
The fresh scrape had removed a thin layer of newer stain.
Beneath it was a patch of darker original wood.
And something else.
A tiny carved shape.
Half hidden by the finish.
Evelyn smiled.
“There should be two.”
Daniel used a flashlight.
Near the edge were two faint carved stars.
One slightly larger than the other.
“We did that backstage,” Evelyn said.
“Margaret carved one. I carved the other.”
Daniel touched them gently.
For years, his mother had kept a physical piece of the play inside her home.
She claimed to hate theater.
But she never threw away the table.
Never sold it.
Never replaced it.
She simply refinished the evidence until almost nobody could see what it had once been.
Vanessa stared at the scratch she had caused.
“So I accidentally uncovered it.”
Evelyn laughed softly.
“Apparently.”
Then Sophie appeared at the staircase.
“Am I still in trouble?”
Daniel immediately smiled.
“No, sweetheart.”
He looked toward the two carved stars.
“Actually, you helped us notice something.”