"Well?"
"I found it Noble said. "My magic wand helped."
"I see," she said when he held up the magnifying glass.
"You know where it was, where we found it?" he asked her.
"I can't imagine," she said.
"On the Infant Jordan tombstone," he said. He looked at me and then at Mommy, who stopped wiping the dish.
"Tombstone? Why was it there?"
"Daddy didn't want me to have it," he told her. "because Mr. Kotes was in his chair."
She recoiled as though she had been slapped.
"Put it away, wash up, change your clothes, and sit down to breakfast," Mommy ordered, She looked at me fiercely. "Now!"
We both hurried up the stairs to do what she had said. Did she think I told him that? My heart was pounding.
"I told you not to say such a thing. Noble. I told you," I chastised.
"It's the truth." he asserted.
When we went downstairs again, our food was on the table. Mommy stood aside and watched us for a while. Then she stepped up to the table and looked down at Noble.
"Where did you get such an idea about your father?" she asked him.
"I don't know. I just thought because Mr. Kotes was in Daddy's chair. that Daddy was mad."
She looked at me.
"I didn't tell him to say that. Mommy. I swear I didn't." She turned back to Noble.
"I don't want to ever hear you say such a thing to Mr. Kotes or anyone else. Noble. Do you understand?"
He nodded, but he looked so satisfied with himself Even Mommy sensed it and turned quickly to look at me. I bit down on my lower lip and shifted my eyes quickly back to my cereal.
"There is nothing worse than lying about them," she said in a hoarse whisper. "Nothing."
I couldn't swallow. The food lumped up in my throat, and tears came to my eyes, tears that burned.
Afterward, when Noble was outside. I went to her and again told her that I had nothing to do with what he had said.
"He made it all up himself. Mommy. I swear." She shook her head.
"He couldn't do that. Celeste,"
"Why not?
"He just couldn't," she insisted.
"I'm not lying." I moaned and started to
cry.
"Maybe you said something under your breath or to yourself, and he overheard it."