My Sister Promised My Grandmother’s China to My Niece—Then Asked Why I Needed to Keep It at All
PART 2
Diane called before Erin reached the end of the block.
Erin let the phone ring until she was parked at a gas station three miles away. She did not trust herself to have a sister argument while merging.
“What?” she said when she called back.
“That was humiliating.”
“For you?”
“For Sophie. She’s getting married in six weeks and you made her feel like she was stealing dishes.”
“I told her twice it wasn’t her fault.”
“You carried the boxes out like we were repossessing a car.”
“They were my boxes.”
Diane exhaled hard.
“Where is that china supposed to go if not to Sophie?”
Erin looked at the storage crates through the rearview mirror.
“My house.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No. I know what you assume.”
“I assumed eventually family things go to family.”
“I am family.”
“That is not what I said.”
“It is very close.”
Diane went quiet.
Erin could picture her standing beside the dining-room table, collecting ribbon into neat piles because Diane could conduct emotional warfare and recycle at the same time.
“I shouldn’t have told Sophie it was definite,” Diane said finally.
“That would have been a useful realization before the invitations went out.”
“The invitations have nothing to do with dishes.”
“Exactly.”
Another silence.
Then Diane said, “Fine. Keep the china. I’m not going to fight you about plates.”
“You are currently fighting me about plates.”
“I’m saying I understand.”
Erin rested her forehead briefly against the steering wheel.
“Good.”
“I just thought you’d want her to have something from Grandma.”
“She has things from Grandma.”
“Not a full set.”
“Why does she need a full set?”
“She doesn’t need it. It means something.”
“So does keeping it.”
Diane made the frustrated sound she had used since childhood whenever Erin refused to accept the practical ending Diane had chosen for a conversation.
“All right. Then maybe Grace will want the cedar chest someday.”
Erin lifted her head.
“What does my cedar chest have to do with this?”
“Nothing. I’m just saying there are other things.”
“What other things?”
“Oh, Erin.”
“No. You brought it up.”
“It was Grandma’s too.”
“Grandma gave it to me when I bought my house.”
“I know.”
“Then why are we discussing which niece gets it?”
Diane’s answer came fast, as if it had been sitting beneath every other sentence.
“Because you don’t have anyone to leave it to.”
